Welding Tips and Tricks

HI,

I'm a hobbyist with def a hobbyist setup.

For weeks I've been aiming to get a nice fillet on Aluminium. I went thru the usual beginner level symptoms like the sides would melt before the root even looked like it would melt, filler rod burning away, again before root even was getting hot, boomerang - shaped weld above root with no penetration in root itself etc etc … all I think pretty much to do with arc length being too long and torch angle too wide.

So I persevered and took it right back to basics which for me was autogenous welding. I am now able to get the root puddling ok and now starting to practice welding with filler again. But the next step is managing the heat as every weld I seem to do overcooks the aluminium quick. Is this just a case of more seat time or simply just don't try and weld the whoel length at once?

I've attached some shots of what I've been able to do so far. If you're laughing, fair enough but I've been happy just to get a reasonable bead happening. As shown, everything just looks overheated and on my machine if you drop the tungsten in (by mistake of course) it creates a big soot explosion (black spots in the photos).

The way the welds are wide and sunken in makes me think everything is getting waaayyy too hot but the root puddle doesn't seem to want to move until I jam down harder on the foot pedal and that of course adds more heat in.

The middle weld is the most recent and after a pretty bad start on the right edge with too long an arc and burn back on the legs, I managed to get it going. The other top and bottom welds are playing around welding autogenously initially then going back over with filler and then going over it all again and again.

Let me know what might help, thanks.

your welding on small bits of metal so they will heat soak very very quickly.
so you will need to get off the pedal and most likely only do short welds.
having said that you still need to start nice and hot so your not waiting around for a puddle.
its travel speed that builds up the heat. so going hotter and faster can keep the work cooler.

If your fillet welds sink at the root, you’re not adding enough filler. While everything Tweake said is also relevant, once you get going, stuffing filler in helps cool the puddle, build the profile, and buy you some time.

You can run hotter if you step up the filler wire size. If these welds were with 3/32, jump to 1/8th with the same settings and notice the difference. But ultimately you’re bending a learning curve and that takes time, material, patience, and good techniques. And nobody lays a perfect weld every time. Nobody.

I’d encourage you to do some drills this way:
Same setup. Start in the middle. Establish a puddle and weld for 1-1/2” to 2”. Stop. Move to the next piece and repeat. Come back to the first piece, and make another 2” weld away from the first. You’re practicing starts and stops and getting your timing dialed in for feeding wire, travel speed, and your tapered finishes. Try not to snap the arc off at the end and leave a fish eye. Taper your amps.

Keep adding 2” welds until you tie the segments together, moving between the stacks.this type of practice is time consuming but short span focused. And it makes you work on the hard things: starts (use full pedal and get a puddle quickly) tapering your heat to keep the puddle, travel speed and filler ratios, and stops (tapered finishes).

You’ll be surprised at how quickly you develop better skills and heat management. You can drop the material into a bucket of clean water to quench while practicing. This helps save you some time.

Far out that's perfect thanks for the responses guys.

I will set up for drills as you said and yeah I was using 1/16" 4043 filler so I will try a size up. Tungsten is 3/32 blue tip.

5vzfehilux wrote:Far out that's perfect thanks for the responses guys.

I will set up for drills as you said and yeah I was using 1/16" 4043 filler so I will try a size up. Tungsten is 3/32 blue tip.

i would get some 3/32 5356 filler and practise with that.