Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm welding 1/4" AL rod to 5/8" AL rod, perpendicular, like the picture shows.

I'm doing this with a 3/32" red tungsten, 3/32" 4043 filler rod, 50/50 penetration/cleaning, no pulse, 100% Argon at about 125 amps.

Trouble is, my arc is so wide that even though I am attempting to direct all of the heat at the 5/8" rod and just kiss the 1/4" to form a puddle, I tend to blow the 1/4" away. And when I don't blow it away, my weld is not particularly aesthetically pleasing. It's a weld but it could be a lot better. And I've seen others do this same weld quite nicely.

I'd appreciate anyone's suggestions as to how I might approach this and handle it a little more efficiently.

Jon

can you even get a puddle on the 5/8" at 125 amps ??
i would have expected somewhere in the 180-200+ amp range.
you may be over heating everything which is why the 1/4" was blown away.

any reason for the 50/50 ac balance ?

what sort of point do you have on the tungsten? i would go for a blunt crayon tip.
with 50/50 balance you might need to go up a tungsten size.

tweake wrote:can you even get a puddle on the 5/8" at 125 amps ?? No, you can’t even get close.

you may be over heating everything which is why the 1/4" was blown away. Bingo

To get a puddle on th 5/8, turn your machine up to about 250 amps. Turn your balance to 75%. Use a 1/8” tungsten.

Basically, you are way UNDERSIZE on your gear. If your box won’t produce 250 amps, crank it up as high as it will go, and preheat the 5/8”. You can get the 1/4” to weld to the 5/8” at a lower temp, but the 5/8” has to be ready for a puddle. The material thickness difference with aluminum, especially thicker aluminum, is very challenging to say the least.

Irrespective of how “aesthetically pleasing” your weld is, it still won’t be strong. That joint is pretty weak as I suspect you know. If you want it stronger, and slightly easier to weld, drill a 1/4” hole through the 5/8” rod, pass the 1/4” rod all the way in, then weld the end up. It will take less heat, weld faster, and allow you to buff it flat and back to round.

Yep - we're back to getting a bigger machine again...

Mine tops out at 185amps.

Fortunately, that 5/8" rod is only 7" long so it heats up pretty quick-like.

I was drilling a hole into the 5/8" and doing it that way. But the 5/8" is the "handle" for the frame and it takes some weight when you have it at an angle so they tended to break right where the hole was.

I'll see about getting a new machine and in the meantime, I'll just max out my little PT185 and preheat to make this a little easier.

Thanks, guys.

Jon