[Futterama]

This thread is a great idea!

I'm also soon to be a hobby welder, so it's nice with a thread like this to learn from others that's just starting.

Which size tungsten and filler?

How many amps do you set on the machine?

[nelson]

I'm on a pedal. Don't have 2T or 4T.

When you stop your car you lighten up on the brakes just before you stop to prevent that lurch when the wheels stop but the cars still moving a bit.

When I weld I do the same and dab a bit extra filler before the pool cools.

The thin aluminum is my toughest problem. If I haven't in a while I have to practice a bit before doing the actual parts.

[Gene.243]

This thread is a great idea!

I'm also soon to be a hobby welder, so it's nice with a thread like this to learn from others that's just starting.

Which size tungsten and filler?

How many amps do you set on the machine?

I'm glad to see someone likes it. I'm welding 1/8 inch Al with a 3/32 Tungsten and filler, with a 90 amp starting point.


No pictures today because Fido's butt.

[Gene.243]

I'm on a pedal. Don't have 2T or 4T.

When you stop your car you lighten up on the brakes just before you stop to prevent that lurch when the wheels stop but the cars still moving a bit.

When I weld I do the same and dab a bit extra filler before the pool cools.

The thin aluminum is my toughest problem. If I haven't in a while I have to practice a bit before doing the actual parts.

Many of my welds that I don't photograph get wide at the end. There is a point after about an inch that sometimes I remember to back off the pedal a bit. Sometimes I can get a button on the end, right now I am pleased if it does not crack as it cools. Yesterday I narrowed the width of my lap joints to about 1/4". Getting close. Today, Fido's butt.

[Gene.243]

I finally remembered what I changed on my power supply. I wanted to play with the cleaning balance and moved it toward more penetration. The result was not enough cleaning to see what was going on.
The good news is I'm back to my normal skill level.

[Gene.243]

Found this on the inside.

[Gene.243]

Back to my normal place to improve from.

[Gene.243]

That one looked a little cold so I tried 95 & 100 amps.

[cj737]

Try reducing the amount of filler rod you add each dab, and increase your travel distance between dabs. This will help even out your beads and flatten the fillet some.

A trick I've found helpful when approaching the end of a weld, is to begin tapering the foot pedal so I have to hold longer to get the same penetration. This does 2 things: it greatly reduces the cratering at the end, and it keeps the puddle from spreading out too flat due to accumulated heat in the base metal.

You can practice this on flat beads. Just make a 3-4" bead, get the start hot, dab, slide, dab, slide and when you reach the approximate end, ease back the pedal and make yourself hold there until the bead soaks in to be as wide as the rest of the bead. It's a very good practice drill to help with aluminum welding.

Your latest pictures show a tendency of over-filling and I would suspect that the root of that weld is probably cold or even hollow. You're melting the top of the plate (upper toe) which tells me you have lots of heat, but your arc length is either long, travel too slowly, or you're not pointing the arc into the joint. Or all of the above But you are doing pretty good work for being self taught on challenging alloy!

[Gene.243]

cj737 Thank you for your input. That was very constructive advice.
I'll give those things a try.
I can't take credit for being "self-taught," I did take an evening class at the vo-tech and the teacher still gives me advice.

[cj737]

Welding 1/8" aluminum will require more than 100 amps, at least to start. If on the pedal, crank up the amps to 150, get your puddle, then taper off until you feel like the puddle and your travel speed are comfortable for your coordination. There's no requirement to weld fast unless its stainless steel!

[Gene.243]

Thank you

[Oscar]

I have a feeling your're not actually using the whole 100 or 95 amps, but I could be wrong. Are you babying the pedal or actually giving it full throttle to get the full listed amperage?

[mtncrawler]

Hey there - another noob here so I would normally not chime in but as there are some real experts here. (I've just been lurking until now)

During my practice, I always wondered how well I modulate the pedal (how steady, how much amperage I was using...etc) as I attempted to control the weld pool on simple stringers (1/8" aluminum). What I did was use my IPhone and took a video of the control panel while I was welding. Then I played it back to see how much, when, and how steady I was actually controlling the amps used at different parts of the bead. Really opened my eyes.. Not my idea - I just remember seeing some "split" shots probably on Jody's channel or somewhere else...and thought I'd at least have a look at that aspect (I don't have the means to video the actual weld underway)

[Gene.243]

I ramp up quickly right after getting an arc started. Then move along at full throttle for an inch or so then start backing off to maintain bead width. At least that's my plan.

[Gene.243]

The learning curve, it is steep!

[raticus]

not sure if this would be of any help, but throwing my 2 cents into it... for myself, learning to do nice beads on aluminum means to at first be patient to burn through that initial oxide layer and have a nice shiny obvious puddle the size of the bead you want... then, and ONLY then start dipping and moving... and lean into your pedal hard, don't be shy, and at the same time move quickly, don't hang out... it's like, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, GO! sorta like my sport of drag racing, ya gotta be patient at the tree but then don't delay when it's time to go and floor it!... I have been into setting my amps a bunch higher than would be needed to weld with on all my metals, to give myself room to play with and to let my foot control how hot I want to go, reading the weld and adapting to it instead of relying on my settings (or anything else, like size of filler rod, types of tungsten, how clean it is, etc, etc... let the weld tell you how fast or slow, how hot or hotter to go, how much to dip or not dip)... Not sure if that is of any help since I've only been doing it a couple of years compared to the veterans here, but like I said, my 2 cents (and that's all I found in my couch)...

and oh yeah, if you don't already have it, buy some of those 'TIG Fingers' from Jody, it costs more than ice but well worth it

[Gene.243]

So I'm doing a lap joint and I start a puddle on the lower piece. I can get the puddle started just fine, my question is how do I get the top piece involved in the puddle?

[LtBadd]

Gene, what machine are you using?

[Gene.243]

Lincoln Precision Tig 225.

[Gene.243]

I did about a dozen of these today.

[LtBadd]

Gene, defiantly doing better, looks like you started slow, (metal was room temp) as you went an inch or so the puddle narrowed (good thing) as the plate warmed up and you got into a rhythm (looks best at this point) at the end maybe you're snapping off to quick, and/or your keeping the tungsten at one spot. When tapering off try moving the electrode in a small circle as you finish the weld

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[Gene.243]

I just watched one of Jody's videos (on tungsten grind angles) and his torch angle was not anywhere close to straight up. He was pointing into the lap at about a 45-degree angle.

[cj737]

I just watched one of Jody's videos (on tungsten grind angles) and his torch angle was not anywhere close to straight up. He was pointing into the lap at about a 45-degree angle.

That's a good point to make: people always say 90* but that refers to the angle of the tungsten to the joint, but with a lap, you need to be at 90* to the "seam" or 45* away from horizontal while maintaining 90* to the puddle.

And by the way, if ice soothes your scorched skin, you're not welding hot enough! I did a bunch of thick aluminum Friday-Saturday, and the darn stuff was so hot the sweat pouring off me vaporized as it hit the aluminum. Sounded more like I was MIG welding with the sizzle of sweat. And yeah, it didn't smell great in the shop either

[LtBadd]

visual of what CJ737 said

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