[Gene.243]

I am a hobby welder and want learn to weld aluminum. I would like to post pictures of my welding progress to see if it helps motivate me to improve.
Here is yesterday's effort.

[LtBadd]

The weld at the bottom looks pretty good, I'd recommend when ending your weld backing off the pedal slower and add filler to eliminate the flat spot and crater

[Gene.243]

Thank you,
I'll give that a try.

[Gene.243]

I managed to get some more practice. Here is this morning's work.

[pgk]

Your getting there Gene, like Richard mentioned just make sure to lower amperage at the end of the bead and add extra filler, craters and the end are known for cracking.

[Gene.243]

Still making headways.

[nelson]

Not too shabby! How thick is the plate?

[Gene.243]

It's 1/8 inch thick.
Just like Jodi says to start with.

[Gene.243]

Today was more about playing than serious practice but I did learn how much power it takes to weld the middle bead in this pattern.

[Gene.243]

Since I was playing I decided to try some lap joints and eventually ended up getting to joints similar to the ladder I want to build. Here is the good one.

[Gene.243]

Then I tried to fix the other side. It looks to me like bad argon flow, but what I'm curious about is where did the blue come from?

[Gene.243]

Let me try to maximize the spot.

[cj737]

Did you use a chemical to clean the aluminum before you welded it? That blue is not something I've seen, but it certainly looks as though the start of that weld is rather wonky. No gas, or tungsten touching the alloy, or both...

[Gene.243]

This happened on the second pass. i.e. All the ugly welding along the long end was already cool. I was starting a weld on the short side when this happened.

[Gene.243]

The metal has been welded and cut several times, I do that practicing. The partial weld along the right side of the spot may be from a previous weld.

[LtBadd]

I was thinking maybe if you hit the tungsten it could be vaporized filler wire? If you didn't then maybe a spot of contamination within the parent metal

[Gene.243]

Today's practice felt like it went well.

[Gene.243]

Here is a full size cropped area of the bottom weld. I need to see if I can get the picture to post of a close-up.

[Gene.243]

I'm working on keeping the filler rod close to the puddle and making even ripples.

[nelson]

Strange blue. Your practice looks good to me, even and structural. Those craters are an easy fix if you want. You using pedal, 4T or 2 T?
Nelson

[Gene.243]

I'm on a pedal. Don't have 2T or 4T.

[Gene.243]

Had another practice session today.
I'm working on watching the key-hole and dabbing on the top.

[Gene.243]

There I was minding my own business when this wasp attacked me. Well, not exactly me but the arc! All I knew was that the arc went funky just as I started. When I looked, there was a wasp laying right there.

[Poland308]

Better him than you.

[cj737]

Insects love TIG arcs, it's UV light after all I have them play Kamikaze all the time whenever the shop door is open. They never get all the way down before they get zapped though.