Welding Tips and Tricks

This is my first part on this forum, been watching Jody's videos for a while now.

I've been tig welding at work for about a year and a half and have been wanting to get my own tig. Well I got a everlast powertig 185 about 3 months ago and have been trying to geta few projects welding. A guy I work with wanted me to make him a tray out of stainless steel. I've got the stainless, got it cut out, and just need to bend it and weld it. My question is, can i get a weld with decent results using aluminum as backing? I just dint have the capability right now to back purge the welds.

Aluminum will work fine just make sure it it tight to the joint and covers the entire joint.

Welcome to the forum.

dsmabe,
Welcome to the forum! I agree, alum backing held tightly in the joint will work well. There are other methods as well. I have used aluminum foil wrapped tightly in the corner, there are products like Solar Flux that would work as well.
-Jonathan

Thanks everyone for the advise, when I bought the stainless, I bought some aluminum angle that has a sharp outside corner to use for backing. I've been trying to get a chance to finish it up and have been watching a few videos on welding stainless. Watching those made me want to get advice on using the aluminum as backing, since this is a 1 off piece and I'd have to order a new sheet of stainless if it's messed up, I want to get it right the first time.

I understand wanting to get it right. For the best help, get us some pictures before you begin. How thick/thin is the material. If you have never some this before it might be best to do a few practice runs, if applicable.
-Jonathan

I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I get a chance to get back to welding. It is 20 ga. 304 stainless and I planned on making the welds outside corner joints. Although part of me wants to try welding it from the inside since the tray is going to have water in it all the time.

20g open outside corner can be troublesome for a beginner, the alum backing will really help. I'd start at 40-50amps with a .040"-.0625" tungsten, #7 cup and 10cfh, I'd also use a .030-.035 filler rod (mig wire can also be used).

If this is a closed outside corner and your just fusing that would work as well but I prefer to add a little filler personally.

I tried getting a smaller filler rod but the smallest my local supply shops had was 1/16. I've been using 3/32 tungsten sharpened to a needle point. I've even tried my hand at welding razor blades. I'll see if i can post a picture.

dsmabe wrote:I tried getting a smaller filler rod but the smallest my local supply shops had was 1/16. I've been using 3/32 tungsten sharpened to a needle point. I've even tried my hand at welding razor blades. I'll see if i can post a picture.

If you can do an outside corner on those razor blades, you'll do that tank with your eyes closed!

Okay,

First, NICE!

Second... Too much spare time?



Well done.

Steve S

Lol, thanks, and no, not nearly enough free time. It's been about a month working on a project that should have taken maybe an hour. But I did have to start a side project to finish the original.

Ok, I don't even think I can weld razor blades that good! You will be fine. A inside weld really isn't necessary and it is a lot harder to do than the outside.
-Jonathan

Woah, that's good. Got details on the settings you used, out of interest?

3/32 e3 tungsten sharpened to a needle point. Aluminum backing, 15cfh, 5 amps (as low as the machine would go) and actually had 1 blade overlap the other by about .5mm

Figured I'd update here, been busy with work, sick, appointments, etc. But was able to spend a little time in the garage late this evening. Finished a homemade metal brake to bend some stainless, only to find out a design oversight in the stainless tray I'm building kept me from using the brake I made.
The top of the tray is wider than the base, so if I used the brake, I would have bent a extra bend in the sides leaving me nothing to weld.
I ended up getting the tray bent, clamped some aluminum angle for backing and realized I have to pick up some deeper clamps to hold the aluminum all the way to the bottom.
So there's where I am for now, got some great practice in with my tig and fired up my small flux core welder. Got some great welds with it, was thinking about making a mock weld and cutting it to see the weld nugget. Was trying a different technique and seemed to burn in really good for a 110v flux core.
Anyway, hope to pick up a few things tomorrow, and get the time, and finally wrap this little project up. I'll post a picture when it's done.