Having issues welding this pipe, i think im using the wrong tungsten my arc is jumping all over the place when i have 2 pipes connected. I was using Green tungsten and it was a nightmare. I prepped it rounded it to a ball.

Any advice as to what tungsten, what filler and how to prep the tungsten?

 

what material?

 

aluminum

 

is it cheap aluminum?

ive never had a problem with red tungsten when welding intercooler pipes

 

i was using green, how do you prep your red tungsten i will try again tomorrow on sample pipe

 

i like using the gold over green

 

i just dull it on the grinder

 

use brown Tungsten

and when using AC its supposed to round the end

 

i use green, but have used red as well without an issue.

what are your settings on the welder?

it usually takes a second to stabalize the arc using my miller 180sd, but once it is, everything is fine.

 

more info might help, what material, welder and settings, prep?

Also what size tungsten are you using?

 

It's a little frustrating when you start out with aluminum tubing. The arc has a tendancy to jump from one of the tubes to the other, even if they are touching. The trick is to try and dab once to create a "bridge" for the heat in the weld area to equalize between both pieces. The green tungsten will work fine. Don't make a huge ball on the end, just make a small one, about the same diameter as the tungsten. A ball will not automatically form at low amperage levels.

 

for thin al i use a gas lens and 3/32 red pointed.it works really well.i use to do the ball thing tell i worked with a guy that had many years welding al on mountain bike frames.his welds where the best i have ever seen on al.so i switched and am very happy with doing it this way.the piont will hold to about 100 amps.

 

The red tung and pencil tip only works for inverter machines, if he's using a transformer he needs to ball it and most likely use green.

 

orange 3/32 tung works well for me. and i point the end. lke agtronic said it takes a min to stabilize the arc, but once the two metals join and heat it comes a lot easier.

 

i use 1/16 brown tung, gas lense, and about 100 amps. the best advice i can give is make sure the al is clean. i use a stainless steel wire brush for al and don't use it on anything else but al. what Agtronic said about making a bridge is also great advice. good luck

 

i use orange tungsten 3/32 sharpened. synchro 200. i usually am aggressive and quick with the current and add filler when first joining the pieces, try not to heat soak it when tacking. hope this helps.

 

yeah exactly, I stomp on it to get the arc stable then back off as I add filler and the base material comes up to temp.

 

i use a syncrowave 250

 

same here, peddle is pushed almost all the way. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

how do you guys prep the pipe to be welded

 

For prep you should be cutting the tube with a metal blade, not a chop saw as the blade on those can contaminate the metal, you will see floating dirt looking substance.

To prep the .065 tube you should first deburr it entirely, with aluminum it is very important for the material to have no gaps, it should but up flush, it makes it harder if you have gaps, especially if you are a beginner.

Before welding wipe it down with acetone to ensure that the surface is grease, lubricant and/or oil free.

Even if the material looks clean, it is not, youd be suprised if you took a paper towel with acetone and wiped one piece down, the paper towel will be black.

Cheap aluminum tends to be polished, sometimes its a oily coating, sometimes its a film, I brush everything with a wire wheel that I know is clean and then prep everything like I stated above.

 

Is your pipe from ebay? some of that stuff is anodised and needs to have it sanded off before welding.
I had trouble with some that was brought to me to be welded before I realised.

 

Not to sound harsh but can you weld a bead onto a pc of aluminum? Have you tried to join to pcs of flat together. In other words have you welded aluminum before? If you can do either of these with any good success then you shouldn't have much of an issue with tubing. 3/32 red pointed with a small ball 20cuft of 100%argon flow AC with High freq in the continuous position ( depending on machine) a good fit on the tubing. If you can't absolutely answer yes to ? 1 and 2 then do them first and get good at those.

 

Very well said, (it didn't sound too harsh) we all sucked at aluminum when we first started. the best way for me to learn was to first make a bead on just a flat peice of like 1/8" aluminum. depending on where you live there is probably a metal scrap yard that will have aluminum. just buy some flat peices, use a wire brush to clean it and start making a bead. try to make it as streight as possiable (it helped me when i went to joining flat peices or piping)

do you have any pics???

 

yes i can weld aluminum, i practiced many hours on top of scrap and pipes, but when it came down to welding two pieces together is where i had issues, the pipe had some gaps in it also. So it was a nightmare. I clean the pipe with a wire brush then use denatured alcohol to wipe it clean, I was using the Green Tungsten 3/32 with a ball but arc was jumping everywhere. I will try red when i have free time at work.