I would say only use the stickout you need to see the puddle and tip of tungsten properly.

rule of thumb in my opinion is to try not to exceed the cup size for stickout.  So for a #8 cup would be 1/2".  If you have too much stickout, you can lose gas coverage but with a gas lens, its pretty forgiving within reason.

These practice joints could easily be welded using a smaller cup like a #7 with less stickout if you want to save argon. 

thanks very much and have a Great Christmas

Hi Aaron,

those carbon steel beads dont look bad. It is pretty normal for them to be dull and gray on 1/8 thick steel while you are practicing.

A small piece of steel like that gets hot quick and does not have time to cool as the argon from the cup moves along.

clamping the steel to a piece of aluminum might help.

it also helps to practice on 2 or 3 pieces at a time alternating pieces while the other ones have a chance to cool off a bit.

If you are still using standard cups that come with most machines and  torches, a #8 stubby gas lens might help you a lot.

using a larger cup like a furick 12 would probably make your beads a bit shinier but requires more argon flow.

hope this helps, your doing fine,

jody

5356, 4043, and 4943 are all commonly used for 6061 and all fine for practice

thank you Martin.  We are all still learning.

thanks for the comment Steve, I will start work on a video that deals with fit up and tack welding. 2 things that can cause a lot of erratic arc and sound when tack welding aluminum are:

not having a good enough ground like when you rest your aluminum part directly on a steel table without additional grounding

that surge of argon right at first if you are not using pre flow.  for machines that dont have preflow, you can just tap the pedal and get argon flowing to avoid that surge that causes rough arc starts. 

hope this helps, Jody

Yes, 309 rod on carbon steel makes for some really pretty colors if gas shielding is good

thanks Martin

On thinner metals, I think starting in from the edge is good practice. A lot of tig welding machine give a burst of amps for a micro second to start the arc before settling down to a very low amperage.  starting the arc inboard a little helps to prevent blowing away the edge.

I wouldn't say a lot compared to how much spatter you can get with settings that are really bad.

The clips where a push angle was used seem to have more spatter.