Pulsing the pedal? Is this wrong to do?
I have found that for me personally it helps a lot in keeping my rhythm to pulse the amperage up feed rod, let off to almost nothing move over an 1/8" ramp the pedal up and feed rod and repeat this throughout my bead to give that roll of dimes look. I do this with 4130, mild steel, stainless, aluminum pretty much everything i tig. Some of the old timers tell me this is completely wrong and doing that i would never be able to pass a cert test. is this true? is what im doing wrong? i have seen other people at fab shops i worked at before do this and i always thought it was ok. I mean they have tig welders that pulse modulate amperage for you so why cant i do that with my foot? Looking forward to your thoughts on this. Thanks in advance.
Chad
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it aint wrong, just different.
one thing to consider is that on some alloys, like aluminum , a crater crack can form as you let off the pedal. Then you remelt it and cover it up with the next ripple.
This seems to be a popular technique with automotive and motorsports folks.
it is very similar to pulsing at about 1 pulse per second.
I will also say, that for a lot of weld jobs, all that pedal pulsing is just not necessary. but if it works for you, and your welds meet the specs in your industry, who am i to criticize?
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