Q. What are you welding? Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Mild Steel, Inconel, Hastalloy, Titanium
Q. Is the metal reactive? If Alunminum, No. If stainless steel or titanium, Yes.
Q. Is a gas lens required? Typically, on non reactive metals, no. On reactive metals, yes. The gas coming out of a ceramic cup without a diffuse lens is too turbulent and has poor even distribution of flow.
FAQS:
- Cup size directly reflects the inside measurement of the cup in 1/16" increments.
#18 cup has a 1.125" ID
#14 cup has a 7/8" ID
#12 cup has a 3/4" ID
#8 cup has a 1/2" ID
#6 cup has a 3/8" ID
#5 cup has a 5/16" ID
#4 cup has a 1/4" ID
- Typically, you use a 4, 5 or 6 on aluminum without a gas lens.
- Typically, the tungsten can project outside of the cup by the ID of the cup. In other words, you can stick out the tungsten outside the cup by a 1/2 when using a #8 cup with a gas lens cup. If you attemp to use a standard #8 cup and project the tungsten out by a 1/2", you will experience porosity, contamination, gray scale.
