Sonny

Hi All:

I've welded a ton of mild and 304 steel with my tig welder (Miller Dialarc HF), but my experience with aluminum has basically been with butt-welding 1/8" 5052 strips together. Results are moderate at best. The weld puddle seems to be very wide and not very deep.

I really do not wanna F up my nice brand new intercooler core, so I wanna practice first.

Any tips? This machine has high frequency, but no options like pulse tig.

Amperage per .001" ?
Pedal rocking ?
I'm using 1/16" 4043 filler...ok?

Thanks,
Sonny

BROOD

Personally I stick to the smaller beads on AL piping. 1/16" tungsten and AL MIG wire .040" if you can find it. Others may not agree but it is just as functional of a weld bead and looks much better than larger passes with larger filler rod.

fulldragcrx

funny you say that, cause i just went through the same thing. i recently relocated an intercooler on a supercharged trans am. i needed more brackets on the intercooler so i tiged them on to the existing end tanks. i practiced welding aluminum for 3 hours straight before i tried to weld the brackets on, and had the same results as you ( wide bead and alittle black stuff in it). only thing i can recommend is to use pure tungsten at least 3/32 ground to a crayon tip not pencile point, straight argon, about 135 amps for 1/8, tip of tungsten remains extreamly close to the work piece ( closer than with steel) this gives a better bead profile, strike your arc and hold untill a weld pool begins to establish itself, hold the pedal at that exzact amount, dip your filler metal into the beginning pool and then move your torch along to the edge of that bead, all this time your foot has not increased the amps to the torch, if anything you will let off very slightly inbetween beads, aluminum is very fast! so move and dip move and dip. and try to hold the amps constant instead of rocking like with steel. remember to clean your base metal and your filler rods with scotch brite pads. i use 3/32 5356 on most stuff. good luck

mopar junkie

Damn, I wish one of you aluminum pro's would make a video. I would really like to see it being done. I just cant seem to weld aluminum for ****...

TurboJesse

its funny, im the exact opposite, my AL welding is quality and my steel is so-so...i guess its just due to the fact i haven't had much time to play with some nice stainless...

mxnut

Hey Sonny
I am goin try and make it easy to weld that al. You said you have welded steel and s/s so here are whats different with al. Steels are welded with DC straight
which means (lets call it heat) 70% of your heat is in your work 30% in your torch,
reverse is 30% work 70% torch, AC is 50%50%.
So we have less heat going to the weld which means you have to go much slower
and use larger tungsten, why because DC reverse will melt tungsten and add it to your weld thats a big no no.

size of AL welds are something like 3 times larger then steel,your 1/8 in. test plates could get up to 3/8 in. weld unless you bevel the edges into a V it will also help you to get full penetration which is what you want .
Also a gas mix of 75% argon 25% hel helps bring the heat up quicker, for 1/8 and thicker.
The black you see is from touching the tungsten to the puddle and then you HAVE to change or clean you tungsten
one other thing that will help is to put a nice ball on your tungsten put your machine on DC reverse, 15# gas is all you need for AL then slowly bring up the heat untill you see a bright clean ball form on the end close to the same size as your tungsten , I would use 1/8 2% tungsten for all my welding.
I would start with running beads on that 1/8 metal and after your beads look clean and uniform next go to lap welds where you have to stay more on the bottom plate so as to not just burn the top awayand then comes the filet and you have to
pentrate the root,
it's like anything you have to practice,practice,practice but it will be well worth the work .
hope this helps and is not to confuseing

Doctor CorteZ

Alum needs to be Uber clean , thats will help alot.

stock steve

i agree with the advice your getting, it takes practice. like most people have posted, al heats up quick so as you go, you have to back of the pedal or hand control or whatever you are using to keep the bead from getting wider as you go. pure t and 100% argon and clean very well before welding to get rid of the oxide build up on the al surface, i use a stainless steel brush that has only be used for al and not steel or anything else. keep at it and don't give up

fulldragcrx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stock steve &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i agree with the advice your getting, it takes practice. like most people have posted, al heats up quick so as you go, you have to back of the pedal or hand control or whatever you are using to keep the bead from getting wider as you go. pure t and 100% argon and clean very well before welding to get rid of the oxide build up on the al surface, i use a stainless steel brush that has only be used for al and not steel or anything else. keep at it and don't give up </TD></TR></TABLE>
i do the same. gotta love all the confusing advice we give here on H-T. one person said 2% thorated tungsten with a mix gas and another person said pure tungsten with straight argon. in other words try these basic things and find out what works for you. good luck cause your gonna need it.

stock steve

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fulldragcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
i do the same. gotta love all the confusing advice we give here on H-T. one person said 2% thorated tungsten with a mix gas and another person said pure tungsten with straight argon. in other words try these basic things and find out what works for you. good luck cause your gonna need it.</TD></TR></TABLE>
the advice here is pretty confusing, i personally would not use 2% thoriated tungsten(red) because the thorium may precipitate out and spit into the weld and form a thorium spike at the end of the tungsten. as far as gases some use helium but it's expensive and is lighter than air so you need to weld in a completely breeze free environment, plus helium or any blend of it is probably only desirable if you want more penetration and wetting out of the weld bead. for tubing i don't think it's needed. cost considered and desired affect, 100% argon and pure tungsten(green) would be my recommendation.

mxnut

The use of pure tungsten is old school because of the new and improved machines
we have today.If you have a machine older then ten years or so try the pure.
Penetration is very importent in welding more so with al. it is easy to lay a bead on top of al which is of no use,you should be trying for 100%.
Some of the good stuff about welding al are you can see the weld puddle drop when you are penetrating and there is no need for any backup gas to have a weld that look the same on both sides and it will if you pratice and the weld will be stronger then the base metal.
No one should be tig welding in a breeze that is moving the shielding gas what ever gas you use.
This quote is from Miller see below


However, in order to gain the maximum benefits from inverter technology, selecting the right tungsten now becomes an increasingly more critical issue. In the past, pure tungsten was the only choice for AC TIG welding. But that's no longer the case with the latest inverter technology. Today, industry experts recommend against pure tungsten in favor of the new "rare earth" tungstens. By adding elements such as cerium or lanthanum these electrodes outperform pure tungsten.

Inverters Add Key Benefits

stock steve

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mxnut &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The use of pure tungsten is old school because of the new and improved machines
we have today.If you have a machine older then ten years or so try the pure.
Penetration is very importent in welding more so with al. it is easy to lay a bead on top of al which is of no use,you should be trying for 100%.
Some of the good stuff about welding al are you can see the weld puddle drop when you are penetrating and there is no need for any backup gas to have a weld that look the same on both sides and it will if you pratice and the weld will be stronger then the base metal.
No one should be tig welding in a breeze that is moving the shielding gas what ever gas you use.
This quote is from Miller see below


However, in order to gain the maximum benefits from inverter technology, selecting the right tungsten now becomes an increasingly more critical issue. In the past, pure tungsten was the only choice for AC TIG welding. But that's no longer the case with the latest inverter technology. Today, industry experts recommend against pure tungsten in favor of the new "rare earth" tungstens. By adding elements such as cerium or lanthanum these electrodes outperform pure tungsten.

Inverters Add Key Benefits

</TD></TR></TABLE>
very true. lanthanum tungstens are a very good choice, when i went to a welding shop and asked for some, they gave me a blank stare, so now i'm going to get some from a more informed vendor. if you can get them, they work well.

Sonny

Hi all:

Thank you all for the tips. I had a chance to play around a little bit this morning. This is the first time I've used my welder in about 4 months. The cars have been keeping me busy.

Anyway, I didn't have any 3/32" pure tungsten, so I used some 2% thoriated. This is typically a very easy weld, but the endtanks will require a lot of this type of joint.



I didn't get 100% penetration with this weld, so I'll probably either try again with more heat or weld it from the inside.

3/32" tungsten (2% thoriated)
Max amperage set to ~140 amps (50-165 on the coarse, 80% on the fine)
1/16" 4043 filler
Strips are 1/8" thick 5052
Gas lens w/15 cfh of argon

The tips about not rocking the pedal and dipping at the front of the puddle were VERY helpful! I started on the right and as you can see, the puddle started to gradually "sink" as a I moved to the left. As mentioned, I'll need to reduce heat as the puddle moves.

Sonny

stock steve

cool, way to go. looking good, keep up with the practicing

fulldragcrx

[QUOTE=

However, in order to gain the maximum benefits from inverter technology, selecting the right tungsten now becomes an increasingly more critical issue. In the past, pure tungsten was the only choice for AC TIG welding. But that's no longer the case with the latest inverter technology. Today, industry experts recommend against pure tungsten in favor of the new "rare earth" tungstens. By adding elements such as cerium or lanthanum these electrodes outperform pure tungsten.

Inverters Add Key Benefits

[/QUOTE]
true, but i have a lincoln precision tig 185, which is a transformer type machine not
a inverter. but i have used 2 % thorated in a pinch to weld AL and it works too but the pure seems to start easier and just be alittle smoother, but its very heat sensitive . 3/32 pure is good till about 165 amps then it gets consumed.

mxnut

Hey Sonny
Nice very nice you got the idea just practice a little more and it will be perfect.
A lot of welders wind up likeing al the best mainly because you can make pretty
beads like basket weaves etc.
I see you use a gas lens there great on s/s and save gas,just in case you didn't know you can pull your tungten out a inch or a little more to reach the hard places like between the tubes you guys show on here or other hard to get at places.
keep up the good work

mxnut

Hey mopar
Can't find any free videos found a set of 4 cd's for$1000 lol,but found some good pictures scrool down to pictures of good weld joints, maybe of some help
http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/gtawbook.pdf

.RTErnie

I have the same welder as fulldragcrx (actually...AJ HOYT series its green y0! 175 amps too :-P ) But yeah 2% (green tipped tungsten seems to work the best) I take my new tungsten and get my 2" thick copper chunk and weld it until my tungsten ***** up. The like someone said earlier...get about 3 times closer than with SS and you use a lot more amperage than SS. like 233amps for 1/4" and 140 for 1/8" preheating helps and CLEANLINESS IS #1. get that **** clean. Adding filler rod with aluminum is different...the best way i can describe it is...its like hiding the rod from the tungston and the welder is almost perpendicular to the metal Im welding. Get your puddle...dive in with the rod..and move your handle back a bit and then go back up and melt the rod into the puddle and pull the rod away. :-P But sonny...you're looking good! Have a beer