So I wanted to do a bit of TIG welding today and came in to the shop with the leads reversed on the LE TIG welder. Furthermore, the gas cylinder was open - TIGHT OPEN - because whomever used the machine before me did not know the whole lefty-loosy / righty-tighty mantra.
Essentially, each time the welder was sparked, it was blowing gas into the atmosphere by the person using it as a stick welder.
I had used the TIG welder a few days ago and the cylinder was mostly full (~2000 PSI). Today, I only welded a tiny section of the project I had because it was sugaring badly… the gauges would show a pressure drop to almost nothing and a slow build up after the valve on the LE closed again… not sure that’s what it’s supposed to do, but it certainly wasn’t working the way it was a few days ago.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go through and do a full diagnostic as someone else was already in line to use one of the other welders so I didn’t want to be in his way. I’m out of town until next week and can’t check anything else at this point. Hopefully someone else can take a quick look.
This is the link to the Issue about the tank being near empty: Issue - TIG Gas LE square wave 200