This was done on cast aluminum. 130 amps, 3/32 zirconiated tungsten, 3/32 4043 filler. Cleaned with a stainless brush and acetone, with no preheat.




This was done with the same stuff except amperage was around 70-80.



Machine is a Syncrowave 180SD. I am running a gas lens as well. I've been TIG welding for about a week.

Any suggestions? I know I need to figure out the crater pretty bad.

 

are you just randomly tracing on junk metals?

looks cool but i know nothing in this department.

 

Let off the pedal slowly at the end of the weld to avoid the crater. Looks good, try keeping the heat a little more consistent and make an even width bead.

 

nice nice... i really need to practice

 

beads are easy to lay on a solid peice of metal, steel or aluminum. I reccomend going ahead and trying to join two seperate pieces of aluminum, this will prove to be much more involved and difficult. I learned the same way you are. i got to where my aluminum beads looked awesome, but then i tried to weld two seperate peices together and the beads looked as though i'd never tigged anything before. Home depot has some sheet steel and aluminum you can buy at low cost to practice on, good luck.

 

Thats what I've been doing. I can do a butt joint pretty good, but other than that its a little on the bad side.

 

being said, with 2 pieces to weld together, it gets u to get them the same temp and both puddling hte same mount to get the bead going directly centered over the cut, not as easy as one piece tracing around

 

ive been trying to tig on aluminum for months. im not sure if my tig can do it though got it pretty cheap and everything is written in chinese im guessing its voltage is DC. it welds s/s great but not aluminum. BTW what kind of filler wire should i use. im using argon as gas BTW

 

The settings I was using on those were:

3/32 Zirconiated Tungsten
130 Amps on the dial
3/32 4043 Filler
A/C Set on about 6 on the balance settings

This was on a 180SD. Your machine may not have A/C to do aluminum?

 

u have to use AC

 

Make sure you clean the aluminum well before welding. Wire wheels always come in handy.

 

damn china made tig machines i guess its just d/c then is mig also good for welding aluminum?

 

cant use a mig on alum.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wade &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">cant use a mig on alum.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes you can, but you need different sheild gas (typically 100% argon) and a spoolgun for the aluminum wire.