Welding Tips and Tricks

Aaron
hats off.
would love to see some pics of your shop.
(if they are not classified,lol)
craig

motox wrote:Aaron
hats off.
would love to see some pics of your shop.
(if they are not classified,lol)
craig

Top secret, sorry.


Just kidding, I haven't taken any good photos of the shop. If I do, I'll post them.

Aaron@6061.com wrote: ...I can make them look just as good with my old Syncrowave 180 other than the white etched area on the sides of the weld is much wider. I think a lot of people get discouraged and think they would be a much better welder if only they had more expensive equipment, but I don't that is true for the most part...

I have to agree wholeheartedly with this.

If you have solid equipment (there is some junk out there), your results are the product of your hands and eyes, not the technology.

Aaron, you do beautiful work. Aluminum is a favorite of mine, and I don't get to weld it often enough.

Steve S

Sir Aaron ( I give the title of knight in welding ) , I'm impress too , I have never seen work like this , do you accept me a student of yours as in the films where
the student is willing to do anything just to get close to the master and his teachings.I'm in Greece but I'm willing to swim the
Atlantic to US.I'm trying many years and I cannot do a decent welding , for this reason I bought a very expensive machine
to help me to achieve better results.

Aaron@6061.com wrote:

Rick_H wrote:Nice work indeed....hope to finally make one of those later this summer after I finish my sheet metal intake for my 4.6 with a 100mm Accufab. I've done a lot of testing with TBs over the years Accufab is right at the top, the Wilson Manifolds pieces did well also.

Beautiful work I'm assuming those are done with an newer Dynasty setup

Thanks. Yeah, I use a Dynasty 350. I can make them look just as good with my old Syncrowave 180 other than the white etched area on the sides of the weld is much wider. I think a lot of people get discouraged and think they would be a much better welder if only they had more expensive equipment, but I don't that is true for the most part.

Accufab makes the highest quality throttle bodies in my opinion... I have seen all brands and that's why I am a dealer for only Accufab. Oh, and I think you must mean some other size than 100mm. To the best of my knowledge, they don't offer a 100mm. I sell a ton of 90mm and 105mm ones in the old 5.0 Mustang bolt pattern. Hit me up when you are ready to purchase one if you haven't already.

Yeah it's a F105mm typeo before, had it a few years but I'm thinking of going to the clamshell setup by welding on the ferrule they offer. I'll keep you in mind, I still build motors but not nearly as many as I use to after switching day jobs. I used another one of my contacts in the industry that's an Accufab dealer, they do make an impressive piece.

I agree on the machine but technology sure has helped if you know what your doing with those settings. I remember the first time I used a 350LX Dynasty for a weld test..when it was done they allowed me to mess around, I was very impressed. One may find its way in my shop shortly. If you dont mind me asking whos cores do you like on the A/W units? Beautiful work!

This threads makes.me want to crank out some Alum practice, I weld stainless nearly 98% of the time now days.

Aaron@6061.com wrote:Weld settings:
60-350 hertz. Doesn't really matter... I get tired of the same sound so I change it around. Just make sure your puddle isn't shaking around a lot. One time I had it at 145 hz and it did not like that for some reason... The puddle was shaking all over the place. I changed it a few HZ and it stabilized.
200A EN
150A EP
80% balance
15CFH gas flow (for indoor welding with zero air movement)

Care to elaborate on the gas your using...straight argon or a custom blend?

Sir Aaron and rest of forum , definitely there is something more than the usual , me too I want to know please all details possible to the Technic used , like the rod diameter if it is gas lens , what size tungsten ,type , alumina diameter everything .
If is acetone cleaned before welding . Many can try but few can win a metal in olympic games of welding still I'm Impressed
well done Sir Aaron ...

Rick_H wrote: If you dont mind me asking whos cores do you like on the A/W units? Beautiful work!

I never got too serious about selling A/W intercoolers, so I just told my customers to send me whatever cores they liked. If I remember correctly, Bell intercooler cores were the best to work with (but sometimes pretty pricey depending on dimensions). I haven't built any intercoolers for probably 6 years. This was one of the last ones I did:

dunkster wrote: Care to elaborate on the gas your using...straight argon or a custom blend?

Straight argon unless I'm welding 1/2" or thicker aluminum. Then I use a 75Argon/25Helium mix.

ESENTI wrote:Sir Aaron and rest of forum , definitely there is something more than the usual , me too I want to know please all details possible to the Technic used , like the rod diameter if it is gas lens , what size tungsten ,type , alumina diameter everything .
If is acetone cleaned before welding . Many can try but few can win a metal in olympic games of welding still I'm Impressed
well done Sir Aaron ...

I just bought 3 cameras and I'm going to start making an aluminum fabrication welding how-to video for beginner and intermediate welders. I'll attempt to get the cameras set up to grasp my point of view, a side view (to show filler rod feeding technique), a foot pedal view and/or welder output view, all at the same time. I'll show and explain absolutely everything, from start to finish. Not only the welding side of things, but also the fabrication and fitment from start to finish. I'll show every single tool I use, and explain why.

There are several misconceptions about aluminum welding that seem to almost be set in stone as the "standard", or the "right way to do it" that I personally don't agree with, and I'll explain those too.

I'll be using a simple Miller Syncrowave 180 and also Miller Dynasty 350.

Aaron or one of my new friends out there please explain to me what 200A EN , 150A EP , 80% balance means as I'm learning on a 210 EXT 2015 model this is not really making sense . I'm guessing its some settings on that miller 350. Thanks
Troy

Troy Boy 72 wrote:Aaron or one of my new friends out there please explain to me what 200A EN , 150A EP , 80% balance means as I'm learning on a 210 EXT 2015 model this is not really making sense . I'm guessing its some settings on that miller 350. Thanks
Troy

On the higher end TIG welders, the EN (electrode negative) and EP (electrode positive) amperages can be adjusted independently. Those settings may not be available on your welder.

Here is an article that goes into more detail about wave balance:
https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/a ... ce-control

Jody has a Youtube video on this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG4ZOwSw9CQ

Aaron@6061.com wrote:

ESENTI wrote:Sir Aaron and rest of forum , definitely there is something more than the usual , me too I want to know please all details possible to the Technic used , like the rod diameter if it is gas lens , what size tungsten ,type , alumina diameter everything .
If is acetone cleaned before welding . Many can try but few can win a metal in olympic games of welding still I'm Impressed
well done Sir Aaron ...

I just bought 3 cameras and I'm going to start making an aluminum fabrication welding how-to video for beginner and intermediate welders. I'll attempt to get the cameras set up to grasp my point of view, a side view (to show filler rod feeding technique), a foot pedal view and/or welder output view, all at the same time. I'll show and explain absolutely everything, from start to finish. Not only the welding side of things, but also the fabrication and fitment from start to finish. I'll show every single tool I use, and explain why.

There are several misconceptions about aluminum welding that seem to almost be set in stone as the "standard", or the "right way to do it" that I personally don't agree with, and I'll explain those too.

I'll be using a simple Miller Syncrowave 180 and also Miller Dynasty 350.

Will be following with interest.

Hey thanks Aaron , as a learner (self taught ) I'm finding somethings little more confusing than others but with the more practise and seat time i get combined with reading and help from the awesome guys here the more I'm understanding and welding better .Im also noticing more and more things every time i light up. Thanks also for taking the time to start making some videos ,I'm sure they will be very knowledgeable . thanks
Troy

Welded this aluminum boat rack for fishing pole and net storage. Had some trouble with the tubing bringing lots of crud up into the weld. never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks John.

Hollywood1 wrote:Welded this aluminum boat rack for fishing pole and net storage. Had some trouble with the tubing bringing lots of crud up into the weld. never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks John.

@tamjeff

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Hollywood1 wrote:Welded this aluminum boat rack for fishing pole and net storage. Had some trouble with the tubing bringing lots of crud up into the weld. never had this problem. Any ideas? Thanks John.

@tamjeff

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Finally, a project for me!

My version of an Alaskan chain saw mill. Decided to incorporate some delrin guides for stability, given the diameter logs being cut. Very pleased how it performed, though a ripping chain I'm sure would've sped things up a bit. Sorry for the pic quality.

Well it obviously works a treat, but I gotta tell you I'm glad that thing's in Florida and I'm down under.

Coldman wrote:....but I gotta tell you I'm glad that thing's in Florida and I'm down under.

Something about these things I don't know about?

It's probably me that don't know about it. Its just that its looks to me like one vice-grip slip away from loosing a leg or two. Not trying to be funny or anything its just how it looks to me.

Lol, got it. I guess one could see it that way.

No the bar was clamped using two 1/2" bolts at each clamp, so that wasn't going anywhere. The weld clamp you see was put on to use as a handle so the guides had even load, otherwise it would bind up. And cut was being made on the back cut side of bar, not the usual side...so yes, I was pulling on the clamp, not pushing on it. Chose that direction so that in case of a chain break, the uncut portion of log would retain it somewhat vs. swinging thru the gap from the cut and taking parts of me with it. Hope that made sense.

I made 30 of these this week. Not supposed to say what it is, probably shouldn't post pictures online, but I'm proud of them and I figured that you guys might enjoy a peek.

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.


Kym

Advancedynamix wrote:

I made 30 of these this week. Not supposed to say what it is, probably shouldn't post pictures online, but I'm proud of them and I figured that you guys might enjoy a peek.

Beautiful work, I noticed it is MIL-STD 2219 class A welds. You should be proud.