View Full Version : Another tank question
I read on another board that aluminum tanks should be purged with shielding gas when welded, how important is this?
bluefish
12-18-2009, 11:19 AM
i googled purging aluminum tank, i came up with millerwelds.com that said on thin aluminum it is really not necessary because the foreman expects full pen anyway, on thick pieces it is really not necessary but it wouldnt hurt.;)
I don't purge aluminum tanks for the reason that aluminum doesn't react like a Ferris metal to oxygen when unshielded....
Zrexxer
12-18-2009, 12:02 PM
said on thin aluminum it is really not necessary because the foreman expects full pen anywayHuh? That doesn't even make sense. :confused:
ArgonWelding
12-19-2009, 09:01 PM
I don't purge the aluminum tanks I weld. They tend to be diesel tanks for semi trucks. I usually patch them. Keeps from the stuff left over inside the tank from contaminating the weld. I don't weld aluminum gas tanks.
Rocky D
12-19-2009, 11:44 PM
I never purged an aluminum anything.
On very thin material ( lets say .060 ) I try to sneak up on the melting point and dab as soon as I see a shiny spot appear and run with that whatever that amperage is...Until the material starts to heat up where I have to start lifting my pedal a bit....As far as bleed through I try not to get any at all. 100% pen on .060 aluminum
in my experience is not bleed through but a bead that will give me the material thickness + with out bleed through.....I know 100% pen with a PURGE on steel you get a bead on the opposite side.....But not on aluminum
especially thin stuff. I might be wrong but with that thin of aluminum material you can't hang around too long or you will burn through. The thick materials I just run what ever size fillet the print calls for or if no print requirement whatever I feel is necessary for strength and application.
Again using past experience for a rule of thumb.
Pangea
12-20-2009, 07:24 PM
The only aluminum that I have ever had to purge is 2195 Aluminum/Lithium and there is no way that you will ever see that stuff outside of aerospace for many years.
No I use 2195 all the time in fact I built a BIRD HOUSE out of it .:D
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