Welding Tips and Tricks

These are just some 45 degree drop pieces I welded up for practice. It helped me out with different fit ups and different welds. It thins out in the middle on some pieces and makes me have to let off the peddle also. Some of the fit ups had small gaps because of the welds and I had to fill the gaps too. There's a butt weld, a fillet and a groove weld. At least I got a little use out of those useless pieces of scrap. I also have a picture of some padded beads I've been running. Good practice. Any comments are more than welcome.

Looks like some nice beads, I'm sure the pieces heated up fast and you had to deal with that, good job

Remember to fill those craters at the end. That's where most aluminum welds fail. Other than that pretty nice on the beads and the use of scraps.

Yeah that one crater was because I'm a tight wad and got too close to the fingers and just had to pull away and not let it fill. Sometimes I'll use pliers to burn every inch of filler I can
Crazy

Nice work.

I assume you are using 4043 filler? Has that typical 'sandy' finish.



Moz

Sorry I missed your post but yes I am using 4043. I've been wondering if I had something wrong because of that sandy looking bead. What do you use to have those nice shiny beads?