Tigging Aluminum.....Constructive Criticism?

[Allen G.]

I'm just getting the hang of TIG on aluminum.















Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Allen

[Mike W]

You could get by with less cleaning. That looks good. What does the bottom side of a butt joint look like?

[speedycheater]

They look great to me. Try cutting on up to check for penetration.

[Allen G.]

You could get by with less cleaning. That looks good. What does the bottom side of a butt joint look like?

Like aluminum.

I'm not having any issues burning through if that's what you mean.

How do I lower the amount of cleaning action?

Allen

[paulrbrown]

Allen G., set your wave control to more electrode negative, you still need to clean the plate with scotchbrite or stainless wire brush and acetone,laquer thinner,xylene, or toulene. It does not look like you are scrubbing it to much right now. The fuzzy light area around the weld is from the cleaning action of more electrode positive. Hope this helps,Paul

[Mike W]

Allen, it is easy to have a nice looking bead on aluminum that is only on the surface without much fusion between the two pieces in a butt joint.

[arcdawg]

they all look good and i like the fact that the ripples are tight......the more filler rod the stronger........i always say ! try washing in the bead a little bit more.......but all and all very nice.......

NOW DO A T JOINT !

DAWG

[Allen G.]

Allen G., set your wave control to more electrode negative, you still need to clean the plate with scotchbrite or stainless wire brush and acetone,laquer thinner,xylene, or toulene. It does not look like you are scrubbing it to much right now. The fuzzy light area around the weld is from the cleaning action of more electrode positive. Hope this helps,Paul

I played around with the AC Balance. Apparently, that controls the cleaning action on this old Miller. I played with it quite a bit, and in the end set it almost right back where it was. It seemed to underclean, or overclean, but not a nice balance that I was satisfied with.

No, I didn't brush these welds since it was just practice.

I did brush them today while adjusting the AC Balance.

Thanks,

Allen

[Allen G.]

Allen, it is easy to have a nice looking bead on aluminum that is only on the surface without much fusion between the two pieces in a butt joint.

I've been cutting, bending, and hammering to check the penetration.

So far so good. No broken or cracked welds, just a bunch of bent aluminum.

Allen

[Allen G.]

they all look good and i like the fact that the ripples are tight......the more filler rod the stronger........i always say ! try washing in the bead a little bit more.......but all and all very nice.......

NOW DO A T JOINT !

DAWG

Thanks. I'm working on washing it in.

If I had to guess, I'd say I've got about 16 hours of hood time on aluminum.

It's a little frustrating. The guy I work with is self taught, and runs one torch, with one electrode and cup size, with the machines always on the same settings.

I'm having to figure it out myself.

I'm gonna have a lot more questions in the near future.....

And I've run a lot of T joints, but they're still kicking my ***. They're just starting to look ok.

My vertical ups look good.

I'll post some T joint pictures when they look good.

Allen