You need a lot more heat. I like to leave the tungsten out a bit. You can get better control of where the arc goes. You can also see when you are trying to force to much heat into the part. Your tungsten starts to boil off. I use a number 5 cup. Not a gas lens.

I wait until both parts fuse on their own. I do not rush them. If you accidentally melt back one plate sure you add some wire. But you should still heat up both plates until they fuse with no filler wire. Then you can move onto your next bead.

I use 15 cubic feet an hour argon minimum. Sometimes 17 or twenty. Depends on the meter.

If I am doing a lot of metal like for railings, I add just one cubic foot an hour helium. It increases the heat five fold. But to do most welding on thin material, one eighth thick or less, I just need argon.

On a "T" or fillet joint you need a lot of preheating to really get, good penetration and flow going.

Sincerely,


William McCormick

 

What part of the world are you in? Do you have access to a good library; probably a decent number of good books exist, and one or more just might be available there.
I can't think right now of any one book which goes into greater detail and has a good troubleshooting section, too, specifically about your situation. If you don't have any books yet, I'd recommend you start with the Lincoln bible: The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding

 

I am in Ventura County California. What a joke, I went to the library thinking they should have some stuff and they had one book that was on stick welding from the 60's. Things have changed a little since than. So I went over to the book store, Borders, and all they carry in the store was Jesse James' Monster Garage How to Weld Damn Near Anything book, that was also a joke. I guess I will have to order the handbook your talking about on line. Thanks for the info.

 

When I was doing alum fillets (on 1/8" thick), it took a lot of amps and a lot of pedal. For 1/8" material I set the amps at 200 and pedaled hard, this got the pieces to bridge; the rest was easy. As Hotrodder taught us some time ago, a very short arc length is necessary. Rest your cup on both sides of the fillet (wedged), adjust your stickout so the tu is about 1/16" from the root, then pedal hard. If the puddle bridges to the tu, shorten the stickout a bit. Keep your torch as steep as possible and still see, don't lay it over.

Use at least 3/32" filler (again, on 1/8" material). Trying to learn with 1/16" filler will make you knutz.

As Oldiron2 asked, jump up to User CP and fill in your location. While you're there, identify your welder in your signature. It will show up on the bottom of your posts, where mine says Miller Syncrowave 250; etc.

 

When I was doing alum fillets (on 1/8" thick), it took a lot of amps and a lot of pedal. For 1/8" material I set the amps at 200 and pedaled hard, this got the pieces to bridge; the rest was easy. As Hotrodder taught us some time ago, a very short arc length is necessary. Rest your cup on both sides of the fillet (wedged), adjust your stickout so the tu is about 1/16" from the root, then pedal hard. If the puddle bridges to the tu, shorten the stickout a bit. Keep your torch as steep as possible and still see, don't lay it over.

As Oldiron2 asked, jump up to User CP and fill in your location. While you're there, identify your welder in your signature. It will show up on the bottom of your posts, where mine says Miller Syncrowave 250; etc.

Ive been welding aluminum for some time now (fuel tanks, radiators, machine covers, ect) and I dont think I would be able to weld it like you described. Not well anyways. Hows a beginner going to be successful?

Starting out at 200amps on 1/8" is just plain stupid, tell that to most beginners who are starting at the edge of a fillet and all they are going to see is the top piece melting away. Fast.

Resting your cup on the piece, with 1/16 between the electrode and work? Good luck getting a beginner to do anything but touch out every inch.

And please, stop asking people for their location, maybe not everyone wants to share that information. If its important to the question at hand, then go for it. If not, then dont worry about it.

jemaddux, I suggest paying attention to Sundown when he gives advice.

 

While you were at the library, did you ask if they had a copy of "Ventura Highway"?

If I'd known you were in Caulifornia, I don't think I'd have suggested the library....
Although I am curious which old book they did still have; some of them do a fairly good job explaining the basics of OA and Stick welding and basic metallurgy, so might still be worth reading.

 

jemaddux,

I suspect you're throughly confused after reading this and your other thread on tig welding aluminum. Lot of BAD advice being thrown out by some guys who don't seem to have a clue themselves. Talk about the blind leading the blind. I can see where it would be very difficult for a newbie tigger to figure out what's right and what's wrong.

As far as a tig reference, I would recommend Miller's Tig Handbook. It can be downloaded from their site (Millerwelds.com/resources) or ordered in hardcopy (recommended). If ordering the hardcopy version, get the "Student Pack". It, not only includes the Tig Handbook, but also a GMAW Handbook along with a bunch of other very informative information. Best $25 (includes shipping) that you'll spend on welding accessories.

As far as tig guidance, I'd suggest you check out certain posters previous postings before taking their word as gospel. If some of these "experts" would just sit back and read vs posting BS, the board could be much more helpful to newbies. With that said, I'd guess that there are only a few (less than 25) posters who really know tigging aluminum and could help you out. The rest are just throwing crap on the wall and hoping it will stick.

As an aside, it's always a good idea to give as much information as possible when asking for help. This would include the machine you're using, material you're working with, filler you're using, amps, balance, gas flow, etc, etc. One or two variables can really throw you off.

Also, and as a separate comment. Don't be impatient. Tig welding is not going to be learned in a day. Even after you get the basics down, it will still take a good deal of "arc time" til you develop the "motor skills/coordination" needed to be a good tig welder. Personally, I'd rather see a new guy develop those motor skills practicing on mild steel rather than aluminum. Aluminum likes to be welded hot and fast. Steel, on the other hand allows you to watch the puddle form and teaches you when it's time to add filler.

Looking at your beads, there's a total lack of consistency in your movements. If you have a pulser on your machine, I'd recommend setting it at about .8-1.0 PPS and get used to adding filler at each peak cycle. Pulsing can be very helpful in developing timing. If you don't have that capability, you'll just have to work on it on your own. After you get the timing thing down, you can focus on amps, balance, torch movement, etc. You may even practice running several beads on scrap steel without filler. Get consistent and the "dimes" will come.

 

jemaddux,

Also, and as a separate comment. Don't be impatient. Tig welding is not going to be learned in a day. Even after you get the basics down, it will still take a good deal of "arc time" til you develop the "motor skills/coordination" needed to be a good tig welder. Personally, I'd rather see a new guy develop those motor skills practicing on mild steel rather than aluminum. Aluminum likes to be welded hot and fast. Steel, on the other hand allows you to watch the puddle form and teaches you when it's time to add filler.

QUOTE]

Well this one is my fault here. I am not being clear on some stuff. I worked for a few years in a shop as a welder. I used to build the dies in a packaging plant for vitimans. The film is fed down into the sealing dies for the packages of Multi-Vits like Kirkland, GNC Good Earth and many many more. The dies are made from nickel and some stainless for special projects and have to be done perfect every time. One bad weld means the whole die is bad. I am not one of the people that ran out said I had a few grand to dump and bought myself a welder so it can sit there and collect dust. I weld stainless and steel all the time. I am the idiot that ends up fixing everyones 4X4 when they break it and older firearms when needed. I had just NEVER ventured into the aluminum world. Its just figuring out the alloy and how it reacts to the heat. One thing I have learned over the last couple days for anyone learning to weld AL is CLEAN CLEAN and CLEAN. You can not be to clean, take the time and it will pervent A LOT of problems right there. With Steel you can get away with moving your tip a little ways out and it won't kill ya, you do that with Aluminum and your weld looks like hell. Other things I am learning here is with steel you can tell pretty easy when you have a nice pool going, AL isn't that nice to just let you know its hot enough to start. It is going to take time but I figure the more questions I ask the more I can learn and get this down better. Thanks for all the help with answer everyone:drinkup:.

 

Im with you sn0border88, 200amps is way to high. I would say to start out around 100-120 and just keep tweaking till you feel happy with it, and dont rush.