Welding Tips and Tricks

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Hey Folks, I am going to try to let comments determine the topics for a series on how to tig weld aluminum.
I know there are some really good aluminum welders here on the forum so I may be leaning on you for help.

thanks,
Jody
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Jody......i would really like you to cover how to keep your welds straight and uniform. Also feeding rod also....thanx.

I'm curious about cast. I know no two castings are the same. But I have noticed that there seams to be two kinds. One with a very coarse grain structure and often has internal porosity. The second with a very fine grain structure has less internal voids. Do you approach diferent kinds of cast differently? And if so how do you decide what approach to use?

Thanks to all your great videos Jody I have learned to weld aluminum but getting a consistent dab timing/spacing has lots of room for improvement. I use the technique you show and just need practice.

There was a question just posted in the forums regarding pulse. I'm pretty sure its the same confusion I had at one stage regarding pulse and how it works with a foot pedal or a 2T/4T setup. Sounds counter intuitive that a food pedal could still have input when the machine has taking over amperage/pulse duties and I can see why that would be confusing.

Also maybe something on penetration vs rod diameter vs height and width of weld bead and ideal proportions strength wise.

Jody, Thanks for continuing to make fun and educational welding videos. I especially appreciate you doing a series dedicated to Aluminum. I have lots of questions every time I weld aluminum but will just pick a few as the videos come out. Don't want to dump too much on you at once. One area I think would like to understand better is on heat input. The difference between starting out slow or starting fast with aluminum and how it affects the rest of the weld. How welding with too low versus too high amperage affects the weld outcome. As well, how to choose the correct amperage and set up a weld on a large aluminum piece versus a small piece and the different heat affect amperage has on heat on different size parts. Another area is causes of aluminum welds cracking and signs to look for to help diagnose and fix cracking problems. Finally, what should a good arc start look like with aluminum and what is a good start amp setting. Arc starts with steel seem to pop right off the tip whereas aluminum seems to wander a bit before starting. I am not sure if I am starting at too low a setting for the material (usually 1/8"), too far away on start, or if my tungsten needs better prep. Will look forward to more videos on aluminum welding. Thanks again.

I'd love to hear some more info on what other changes you make when you mix He with your Ar. I understand the effect on required amperage (lower) and the penetration benefits, but do you also adjust (and if so, by how much +/-) your CFH, or your frequency or AC Balance?

Are there particular grades of Al where using He is NOT advisable, or certain wire grades preferred? Or does it matter at all?

Thanks-

I'm pretty sure that when Jody said he would adjust his follow-up programs on aluminum based on the comments, He meant specifically the comments on the video on his you-tube channel. That's not to say he won't check here, but he is so "hands-off" with this forum that it may be up to one of the moderator team to bring these replies to his attention.

He does check in here form time to time (aside from posting his latest video on this topic), but he's come to trust the self-policing nature of this group to the point he's able to focus his time elsewhere and not fuss with us. While that speaks volumes for the quality of this group, it does make it hard to get a direct response without going through his channel, or his websites.

Steve S

I am reading these as well as comments on youtube . response has been crazy ...youtube has over 340 comments as I type this but these comments help as well.

This might turn into a series of 10 or more videos. One bite at a time.

jody

admin wrote:I am reading these as well as comments on youtube . response has been crazy ...youtube has over 340 comments as I type this but these comments help as well.

This might turn into a series of 10 or more videos. One bite at a time.

jody

Sweet!

I apologize for making an assumption about the time you spend here.

Steve S