Welding Tips and Tricks

Total noob here with TIG welding. Well... Noob on all this really...

I've watched Jody's aluminum drill videos about 20 times, starting to quote him in parts of it. Got my aluminum, some filler material. Using 3/16 aluminum (what I got from a remnant pile) and 3/32 lanthanated tungsten. Foot pedal set to 150 amps max (so, not stomping on the peddle all the way maybe using 120 amps?), 10-15 scfm argon, AC, AC balance about 65%. Everlast TIG welder. Cleaned aluminum with acetone prior to welding.

Seems that once I get the puddle started, I go along pretty well. But, I have trouble getting it started. I can see the arc start, see it clean thru the oxide layer and start, but when I go to move and add filler, the filler balls up, gets all gooey (technical term, I know...). I'll bugger around with that for a second or two then all of a sudden that stops and I'm going along kinda making dimes, adding filler. The beginning part looks like crap, the rest, still crap because I need to getting better at this but it looks like a weld.

So, at the start of bead, do you have to go low amps to high? Or just hit it? Do you have to pause at the start longer? I do notice that Jody seems to pause at the beginning.

Thanks!

I would try the following in the order below.

1. The AC balance on your everlast machine provides an electrode positive reading which is opposite Miller machines, so you should set it at 25% or 30%. 65% on that machine is going to burn up your electrode and rob tons of heat from going into your aluminum.

2. I would bump your amp setting to 170 or 180. That will give you the start up punch you need to get your puddle going quickly using full pedal before backing off a little to run your bead.

3. You may want to use a No. 7 or 8 cup and bump your argon flow to 20 CFH.

4. You are on the border line between using a 3/32 rod vs 1/8 rod. A 1/8 rod will be better able to hold together longer under your shielding gas.

Good Luck

You should also be wire brushing the oxide layer on aluminum with a brush dedicated to aluminum only. Using too small of filler will cause it to melt off before you get it in the puddle. Also if you have a bad torch angle and you are pointing your arc at your filler it will goober up. You don't need to stomp the pedal to get a puddle started, just press it down til you see it start to form and keep your amps in that range as you move. You have to be doing everything right on aluminum as every mistake gets magnified and things go bad on aluminum right quick so you need to be on your game to weld it.

Good info! I'll give it a go and see how I do. Thanks!

I've been doing all sorts of aluminum (AL) welds lately mainly with 1/8 and 1/16 AL. You're using the same Amps that I use and I get great results BUT I can get those goobers from time to time on my filler. I'm using 1/8 4943 and 3/32 4043. I get more goobers on my 1/8 than the 3/32 but I know why it happens when I do it.....

The reason is because I'm keeping my filler too close to the arc. I need to keep it I'm guessing about 1" away or further when I go to start my puddle but I can get away with about 1/2" as I travel. The reason I have to keep it a bit farther away to start with is because I'm letting that cleaning action happen. I have to wait till I get a real puddle going before I start filling.

If you get a puddle about the size or double of your 3/32 tungsten, it's usually not big enough for the filler because it doesn't feed into the puddle, it just cools it and then all the heat immediately melts the tip of the filler into your goobers. You CAN get away with this size but the chances of the goober is pretty likely. Sometimes this is useful with say my 1/8 rod because it thins it out a bit and sometimes gives me a more pointed tip to help deal with a really small weld I need to do. I wish I had 3/32 for my 4943 but 1/8 was all I can find and apparently I bought the last box from Amazon/weldfabulous. Usually it's just a PITA so keep your distance as your start and I'd say if you can get a puddle about 3-4x the size of your tungsten/filler you're ready to rock. I have yet to have a goober when I start doing this.

As for Jody letting campin out on the start of his puddle, this is only to let the cleaning action happen. You CAN hit that pedal to the max 150A you've got and get it going in about 1 second but generally you want to give it about 2-3 seconds to let the cleaning action work for you. If you're working on a corner anything longer than 3 seconds might be something you regret so getting the puddle faster can sometimes be your friend. If you clean your stuff up really well then getting the 1 second of cleaning to puddle doesn't hurt that often but if you get a black ring, well you shoulda cleaned more whether it be manual or with your AC/arc action.

Random n00b tip that you should take with a grain of salt.... I occasionally dip tungsten or stab it with filler and get a black ring but I don't always clean up or grind immediately after. I often just TIG on. I've gotten comfortable and had enough situations where the black is only for the area I screwed up at and the rest of my continued travel has no issues. Don't take my word for it though because I clean my stuff up really well, and I'm still a n00b too but as you practice it can't hurt to continue on from time to time so you can see/compare the differences

Last point... How do you know your aluminum is clean (prior to your acetone/cloth wipe)? If you can see extrusion lines, or any sort of shiny to your aluminum then you've got some more sanding/grinding to do. Use a flap disc with like 60-120 grit on a grinder, you'll be thankful but there are other fancier materials you can use. Regardless if you can see your silhouette on the piece, it is not TIG ready.

PaterNovem wrote: I can see the arc start, see it clean thru the oxide layer and start, but when I go to move and add filler, the filler balls up, gets all gooey (technical term, I know...).

You may have watched them 20 times, but you might have missed the 20 times that he got the arc started and waited to get a clearn shiny puddle (like a mirror) before he added filler medal.

Do you see how the puddle is like a mirror, or liquid mercury? You can see the reflection of the tungsten ball in the puddle . That's how your puddle needs to be, along with having the correct torch angle and feed rate of the filler rod. If you have those 3 down, there's no way you'll have issues. Unless your ground is shady.

Was messing with this today. I think I was definitely trying to go to soon. Also, as was mentioned earlier, you can't hang out with your filler rod too close to the arc as you are moving along. Especially the 1/16" stuff. Just melts away!

I'm getting the hang of it. Just need that under-the-hood time Jody mentions. I was playing with the pulse today also. that's interesting; certainly helps along the edges.

Thanks for all the great info!