The first is: stop thinking like a human and start acting like a machine. The whole secret behind the stack of dimes look is timing and repeatablility. You have to be able to stop thinking, “What am I doing now” and start thinking, “One one-thousand, one one-thousand, one one-thousand ….” And then just dab, dab, dab right in rhythm. It’s all about timing – and helmet time. Practice, practice, practice ….
The other advice Kevin has to offer is right on your TIG welder. You have a teaching aid there just waiting for you to turn it on: your pulse function.
Kevin shows the control panel of his Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT and points to the area where pulse is controlled. He powers up the welder, which is set at 107 amps. The pulse time on is at 81 percent. Pulse amps is set at 29%. Pulse frequency – that’s the important setting for this use – is set at 1.
It’s time to make some sparks! Kevin gets the welding puddle started, and then he just works with the metronome effect of the pulse – dab, dab, dab ….
You can set your welder for different pulse intervals, from 1 second to a second and a half, all the way to 500 pulses a second. That’s a monster range to work with!
Kevin shows the weld. The first part is very tight. Then there’s an area where he moved his hand because “his fingers got too short” – you can see the difference in the width of the bead there.
So that’s how you do it! Now all you need to do is put your helmet on and practice.
Well, you might want to stick around for a moment to see Kevin realize he is old ….