[Chips O'Toole]

This week I went to my metal supplier to get pickled and oiled steel. They said they could order it. Wow. I got aluminum instead.

Today I cut some up for practice, and I got to work. I have a new issue. When I let off the pedal, the arc doesn't shut off.

Am I doing something wrong? The manual is about four pages long, so it's not a great help.

[Olivero]

The pedal has a switch built into it which when you push the pedal down, it engages the switch, closes the circuit and the rest of the components do their thing.

I have had one of the pieces my pedal hinges on break off before and it would stay slightly down and keep the pedal "down" when my foot wasn't on it.

That is the most logical thing at least, check it out and let us now.

[Chips O'Toole]

I took the pedal off and tried the torch trigger. The problem is still there.

New problem: after I quit, the gas flow turned on by itself, and I had to shut the bottle valve.

On top of that, the welder welded perfectly with the trigger OFF. It was farting and eating the aluminum, and then I let off the trigger, and suddenly a nice smooth puddle appeared.

[Chips O'Toole]

I knew "dumbass" had to be involved in this somehow. The reason the welder kept running with the trigger off is that it's supposed to do that. I did not know the difference between 2T and 4T. I figured it was like MIG, which only runs while the trigger is depressed.

Now I have to try the pedal again. Maybe I had it on 4T.

I'm lap-welding 1/8" aluminum, and I had to go down to 100 amps. It's so fast I can barely keep up. I don't understand that. I thought the rule was one amp per thousandth. I'm going to take it down to 75 and see if it's better.

[Chips O'Toole]

I guess there is nothing wrong with the machine, because it works now. I feel like I made progress today, but I can't understand why I have to move so fast when I weld this stuff.

I figured out that the arc distance and angle were causing me huge problems, so now I'm working on that.

Welding the ends of the work without blowing through is going to take a lot more practice. I could not do it at all with the trigger, and with the pedal, it was still very sloppy.

[Farmwelding]

I guess there is nothing wrong with the machine, because it works now. I feel like I made progress today, but I can't understand why I have to move so fast when I weld this stuff.

I figured out that the arc distance and angle were causing me huge problems, so now I'm working on that.

Welding the ends of the work without blowing through is going to take a lot more practice. I could not do it at all with the trigger, and with the pedal, it was still very sloppy.

If you feel as though you are moving to fast you can reduce your amps a little but not too much.

[Oscar]

That portion right there looks real good, I'm jealous

[LtBadd]

That portion right there looks real good, I'm jealous

Oscar you beat me to it, good job Chips

[Chips O'Toole]

Thanks. I considered copying that and Photoshopping it over the rest of the weld.

[Olivero]

Thanks. I considered copying that and Photoshopping it over the rest of the weld.

Great idea,

Glad you got it sorted out, aluminum is fast once its hot, like really fast.

Aluminum can take a bit to get hot at first but once its hot OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH man, you gonna run those fingers with the torch. I think there should be a bob sled type TIG finger for aluminum welding.

When you get into 3/16" stuff it won't be as fast.

[cj737]

And once you get the aluminum hot and welding, taper off your foot pedal just enough to keep the puddle and add rod at a controlled pace. As you approach the ends/edges, really taper off the heat and keep stuffing rod. That prevents the burn out.

When you practice lap joints, it can be more convenient to keep the lap closer so you don't have as much "base" exposed. In your picture, it looks like you have a 2" plate exposed. Knock that back to 1" or 3/4". Then you can get the torch tight and move the work piece closer to the edge of your table. This allows you more freedom of the torch handle because the table is not obstructing your hand/handle/torch head.

When you learn, take every advantage of setup, position, posture, and make things as easy as possible so you can focus on the welding aspects. Plenty of time to get creative later once you've mastered the arc. And, Cold Rolled steel is much cheaper than pickled and welds for practice much better than hot rolled.