4043 can be anodized after welding (for applications such as aluminum door and window jambs, etc) 5356 cannot. How this info may affect your welding of tubing that has been anodized before you get your hands on it, I have no idea. One good baseline thing to do, in my never humble opinion, is to set ...

I hate to be the simplest things guy, but are you sure exactly what alloy that alum is? If you're not fighting a breeze outdoors, 15cfh of pure argon should be enough, through a lens. I'm not trying to be condescending, just throwin' out ideas. When I first tried to weld alum, I had gotten some weir...

God, you drank coors?

I'm sorry you had to experience that.

Hey Dave, What I meant was that if your balance is set more towards cleaning, and the amperage maybe a bit too low, one will have to hold the initiation point of the weld for too long, and "cook" the temper out of a 6xxx alloy. With the 6061 t6, for example, the most common, in my experien...

What kind of machine are you using? Regular collet setup or a lens? The big thing, which I can see from your mention of blindness and undercut, what kind of angle? Why are you in a blind position? What DS are you going for? How much of a hurry? Information is the only way any of the pipe guys around...

I use a Thermal Arc 186 AC/DC inverter. What I'll add is true with either E3 or 2% Lan tungsten, size of which relative to job. As the cleaning action goes up, so must the amperage, as the cleaning action goes down, so must the amperage. If you start off with surgically clean metal, you can push the...

There's a lot going on here, and I have only one peice of wisdom to add. If this boat is made of aluminum that's been riveted together, there may be a reason for that. A lot of boats, especially when you get back to ones made 30 plus years ago were made out of alloys that would be difficult for an e...

Hey exnailpounder, great build. If you'd permit a newbie smoker building question, how'd you source the main body of that thing? I've seen a number of builds, but I've never been able to figure out how to get that much round steel without breaking the bank. Some ideas I've been kicking around involv...

Great find Onekeyskunk.

Thanks for putting it up!

A year or so ago I asked my LWS guy out of curiosity, he said "you don't even want to know". I asked again about two months ago and I forget the exact number, it was around 300 bucks for one of those knee high bottles with no DOT cap (I think those are around 20-40 cf?) My details leave a ...

Thanks for the help guys.

It didn't come out pretty but it's square and square is enough for this job.

Here's a pic.
Thanks again.

Hey fellas I've got to weld a nipple, as it were, 6061 t6 tube to some 5xxx (pretty sure it's 5052) plate. Wall thicknesses on each are similar, .125 give or take a few thousandths. I want suggestions on filler wire, either 5356 or 4043, those are what I have, so it'll have to be one or the other. I...

Looks like one got past the goalies.

Nothing to add, just love it when a spammer gets nailed.

That's impressive stuff, mcoe.

Your spheres are always neat.

Merry Christmas to a great bunch of guys and a great wealth of knowledge!

I've got the 4 and 1/2 by 6 and it's been great. Got it after I wore out their handheld model. I got more than my 80 bucks out of that one. You have to realize that the motors in all of this HF etc. stuff may not, and usually aren't thermally protected. Being smart about what you really need, knowin...

Another good reason not to let ol' Zuckerberg mine your data. No FB activity, no problem.

As for abuse, I've seen newbies ask perfectly reasonable questions in a respectful manner and get HAMMERED on WW. I don't even look over there anymore, it's like a nasty wreck.

Looks like it's coming along good.

I did a set back on a driver's seat a while ago on a half ton chevy. Those floor pans make for a pain in the ass. Post up pics of the setup and everything. It's a more common job than folks think.

It's a fight amongst the ranks :D Someone asks you what you do say "TIG welder" blank stare. Say TAG or whatever else have you. blank stare. Say "I'm a welder" and they think fence posts or pipelines, still, although not blank, an odd stare (although this response is the most lik...

That is a nice looking shop. Shame about the gas welding. I got into the welding thing via O/A and that's how I developed a taste for it. All on ancient WW2 era stuff, too. When I got to school, They had us do half a semester on O/A, to get the right hand / left hand thing down for TIG. It was nice ...

Thanks for the response. That's what I was dealing with. I'm sure my technique was not olympic grade, but this stuff was just pure shit. 309 was like butter. Next time I'll eliminate that before I start swapping out my purge tanks, regulators, and hanging chicken bones around my neck for good luck. ...

I was having essentially the same problem today that is covered in this thread http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2671&hilit=carbon+porosity&start=10 and the I think the responses in that thread covered what I was doing wrong, but I saw you said this: " To tes...

Electrode still has all of its shape, just darkened, and swirl marks. It looks like I could hit it with some sandcloth and use it again, I just changed it out to keep on rolling. Tip looks pretty silvery and eroded at the orifice. The unit started not lighting up, then it would, then it wouldn't, th...

If you mean me, the first line is a counter to the "sent from my 500 dollar phone using the AT&T Sprint Coca Cola Ford Chevy Dodge Monsanto etc. etc. app" line that plagues the eyes of every user of every forum on the web. There's an oblique Zappa reference in there, but it'd take an o...

NICE project you have going there. Can you spec out the wall thickness of the spheres and the mating surfaces there? Is one a female and the other male? Do you have to grind one mating surface off and tack 'em up to keep them, square, as it were, you get where I'm going. :) Post as much info as you ...