[Bill Beauregard]

My experience with an inverter does not suggest this. I have Never used as much EP to weld aluminum except with transformer machines where I couldn't adjust.

I confess I've never used a Syncrowave. When I was drooling about the best aluminum TIG, Older weldors said Syncrowave!!!! The Dynasty series was a real contender, but I couldn't believe a 50 lb welder could do what a Syncrowave could.

I don't know Syncrowave, but I'd want to start at 70% EN for AC. Watch your etch line. You want the etch line slightly wider than the weld

[Bill Beauregard]

I'm concerned about the "fusion pass" aluminum (it gets complicated, I'd need two pages) doesn't work well without filler.
Two passes is OK, both need filler.

[SMFRyan]

To be honest there is probably no need for an inverter in my shop, we are a job shop and 90% of the work we do is just simple mild steel or stainless steel. I would just like to try adjusting the frequency on some aluminum jobs amd a pulser would be great. Funny ive never used anything but syncrowaves lol. The one im using on this job is probably as old or older than me and its only been serviced 2 times, its a work horse to say the least.
As for the fusion, ive always been under the impression it was pointless on aluminum since its about as strong as a wet paper bag and will probably crack anyway.
Honestly im probably doing it for all the wrong reasons, the old welder did it, thats where the ideal came from. And the groove is so tight, it opened it up a little bit and its easy to see it fusing all the way down to the root.

All that being said, now that the setup is perfected a bit so to say i will try another one tomorrow with 1 pass with filler. I bet it goes alot better.
That would help speed the job up a bit as well which is great. Next i need to mess around with faster cleaning and pre-heating methods. Right now im just using a rose bud on my O/A torch

[Oscar]

The less cleaning (less EP), the better the tungsten will hold it's point, and the sharper the arc focus. 1/8" will definitely survive better than 3/32", just give it a very blunt taper with a flat, and it should "ball" just a tiny bit and stay there.

This is how I setup my 5/32" tungsten for my new TIG. It's been holding up good. 2% Ce.

[SMFRyan]

Hey Oscar, that last pic you posted is cut off a bit, cant see the tip of your electrode, same thing on my phone and pc at home. I assume its a blunt taper?

Id like to talk about my gas setup. I used a "Y" going in to the machine with 2 shutoff valves so I can shut off helium when not in use. Then I have 2 regulators one on 100% argon and 1 on 100% helium.On this job im flowing about 20 cfh on argon and 10 cfh on helium and it seems to work pretty good. I upped the helium until it had a brownish soot on the work piece then backed it off til it went away.
This is through a gas lens, is that too much gas flow? Also I do pre flow a bit before striking a arc but I still wonder how good of a mix I am getting. Would it be better to just return the helium and get a 75/25 bottle?

[Oscar]

This forum sucks for displaying pictures. right click, or hold-click and open image in new tab.

As for your gas setup, 30 CFH is a waste, IMO, unless you happen to need that much flow due to a long tungsten stickout past the cup. I do have a question for you regarding your helium tank/flowrate: are you using a flowmeter that is actually scaled/calibrated for 100% helium gas?

[SMFRyan]

Ahhhh i see that works. Still using a #6 cup with the 5/32? Were you welding some thick AL or do you just prefer the bigger tungsten?

I know i have one helium reg but its been so long since ive been in the welding booth im not 100% its on the right bottle. Ill check in the morning and report back

[Oscar]

Ahhhh i see that works. Still using a #6 cup with the 5/32? Were you welding some thick AL or do you just prefer the bigger tungsten?

I know i have one helium reg but its been so long since ive been in the welding booth im not 100% its on the right bottle. Ill check in the morning and report back

That's actually a #8 cup, but it looks like a #6 because it's a 5/32" tungsten. I used that tungsten simply to test things out on my new TIG. I was actually surprised how well the machine was able to hold a stable arc at low amperages on such a large tungsten.

Very curious to see which flowmeter/regulator you are using, thanks. (ppsst: if you are using an argon regulator, and the ballfloat/dial is showing 10CFH, it's actually flowing 32 CFH of He)

[Simclardy]

Seems like your getting a method to work.
I just saw this video and thought it might give you ideas
Cheers

https://youtu.be/b1dCZyH_NBI


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[SMFRyan]

My reg is calibrated for helium but your right oscar, i was looking at the argon scale O.o


Havent had a chance to watch that entire vid yet, but i have tried welding AL on dc with 100% helium before not going to bother with it anymore lol it wasnt good to say the least.

[Simclardy]

My reg is calibrated for helium but your right oscar, i was looking at the argon scale O.o


Havent had a chance to watch that entire vid yet, but i have tried welding AL on dc with 100% helium before not going to bother with it anymore lol it wasnt good to say the least.

I believe you. I've never tried it. It does not look fun and probably takes some getting used to.
I might try it in a "last resort" situation.



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[Oscar]

My reg is calibrated for helium but your right oscar, i was looking at the argon scale O.o


Havent had a chance to watch that entire vid yet, but i have tried welding AL on dc with 100% helium before not going to bother with it anymore lol it wasnt good to say the least.

So yea, I'd say you're wasting quite a bit of expensive helium flowing ~30CFH of it. Depending on your tig nozzle size, you can do 50/50 Ar/He with a lot less flow of each. Since I can't see the He scale, I can only assume it is like the Miller/Smith regulators that will not let you accurately dial in low flowrates of helium. I use Dakota Instruments flowmeters to dial in more precise measurements. I just leave the regulator wide open without the ball-float, and then that lets the Dakota flowmeter work as intended:









I actually have an order to make one specifically for Ar/He, but he wants it a little nicer using aluminum for the housing. Let me know if you would like pricing.

[Olivero]

I'm drooling in my chair over those welds.

Ah (sigh), I love clean aluminum, welds so much better than the dirty crap.

As for the welding, for one, your welds look spectacular, absolutely awesome, looks like the right amount of heat, consistent motion and angle and boy oh boy.

Now, for the strength, realize any metal is weakened when it's heated so the more times you bring it up to liquidus state (that's for you Oscar) the more weakened it will be, it may not be a problem it might be a problem, you never know but I weld everything like a sub, not that I know how to weld subs but I weld it like it's critical and I do my best.

I would aim for just running it hot as a motherf'er and then run it along, make sure you get deep penetration but aluminum does not like to fuse, most fused welds will have hairline cracks and if you run a pass over a hairline crack, you still have that hairline crack in most cases. I would run it once and run it good.

Them ripples though, damn.

[SMFRyan]

Thanks for the compliments Olivero! I quit doing the fusion pass, it took a bit of getting used to but the welds are looking like the one on the last page, of coarse I didnt think to take a pic got into a hurry. I sent about 50 of these, they tested about 20~25 or so and not one single leak yet! I have a setup to test here now as well, ill post some pics once I get back on that job, had to stop and some stainless. I am going as fast and hot as I can without havinh to worry about overheating or not penetrating all the way to the root, plus weve never had one of these break, just leaks over the years. There was one break on a manifold weld but we think it was because the system was installed wrong and fell off the wall lol...

Oh yeah... the notorious manifolds... those always leak and have to be rewelded and they are more difficult to weld. Its a bunch of cope joints Ill get pics of those as well but I need much practice to make them look good.

[SMFRyan]

Heres my reg Oscar, I thought I had the helium scale in the pic, Ill go get another. Flowing 10 cfh of helium on this thing is just about the minimum it can flow and very touchy at that low flow rate. Actually Im sure you dont need to see it, the scale starts at 20

[SMFRyan]

Its been a busy couple of weeks but Im getting back on this aluminum today.
I am happy to report there are zero leaks in the first batch of filter housings! I really feel they were leaking due to porosity in the welds which was likely happening because of my old welders desire to completely skip cleaning and run like 20%EN on the balance O.o Also poor setup i.e. wrong tungsten, wrong work piece position etc..
Well anyways I am going to do a batch of manifolds, these come in this way with the bungs tack welded in place. Not sure why they put such a huge bevel on it but I am going to see if they can omit it since they make these in house. These manifolds always have a ton of leaks and I am sure its also due to the lack of cleaning and poor machine set up.
Anyway its gonna take a ton of practice to make these look good, thoughts on torch path? Probably going to do it in 4 segments and see how it goes.

[tweake]

Well anyways I am going to do a batch of manifolds, these come in this way with the bungs tack welded in place. Not sure why they put such a huge bevel on it but I am going to see if they can omit it since they make these in house.

i would also get them to do a small good tack. ie get a welder to do the tacking.
your going to have tack that in place and grind that hunk of snot off it.

as you mentioned already, the prep work is so important and is 90% of the job.
i would be inclined to grab their jig and do all the prep work.

[Simclardy]

That tack is asking for trouble

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[SMFRyan]

Yeah its pretty bad, i took the torch and tried to melt it down and blend them in but theres so many of these, i think it will take too much time to do that to all of them.
So in the future i will make a jig to eliminate tacking and lose the bevel.

Had time to try a couple. Need some practice lol

[BillE.Dee]

Ryan, looking good. I'm thinking the customer is using the bevel to locate the bung. The tack is ... well ... it is. I don't know if the customer needs a certain angle for the bung and that is how they are locating it...check with them. I also think that the bevel is playing with your eyes but you WILL get it done. Wish I were closer, I could feel a road trip. All the best .. Bill

[Poland308]

That looks like a thread o let fitting. The bevel comes standard like that to allow for use of the same olet to be welded to different diameter of pipe. Example would be that if you were welding that same olet on a 12 inch diameter pipe. There would be less bevel exposed due to the different outer radius. If you want less bevel exposed then you need to grind it off before you tack it.

https://www.mcmaster.com/threaded-pipe-outlets

This is a picture of a SS one but there all pretty much the same even when there made of different metal

[SMFRyan]

Did a small batch if these and getting used to it, what a pain lol. I am melting down the god aweful tack and letti g it crater as much as possible. Seems to help.
Pedal pulsing seems to help also.
The bevel actually doesnt locate it its just there to piss me off, it does look just like those mcmaster ones though.
In the future they will send them loose and i will make a jig to eliminate the need for tacking.

[SMFRyan]

Oh yeah, ive only had 1 leak so far, suspiciously right where one of those tack welds are.

[BillE.Dee]

SMACK !!! You got it. Very nice.