TRACKRANGER wrote:Your efforts are admirable, but you might need to learn more about the theory of TIG welding Aluminum. The ball tip on the electrode is actually what is expected, but your choice of tungsten type may be misunderstood.
Lanthanted gives you good starting and arc stability, but Zirconiated might be better for AC welding aluminum, it holds the balled-end better (works in your favor for aluminum, especially for cleaning action), and is more resistive to contamination.
I personally wouldn't generally use Lanthanted over Zirconiated for aluminum welding.
If your power source has frequency control, perhaps increasing the frequency might give you better (narrower) control of the arc focus.
Just my 2 cents
Trev
I tried the Lanthanated on both the 1/16" and 1/8" Aluminum. It works just fine with the 1/16" Tungsten on 1/16" aluminum at 70 amps and argon at 15.
I am having trouble running a good weld though on the thicker 1/8" aluminum welds with the 3/32" Lanthanated. When I switched back to the Thoriated I did much better for some reason. I think i will try Zirconiated like you suggested. Not sure why but the Lanthanated seems to just melt it more like a sloppy puddle of mud rather than the stack of dimes effect.
I might be wrong but I would find it had to believe that tungsten type is going to have a huge effect on bead appearance. Amp carrying capacity, arc starting, erosion are all characteristics of various tungsten types but I have never heard about anything related to the bead. It is possible you may have a different balled end size and that would have an effect. Next time you compare tungsten see if there isn't something else going on like balled end size metal temp etc. I'll sit down tomorrow and check it out, in the past when I have compared tungsten I was looking more for how they balled and amp carrying.
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TwentyFourSeven wrote:I will try the two again but every time I switched for some reason I ran better beads.
The tungsten shouldn't make much difference, unless you are running pure (Green band), which balls up real bad. You should check out Jody's video where he compares tungsten. I usually use 2% lanthanated for aluminum. I don't like the big ball on the end like pure. I want a narrow arc for most joints. I want the arc to go where I point it. I can always widen it for a lap joint, or outside corner. Just my opinion.
I love the way it arc's when I first sharpen it or when it has a very small ball on the tip but it doesn't seem to last long. How often are you guys sharpening tungstens on average? The Lanthanated seems to eventually split on the tip.
Try putting the AC balance all the way to the right/penetration this will help preserve your pointed tungsten. That would be a good control for you to mess around with just to see how it effects your sharpened tungsten vs. the cleaning action you need.
I was messing around with a miller 200DX today and at 200 amps and 70% DC- I wasn't getting much of a balled end at all. I was also checking out tungsten types today and zirconiated tied with rare earth for the best ball and 2% lan and C3 were about the same, kinda ragged buy very usable. also easing the peddle down seemed to help the lan tungsten ball better.
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Received my gas lense today that I ordered. Off course the white Teflon spacer did not fit my torch nor did the old one. I had to call the guy from the local shop to stop by with some parts.
