buzzbox tig welder

Got a 50 dollar lincoln ac/dc buzzbox. I bought all the torch, bottle, etc.. not as easy as i would like with 5 minutes of practice. sure is not a mig welder! pointers?

 

On how to tig weld? Is the metal clean? got a sharp point on the tungsten? Is the metal clean? Need to get yourself in a comfortable position. Watch Youtube videos, there are tons of them about how to tig. Is the metal super clean yet?

 

50 bucks...that's sounds pretty good. What model is it? TIG welding for most people takes a while to perfect and it would be hard to teach over this forum. A good book from your local library would go a long way. I recommend starting without using any filler wire. Practice using the torch and foot pedal. Find a clean piece of steel and sharp tungsten. Make a weld puddle and move from right to left while making circles. This will give you the "stacked dime" look. Make sure tungsten is no more than 1/2 inch from edge of gas cup. Argon set at 10-15 psi. Torch angle about 45 degrees relative to work piece. Once you can make puddles without burning through the steel and not "sticking" the tungsten into the weld puddle, add the filler wire to the equation. Good luck
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this is exactally what i needed. thanks. the welder is not a tig welder, just an ac/dc lincoln buzzbox. no high frequency unit, yet. no infinitly variable amperage. i really need it to make components for devices that i service. they are all handmade and all the parts are made by some guy with a tig welder, so if i want a replacement, i need to be able to make it or send it off to the machine shop. I could mig weld them, but the tig is what the manufacturer uses and I need to match that. scratch start is not easy, but i have arc welded a bunch of ugly stuff together. If i can learn this with this setup, i will invest in a real tig welder in the future.