im using right now #10 cup w/ gas lens for welding ss and alu, with ss any problem, with alu i have a bit contamiation problem (black colour) in the begining for any welding, idk if problem could be for the big cup i use for bad flow rate , with ss any problem of this i have..

 

are you using the same cup and tungsten for both?? i run a #7 #8 cup on aluminum and 3/32 tungsten and my stainless i use #12 cup but i have aluminum cups and tungsten and different cups and tungsten for stainless. ive seen dirty gas lens from welding dirty stuff drop stuff in my aluminum work fyi

 

Same here, #8 for aluminum and #12 for stainless



Mike

 

yes i did. problem is only when i start any weld, after 2 seconds continue welding everything is clean, anyway i will use a new cup/gas lens for only , do you use the same tungsten (cleaned of course) ? im using 2.4mm red tunsten for evertything.

 

Does your machine have a pre-flow option? If not, are you bumping the pedal before you weld to get pre-flow? What is your regulator set at?

 

i use different tungsten on both too

 

I usually run the same tungsten, just sharpened between each switch.

Run a #8 small gas lense on Al, run the big boy #12 on SS.

 

Hi, not it doesnt , i dont use pedal but yes i make gas flow before i weld.. i will try to post some pictures this week. also i will get a new kit for only alu setup. thanks!

 

what tungsten are you using?

I was having some really strange problems with standard tungsten (both pure and 2% thoriated) that I couldnt diagnose. It would weld fine for a handful of beads and then randomly would just dig some black **** out of thin air.

I changed to a different type E3 (purple) and those problems have gone away.

FWIW, I use this tungsten for all of my welding (alum, stainless, steel, etc) and I threw my other tungsten in the bottom drawer of my toolbox for those "oh ****" moments.

 

I never understood why people use large cups and gas lens with AL, all your doing is weighing your torch down. My weld quality is much higher using my setup:

up to 150 amps:
3/32 pure tungsten, small collet, and #4 cup

above 150amps:
1/8 pure tungsten, small collet, and #5 cup

I also use 10 setting (no cleaning)

 

Im using 2.4mm red thoriated tungsten. i will try with a small cup. about gas lens, antilag, ive seen your work, awesome! do you not use gas lens for AL?

 

Nope, the only thing a gas lens is good for on AL is getting wrist fatigue. I only use a gas lens on stainless and exotic materials.

 

I use gas lenses on everything, just for the simple fact that it has considerably better coverage and I can afford to reach the tungsten out a little. Standard collet has terrible gas coverage properties, and I've had it bite me in weird spots.

 

Weird ive never had that issue, and the great thing about running a collet with a small cup is that it fits everywhere, a gas lens your forced to stick the tungsten..

 

Maybe it was the welder that I used to use, if I didn't have the tungsten almost buried in the cup I would have gas issues. I mean to the point where I could barely see the tungsten tip when welding.

As they say, whatever works best for you.

 

Sounds more like a argon flow rate issue more then cup size, if you have too much flow it will actually pull outside air in, thats why you might have had to stick the tungsten in so far to get away from that.

But yeah different strokes for different folks, I just did alot of AL welding for an industrial company and I always used a gas lens, then one day the old asian welder who had 15 years of expereince made me use the collet with a 4 cup, it welded even better and produced a much more consistant bead as I was getting fatigued and having to fight the weight. Mind you I was welding non stop 10 hours everytime I came in there, so much so I would still overheat Syncrowave 300s with huge coolers.

 

i agree with anti-lag on the standard collet/cup setup on aluminum working just fine but i also use the gas lense at about 10cfm with a #8 cup when doing 95% of all the aluminum i do and it works just fine without wasting gas like when using a jumbo gas lense.


mike

 

I really like the small collets, but I use the lens. I did recently do some welds with no lens, and it did surprisingly well! I use the lens for economy. No other reason. But I weld everything with a #8 or #6 cup. I am too lazy to always switch my cups, and what not.

 

Or maybe it's a 9, and it's upside down.