Welding Tips and Tricks

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.

I've also been practicing on some 1/8" and I have my machine set at 140A until I run a pass or two and then I cut it back to around 130A or so. Sometimes I'll run a bead a little cold just to see if I have enough control to keep from just flooring the pedal. I'm really just looking for consistent bead width and uniformity. I'm thinking that on the thinner stuff having more control of the pedal and being able to make consistent beads is more important than penetration. Not trying to say penetration isn't a very important factor either.

I had not tried a T joint lately and gave one a try with a #5 cup. I was impressed by how shiny the tungsten stayed.

Dip less, travel more. You'll continue to get smoother and more consistent beads

Thank you.

Gene, I'm wondering how you place your torch hand when you are welding. It looks like you might be having trouble moving it smoothly. Dont put too much pressure down on the table. Just lightly touch it with the heel of your hand. I sometimes extend my pinky and just touch the tip of the surface is rough or hard to slide on.

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Warren, Thank you too. I'm a leaner. I'll have to work on my posture to put less force on my torch hand.

I think I figured out what a contaminated weld puddle looks like. This would be tungsten contamination.

Learn something every time you weld!

I think it's tremendous that you're plowing away, working towards a goal, unafraid of public commentary. With that determination, IG will no doubt have a new, highly trafficked account

Today's contaminated pool is a 309LW failure.

Leaving the wire stuck in the puddle isn't contamination. It's something I do regularly. I use it as a location to taper of my arc as I reposition. Then I just light back up on the wire.