Tig welding tips, questions, equipment, applications, instructions, techniques, tig welding machines, troubleshooting tig welding process
mpete53
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Although I don't work in aluminum similar problem come up on steel and stainless

Try changing your torch angle. I don't mean along the weld travel (front to back) rather side to side. Much is said here about front to back travel but little about side to side. I find the term tig torch to be a very accurate term since the heat output is just as directional as that of an oxy torch. The heat is focused directly on line with the tungsten. If one side is getting hotter than the other tip the torch so the tungsten point more towards the cooler side. I find it is harder to get the correct side to side angle correct when starting a weld than the front to back, but once the arch is started the puddle will show you which side is hotter and the correction is easy to make. Until the weld heats up I sometimes find a very slight side to side motion also helps

Mark
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MinnesotaDave wrote:
Be bold, use power, get a puddle and go for it :D
The best way to go.

You sometimes have to take a chance with aluminum, after doing it enough you know whats possible but I did a lot of bold stuff with aluminum and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.
if there's a welder, there's a way
Mihtu
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I started to realize,the more my projects grew,the harder it became to start a weld,that's when I would wave my Mapp torch over it to kick start the heat,don't have a huge expensive welder,so for now the preheat helps!
Farmwelding
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    Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:37 pm
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Well... I may have found part of the problem. I was looking at my aluminum and saw .187. I went a grabbed a caliper and sure as hell it is 3/16" aluminum. I grabbed it and didn't check since all the other was 1/8". Our machine only packs 180 so to get started is a heck of a time. So...I may grab the 1/8" and try that out. That is also why it takes a little longer to start a puddle especially when I was on 140 amps :lol:
A student now but really want to weld everyday. Want to learn everything about everything. Want to become a knower of all and master of none.
Instagram: @farmwelding
Nick
electrode
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exnailpounder wrote:
MinnesotaDave wrote:
exnailpounder wrote: If you are not heating both plates at the same time, your torch angle is wrong or your arc is wandering. Millions of aluminum tig welds get done every day with 4043 so it's not the filler. A welding machine does what you tell it to do and it has no mind of its own so when there is a fuckup, one guess as to whose fault it is. Tig welding AL is just another thing to learn in a world where no one at this site invented it, they only learned it from someone passing down prior knowledge. I know some people want others to think that they have re-invented the wheel and have some super-natural insight into welding process' but the fact is all welding knowledge and experience is nothing new and nothing more than regurgitated knowledge. Prove me wrong.
I invented the internet, tig welding, big blocks and ice cream :D
I'll give you tig welding and big blocks but everyone knows Al Gore invented the internet :lol:
He invented global warming too! :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll:
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