Wish I would have seen this thread sooner. After cleaning up the bad spots use Marine-Tex to fill in the holes and pitting and then coat it from the inside with Gluvit. Here's why: All those riveted seams have Butyl Rubber strips between them. If you melt it, you will be chasing leaks forever. The A...

Clean TIG Gloves vs. Frustration = Cheap investment. It's more critical to keep them clean when you're working with Aluminum and you will pick up a piece of hot metal with them a few times when you're first starting out but after a while you'll develop good habits and the cost of replacing them will...

Cathodic erosion is caused by the turbulence created with the flow of the free electrons changes from one direction to the other. Electrons flow from negative to positive. In A/C tig welding your work clamp is positive and your torch is negative so electrons flow from the torch to the work piece whe...

Here's a tip: Go to Lowes or Home depot and get some aluminum flat stock to practice on. The stuff is about the worst AL I've ever tried to weld. If you can get that to run clean beads you will have mastered the concept of Cathodic etching. I would only buy from the box stores if you have no other ...

Pepper in your welds can be a couple of things. It can be too little gas coverage or incorrect A/C balance. Set your flow to about 15scfh and adjust your A/C balance so you can see between a 1/16-1/8" of frosting at the edges of the weld. The frosting is Cathodic etching and that occurs best in...

I have no idea if this will work but I would try it: Get some dunnage under it. 4x4's would probably work. Leave enough room on the edge to make your cut width x 2 and put a plastic tarp under that. Use a Sawzall with a demo blade and soap it up with bar soap to keep the lead from clogging it up and...

Never said the Sharpie wasn't a good product. It certainly has it's place and does it's job well. I've come close to buying one on several occasions but I just can't bring myself to doing it. The dressing tool for my grinder came with the grinder and they are not expensive. I use a pin vise to hold...

Hi All, I am a new member here! I have welded since High School 1983, Stik, mig and acetylene! I currently own a Miller 212 with spool gun and have done some Aluminum with the spool gun with decent results. I am considering building an aluminum boat for my own use from a kit with plans etc. and am ...

Never said the Sharpie wasn't a good product. It certainly has it's place and does it's job well. I've come close to buying one on several occasions but I just can't bring myself to doing it. The dressing tool for my grinder came with the grinder and they are not expensive. I use a pin vise to hold ...

I would like to have this unit but have no interest in paying new price as I am a hobby welder cannot justify. Anyone on here have one they may want to sell for far less than the $340 new price? PM me if so thanks. I am thinking I am not getting the most out of my welds by breaking the tungsten and...

I'm welding some 1/8" steel with 3/32" lanth electrodes and 3/32" 70S-6 rod. I'm running a PT 185 transformer based machine at 160Amps max and 15-20CFH pure Argon. I'm having some trouble with my rod sticking in the puddle. From my perspective behind the hood, the puddle looks plenty...

The gas leak is fixed I just needed to finish crimping the clamp. Pretty quick fix. The units are shipped with a Weldcraft WP-17 flex head torch. I typically buy CK torches but the Weldcrafts are not bad. We have a Washoe Zephyr going on here in Northern Nevada. That's winds 30-50mph. It blows my ga...

Another small problem arose. I was tinkering with the welder this morning trying to set post flow and the shop was quiet. I could hear gas leaking at the machine when I activated the internal gas valve which is not normal. I suspect that the hose from the valve to the connector at the front is not c...

Just came in from the shop after putting a little time on the AHP. I started off with a 1/16 tungsten because I was going to run it on 110 but decided to go to 220 instead and forgot I had the 1/16 still in the torch. Whoops... that burnt down pretty fast so I got my head back on and switched up to ...

So the issue seems to be corrected. I switched back to pure tungsten and balled the tip. Raised the balance to 75% and lowered the amperage to around 170. Picture below. Not a pretty weld but controlled and no contamination. Well, you're right, it's not pretty and many won't even consider it a weld...

So this is to say that it's all good that you are told you can use standard Dinse-50 consumables, but go try it... I ran into that problem with an Everalst that I had in the past. However, the AHP does accept Dinse-50 and so does my Lincoln 210. I have a CK torch and a 25ft work clamp that I made u...

sschefer, I have the 200, I don't think there are too many major changes from the 200 to the 201, except maybe the foot pedal. I disagree, I think the AHP is suitable for beginners. It doesn't have all the digital menu options, preset program settings, etc, but it is still pretty easy to figure out...

You changed the angle of your torch as you went along, simple as that. At the start, you had the arc pointed higher up the wall which is why the filler melted more evenly. At the end, you were pointing towards the bottom which is why the filler sagged. Always practice run your movement to detect sm...

Welder arrived today. It's missing the stick holder but they gave me two complete work clamps so I guess it's a wash. I have a really good holder already. The connections are all standard except the foot pedal if there is a standard for that. The foot pedal fell apart in my hands but it was easily f...

Im using a Miller Dynasty 300 DX. Set on AC, Balance between 65-70, and frequency at 120Hz. I don't think I understand Balance as well as I thought. What is the reference point for the percentages? If I'm at 70% then is that 70% EP and 30% EN or the other way around? Is a higher percentage greater ...

Thanks again for the info. It would seem that my biggest problem right now is material cleanliness. I took a flap disc to the aluminum and that has made a world of difference. Apparently, though, my filler rod is filthy. I can see globs of yuck entering the pool when I dab. Lesson learned - Blue De...

First, that’s a standard collet body and cup. Drop to a #5 cup and shorten your stick out. 10cfh. I set my machine to 170 amps for that material thickness. Aluminum takes more amps than steel to get a puddle, but once you get going you can back off the amps as aluminum keeps the heat. An aluminum p...

First, yes, I have run into this problem and just like you I struggled to find a cure. I knew the trick for bonding HDPE plastic was to pull the mold release to the surface using a propane torch. Thinking it was oil contamination I tried that and it sort of works but was not the solution. After a wh...

I'd work on your budget a little and see if you can't improve it a bit. One of the most common problems you're going to run into when building boats is that you will have uphill corner welding in confined spaces. A foot pedal just won't be an option when you're inside the boat on your knees or layin...

Just got the pickup point. It is South San Francisco, Ca. I did a quick search and someone on weld.com say's that Everlast and AHP are one in the same. Oh well, maybe I won't need customer service but if I do, I know exactly where they are because I picked up my old Everlast rather than let UPS beat...