Welding Tips and Tricks

I'll agree it's too hot to be outside much.
Here's a butt weld from today.

LtBadd wrote:visual of what CJ737 said

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I had been working really hard at keeping my torch at 90 where this picture shows 45 degrees.
Welds much better that way.
Thanks for the help.

Here is a picture that goes with the current conversation.

It looks like you aren't beveling your plates. Try a bevel. It doesnt have to be the full thickness of the material. That joint is no different than a bead on a plate. The results will look a lot different with a bevel.

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Wow, That helped a lot. Thank you!
Picture soon,
Family time.

Gene.243 wrote:Here is a picture that goes with the current conversation.

oh yea! now you're cooking

Gene.243 wrote:I'll agree it's too hot to be outside much.
Here's a butt weld from today.

Only be constructive, not critical: I suspect that joint is pretty weak and has insufficient penetration. Examine the backside of it. And occasionally, bend the piece in your vise to test your welding.

The reason I assume this is because your bead is tall and narrow, not flatter and wider. It's an indication of a cold weld. That can be too little amps, too much filler added with too fast a travel speed, or simply being new.

The lap joint bead shows a lot better technique for travel and heat to my eyes. But whenever you're making those "shiny worms" in a butt joint, you're probably not getting the penetration you need. But your lap joint looks really good!

cj737 wrote:

Gene.243 wrote:I'll agree it's too hot to be outside much.
Here's a butt weld from today.

Only be constructive, not critical: I suspect that joint is pretty weak and has insufficient penetration. Examine the backside of it. And occasionally, bend the piece in your vise to test your welding.

The reason I assume this is because your bead is tall and narrow, not flatter and wider. It's an indication of a cold weld. That can be too little amps, too much filler added with too fast a travel speed, or simply being new.

The lap joint bead shows a lot better technique for travel and heat to my eyes. But whenever you're making those "shiny worms" in a butt joint, you're probably not getting the penetration you need. But your lap joint looks really good!

cj737, Thank you for your reply.
I agree it is a tall cold weld. I was happy to have somewhat evenly spaced beads and a button instead of a crater at the end that I posted a picture. I still have a long way to go and I plan on getting there. Can't do it without help.

Today's lap looks like...

Here is one after washing yesterday's butt.
You can laugh at my jokes but not my welds.

After watching this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0thSDy_OSk
Jodi shows what the back side of a butt supposed to look like.

Today's butt.

And for today's lap joint proudly welded at 125 amps...

Gene.243 wrote:And for today's lap joint proudly welded at 125 amps...

I see progress.. Doesn't it feel good when things start to click?

It does feel good. I've been practicing on aluminum for a month now, I think every day.

Gene.243 wrote:It does feel good. I've been practicing on aluminum for a month now, I think every day.

Keep at it Gene.. you're definitely getting better!

Maybe see if you can get yourself some 3/8" thick plate and try padding beads. Makes for good prep vs seat time. It's also good for showing how quickly ally sucks up the heat making things go all watery.

OzFlo,
I'll pad beads for a long time but on 3/8 stock? I don't know if a #17 torch will do that.

Gene.243 wrote:OzFlo,
I'll pad beads for a long time but on 3/8 stock? I don't know if a #17 torch will do that.

Don't fret, the accumulated heat will soak in and allow the following passes to burn in. You won't get the penetration required for weld strength, but padding beads is more about fine motor control and technique refinement than about penetration.

You can also use some Propane and preheat the 3/8" stock to get your initial beads to wet in faster.

cj737 wrote:

Gene.243 wrote:OzFlo,
I'll pad beads for a long time but on 3/8 stock? I don't know if a #17 torch will do that.

Don't fret, the accumulated heat will soak in and allow the following passes to burn in. You won't get the penetration required for weld strength, but padding beads is more about fine motor control and technique refinement than about penetration.

You can also use some Propane and preheat the 3/8" stock to get your initial beads to wet in faster.

Like cj737 said, padding beads is simply good practice for little work.. And you don't have to worry bout penetration just yet or preheating the material with anything other than your arc! It doesn't take long for the material to heat up.
And if you're concerned about overheating your torch, try running a few beads and let it cool for a few minutes. You'll have to let the material cool a little anyway..

Flo

OzFlo wrote:

cj737 wrote:

Gene.243 wrote:OzFlo,
I'll pad beads for a long time but on 3/8 stock? I don't know if a #17 torch will do that.

Don't fret, the accumulated heat will soak in and allow the following passes to burn in. You won't get the penetration required for weld strength, but padding beads is more about fine motor control and technique refinement than about penetration.

You can also use some Propane and preheat the 3/8" stock to get your initial beads to wet in faster.

Like cj737 said, padding beads is simply good practice for little work.. And you don't have to worry bout penetration just yet or preheating the material with anything other than your arc! It doesn't take long for the material to heat up.
And if you're concerned about overheating your torch, try running a few beads and let it cool for a few minutes. You'll have to let the material cool a little anyway..

Flo

Would 1/2" work as well?

Anything from 1/4" and up will work. Get into the thick stuff, and you'll need to preheat the base material to get your first beads to flow (or use about 250amps!). The upside of using 1/2" is that it will withstand an enormous amount of practice beads before turning to goo-

That's a lot of work to get a bead at all. First a couple passes of just pushing a puddle then try to add some filler, then put that burning torch down.

Is this what you mean by goo? I was hoping to get another layer on this one.

Yup. And yup.

The trick with thick aluminum is that it takes an enormous amount of heat to get your first puddle. The base material keeps that heat for a LONG time, so you can run another few passes more easily. But, you need to quickly taper off the heat used to get your first puddle because the accumulated heat is melting the interior (below the oxide layer). Continuing to weld only turns the interior (melts at a much lower temp than the oxide) to goo so your puddle/beads are just rubbery snot worms.

You can plunge the part in a bucket of water to quickly quench it without losing all the heat. I like 1/4" for practice, not 1/2". 1/2" is (in my opinion) much harder to deal with for the reasons mentioned above.

Practice lap #5 today.