Welding Tips and Tricks

Just wanted to add an update. I increased the amperage to 165 and the puddle was much more fluent. Also waited till the metal cooled to 300 between passes. I have no undercut and a much better weld . Thank you everyone for your help!

Thanks for putting up all this trouble shooting tips here. I'm going to keep some of that information in storage and make sure that I keep the limits memorised or something for the next time I’m looking for a solution for my vertical work. Would anyone be able t recommend a good video that I could look at for technique in the meantime?

CameronRobertson wrote:Thanks for putting up all this trouble shooting tips here. I'm going to keep some of that information in storage and make sure that I keep the limits memorised or something for the next time I’m looking for a solution for my vertical work. Would anyone be able t recommend a good video that I could look at for technique in the meantime?

Jody’s YouTube channel is literally filled with a hundred well made, helpful, insightful videos for all processes, all positions. YouTube channel is “weldingtipsandtricks” coincidentally

@Ant428 - up your Tungsten to 1/8” for starters. 135A for 1/2” Ally, irrespective of welding position amd joint preparation, is cold/cold.

You’ll need a baseline amperage of 280+A to fuse this joint, IMPO. Use 1/8” 4043/5356/4943 filler. A 280A rig with H25 (75Ar/25He) may have the boost to inject adequate root fusion.

Prove to yourself that the 165A yielded a solid joint, sans discontinuities/LOF, by excising the welded joint and macro etching with EasyOff oven cleaner (ie. ethanol + sodium hydroxide) and mensurating the cross-section.

Arclight Ironworks wrote:@Ant428 - up your Tungsten to 1/8” for starters. 135A for 1/2” Ally, irrespective of welding position amd joint preparation, is cold/cold.

You’ll need a baseline amperage of 280+A to fuse this joint, IMPO. Use 1/8” 4043/5356/4943 filler. A 280A rig with H25 (75Ar/25He) may have the boost to inject adequate root fusion.

Prove to yourself that the 165A yielded a solid joint, sans discontinuities/LOF, by excising the welded joint and macro etching with EasyOff oven cleaner (ie. ethanol + sodium hydroxide) and mensurating the cross-section.

135a is low, but 165a on carbon steel that has been beveled and filled with multiple passes would be more than adequate. Certainly wouldn’t be sufficient for a single pass. But this is vertical up, beveled, filler passes. A 3/32 tungsten will Weld all day long at these amps too. A 1/8 will certainly work, but it’s not truly required for these amperage ranges.

Arclight Ironworks wrote:@Ant428 - up your Tungsten to 1/8” for starters. 135A for 1/2” Ally, irrespective of welding position amd joint preparation, is cold/cold.

You’ll need a baseline amperage of 280+A to fuse this joint, IMPO. Use 1/8” 4043/5356/4943 filler. A 280A rig with H25 (75Ar/25He) may have the boost to inject adequate root fusion.

Prove to yourself that the 165A yielded a solid joint, sans discontinuities/LOF, by excising the welded joint and macro etching with EasyOff oven cleaner (ie. ethanol + sodium hydroxide) and mensurating the cross-section.

280 amps? No way. This is a multiple pass weld. The root was a feathered edge with gap. As long as your burning those edges, your good. Hot pass and filler can be hotter, it I'm never at the 200 amp range. 165 would be a good setting. I'm just filling a gap and fusing the sides.

@Ant428 - material error, on my part. Wrongly assumed you were talking about welding 1/2” thick ALUMINUM vice carbon steel. In context for steel, my amperage numbers are way hot/hot. Sorry for the confusion.