how long did it take you guys to learn tig aluminum?

[67camarokid97]

CAUSE ITS TAKING ME FOREVER. this is by far the hardest weld ive ever tried, i can run good beads on a flat piece, but when it comes to t's butt's and laps, i suck. it seems my t's always end up too hot, but i think i am doing it as cold as i can while maintaining thw puddle, could it be smaller circles? cause when i stop the bead its just smooth, there are no ripples, or very un noticable ones.what am i doing wrong?

[Camaro Zach]

post some specs like your machine, amps your welding with, thickness of material, alloy of material and filler, tungsten size and type for a baseline.

[parsonsj]

Also what is the size and thickness of the material you are welding? How wide is the weld?

jp

[67camarokid97]

175 amp, 3/32 tungsten (red tip), not sure on the rest. i will post some pics up monday though, if that helps any

[redss86]

:postpics:

Pics would be very helpful. These guys can tell you almost everything you are doing wrong, just by looking at a pic of the welds.
Joe

[FabUThis]

need more info

[quadfather]

need more info
how did you wind up on here? i here youv'e been busy.

[BB69]

Are you using AL backing plates when you are welding? If you are trying to weld AL pieces together on a steel table without AL backing, you will contaminate your weld. When I was taking my welding class, we were welding 3"x5" coupons together. Our work table was steel, so we had to layout a few AL coupons to place the work on to eliminate that contamination. Without the backing plates, getting the weld was near impossible for me, and it would ruin the base metal, the filler rod, and even the electrode. Many of the problems I faced at the beginning were related to cleanliness. It's easy to clean the faces of the pieces you're welding, but the edges and backsides many people (including myself) forgot. I would say it took me until my 6-7th week (3.5 hours straight each week) before I felt comfortable. Even then, my welds won't compare to many of the other guys here. But, they had good penetration and cross section.

Good luck,
Ken

[67camarokid97]

thanks BB ill try that thursday, tommorrow im makign a blockoff plate for my EGR valve.ill try and get those pics up asap

[FabUThis]

Hey quadfather, nice job on the plumbing , headers look great. I did a bunch of stuff on probells car and he turned me on to the site .

67camerokid97 Try pure tungsten (green tip) works better for alum . What king of machine are you using ?

[parsonsj]

Try pure tungsten (green tip) works better for alumNot necessarily. If you have a square wave machine (and who doesn't these days), red tip (2% thoriated) or orange tip (2% ceriated) works better, but you will need to sharpen frequently. 3/32 is probably fine as well, unless you are in the 1/4" thick range.

See this from the Miller website. (http://www.millerwelds.com/education/tech_tips/TIG_tips/hints_tips.html)

jp

[67camarokid97]

Not necessarily. If you have a square wave machine (and who doesn't these days), red tip (2% thoriated) or orange tip (2% ceriated) works better, but you will need to sharpen frequently. 3/32 is probably fine as well, unless you are in the 1/4" thick range.

See this from the Miller website. (http://www.millerwelds.com/education/tech_tips/TIG_tips/hints_tips.html)

jp

ive been using the red tip, but i was told you arent supposed to sharpen for aluminum, just break off any contaminated parts and leave it flat.

[parsonsj]

Nope. Use a sharpened tip. Read what Miller has to say ...

jp

[FabUThis]

sounds like your reading about the Dynasty not the Syncrowave If you don't me asking again WHAT KIND OF MACHINE ARE YOU USING ?

[parsonsj]

FabU is right: We need more information. Look at the posts above and get us those answers.

jp