[dewdrop9]

I was recently doing A weld to make a piece of square tubing and i tacked it and made a good weld but then at the end of the weld as soon as i hit the tack with my weld bead the aluminum just melted down and made a ugly u gouge in the end of the weld and i couldn't figure out what was wrong because i cleaned the metal and i had a perfect weld at the beginning

Any help would be appreciated

[Otto Nobedder]

I'm going to try to interpret here, since "A" weld is outside my vocabulary...

You were welding two pieces of aluminum angle together to form a square tube?

It went fine until you reached the end of the angle/tube to be, and then "fell out", or melted back, leaving a big "u" shape at the end of the tube?

Here's what probably happened, if I understand what you were doing. Aluminum builds heat and moves it quickly. It will move the heat in all directions. As you reach the end of the weld, there's a direction it can't go, because there's no more aluminum, so you have too much heat.

You have three choices... Start from each end, and work toward the middle (recommended). Tail off the power a whole lot at the end, and be prepared to dab the rod a lot while pulsing (challenging if this is new to you). Or, built it longer than you need it, and cut it to length (easiest answer, but wastes material).

Pick your poison.

Steve S

[dewdrop9]

Thanks Otto since I don't have a foot pedal ill try leaving some metal at the end and use it later thanks for the help

[dewdrop9]

this is what was going on

[lazerbeam]

Yes, that is an outside corner joint and if you don't have a foot pedal or other remote then it is getting too hot at the end of the weld. The best way to solve the problem is to start at one edge and weld halfway and then start at the other edge and weld to the point where you left off from the first weld. The thinner the material the greater the chance it is going to "go away" at the edge.

If your ripples disappear when welding aluminum, you are too hot.

[TamJeff]

The easiest way, is to cut the pieces an inch longer than the finished measurement and cut a half inch off of each end if you have enough material. It ends up looking more like a factory part and if you do a dozen of them, more consistent.

You can also stop near the end, reverse torch angle and "bump" the last couple of beads with the pedal. By "bump" I mean, add filler simultaneously when hitting the pedal. This helps by directing the shielding gas directly at the puddle and edge of the tube. You can actually build the bead beyond the end of the tube so that it can be trimmed or ground flush. It also gives you a good view of your tungsten and arc relative to the size of the beads you already have. I don't like seeing noticeable starts and stops on the ends of finished pieces.

[dewdrop9]

Thanks TamJeff I will try that today in my welding class but when you reverse your torch angle does that mean you switch hands? and since I don't have a foot pedal just the torch that came with the diversion 165 ill try to use the finger adjustment