Welding Tips and Tricks

A down n dirty demonstration of the different wave forms and what they are best suited for would be pretty good. I tend to get all mixed up and resort back to what I know.... the ole' transformer sin wave.

I like Blue Diver's suggestion of discussing and running aluminum beads with different wave forms with all other things equal. Since I have a Dynasty, I tried using an advanced square wave instead of the soft square, but I didn't notice much difference. I did not try a Triangular wave because I was not welding real thin stuff which required less heat input. Also, I did not bother trying the Sine wave either.

I was just doing an aluminum drill, so I was kind of experimenting and getting some decent settings and ripple pattern down.

Miller does suggest applications for each wave form on their website and Dynasty too.

This is really old, but I would like to see this as well

If you're welding 1/4" or greater then changing waveforms may not make a dramatic difference visually, unless you choose the Triangular form which is for thin material then you may struggle to form the puddle. If your welding very thin material then you'd see a greater impact from the different forms. Bottom line I believe it's a useful tool to achieve the end result.

Example, if you have 1/2" plate you'll want the advanced squarewave, AC balance to EN, and also preheat to help make a successful weld, if you have a dynasty (or other inverter) that allows independent amplitude adjustment then that too becomes another tool that can be used. For many years before inverters, successful welds were made on aluminum using just sine wave, so you may not notice a dramatic difference by changing the wave form, but it is adding (or not) to the heat input.

If you were to inspect two finished welds, one made with all the inverter tech and one made with a transformer machine (assuming both welds are done properly) you may not be able tell which one was made with the inverter*, but the welder may say they appreciate having the advanced tools to work with.

*Under some circumstances you may be able to tell, such as narrow oxide etching due to the inverter settings

I tried the triangle wave form for the ever important "soda" can welding thinking the decreased penetration would help buy me some time before the can goes liquid while I practice. I did have a really hard time getting the arc where I wanted it even at 450 hz with .04 lanthanted. Maybe I'll try advanced next time.

maker of things wrote:I tried the triangle wave form for the ever important "soda" can welding thinking the decreased penetration would help buy me some time before the can goes liquid while I practice. I did have a really hard time getting the arc where I wanted it even at 450 hz with .04 lanthanted. Maybe I'll try advanced next time.

I haven't tried the soda cans yet, but think having a rotator would be the way to go.

Yes demo on waveforms

pavetim wrote:Yes demo on waveforms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPoYSakqX9Y

NICE and yeah not much difference at all. That advanced pulse is crazy though, so much more penetration. I guess that would be great for an underpowered machine on some thick aluminum. Have to check to see if my everlast 210 EXT has that too as he was also using an Everlast machine.