Welding Tips and Tricks

So when welding aluminum I make a point with a blunt end to start. While welding the point never balls, using 30% balance. It get these little spikey ends. It does it on Grey, Blue and Red tungsten. Any ideas why it does that? I always see people with perfectly round ball on the tungsten. I have yet to see that.

For 2% thoriated (red) that is expected, as far as the other blends it could be that you're welding near the top limit of the electrodes amp capability for the given diameter. For aluminum I don't start out with a long taper, use maybe a 60* or there abouts angle with a slight blunt and see if that helps.

Adam35C wrote:It get these little spikey ends.

What you describe is known as nodules. As Richard points out, it can happen when pushing a tungsten with high amperage on a given tungsten diameter.

Adam35C wrote:It does it on Grey, Blue and Red tungsten.

It is most common on Red, but I have seen it on Blue with poor or improper balance when using AC.

You mentioned using 30% balance on your machine. That is not ideal to ball the end of your tungsten, as I understand it, but I don't ball my tungsten. I think using higher percentage will make it easier to ball the tip, like 50%. Then turn it back down to 30% to use it. I use blue for everything and blunt it for AC as Richard describes, some refer to as a crayon tip. A lot of people like to ball the end for AC.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

Adam35C wrote:It get these little spikey ends.[/quotes]
What you describe is known as nodules. As Richard points out, it can happen when pushing a tungsten with high amperage on a given tungsten diameter.

Adam35C wrote:It does it on Grey, Blue and Red tungsten.

It is most common on Red, but I have seen it on Blue with poor or improper balance when using AC.

You mentioned using 30% balance on your machine. That is not ideal to ball the end of your tungsten, as I understand it, but I don't ball my tungsten. I think using higher percentage will make it easier to ball the tip, like 50%. Then turn it back down to 30% to use it. I use blue for everything and blunt it for AC as Richard describes, some refer to as a crayon tip. A lot of people like to ball the end for AC.

^^This^^

Just set the balance to 50% and hold the torch/tungsten perfectly perpendicular to a piece of scrap. Set your amps high and ramp it up fairly quickly while watching the ball form. You'll see the tungsten tip start to melt and form the ball, and once it starts to wiggle/flutter a bit and the ball diameter becomes about even with the tungsten, start to ramp down.

I typically only do that when welding thicker AL. Not really needed any other times.