Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi this is my first post looking for some advise on aluminum tig It is 1/8" 6061 4043 3/32 filler about 20 cfh argon 160 amps foot control not all the way down miller dynasty 280dx. No pulse 75 balance/120 hrz. I am getting a serious grit sand look in the weld I am cleaning the parent and filler with acetone I am also getting sparks when welding using 2% lan I uploaded a video on YouTube to get a better look uUYWOI4k4xo
https://youtu.be/uUYWOI4k4xo

Got CO2 in the mix? Using Chinese ebay filler rod? I would guess that it's got nothing to do with the machine or settings.

Rcc -


Settings look okay. Sparking is very odd. For what it's worth, although I get no sparking, using 4043 filler (from several sources) I always get the 'sandy weld' look. I have never been able to tune it out and use 5356 as my go-to filler nowadays.



Kym

I am running pure argon. The filler is old don't remember where I bought it. The tungsten is off eBay I think weld USA or weld city. When I was running a syncrowave I don't recall these issues

Rcc wrote:I am running pure argon. The filler is old don't remember where I bought it. The tungsten is off eBay I think weld USA or weld city. When I was running a syncrowave I don't recall these issues

I run a Syncrowave 210 right now and I get that sand from time to time. I had a Syncrowave 200 transformer that would give me that gritty appearance from time to time but I could balance it out. The 210 is an inverter and I usually use the proset feature for balance as it usually does give the best results but I still get that sand and I can't balance it out. I honestly think it's the quality of the base metal your working on. Don't do alot of aluminum but I have noticed the problem.

exnailpounder wrote:

Rcc wrote:I am running pure argon. The filler is old don't remember where I bought it. The tungsten is off eBay I think weld USA or weld city. When I was running a syncrowave I don't recall these issues

I run a Syncrowave 210 right now and I get that sand from time to time. I had a Syncrowave 200 transformer that would give me that gritty appearance from time to time but I could balance it out. The 210 is an inverter and I usually use the proset feature for balance as it usually does give the best results but I still get that sand and I can't balance it out. I honestly think it's the quality of the base metal your working on. Don't do alot of aluminum but I have noticed the problem.

It is an odd one.

All I ever hear from folks in the states is that 4043 is the go-to filler; yet I've tried 4043 from several suppliers, worked with different types of base metal, spent time cleaning and invested a lot of time trying different settings to 'tune out' the sandy look, but for me 4043 just stays sandy.

With 5356 I get a smooth, creamy look every time.

Can't for the life of me work out why this should be.

Sorry for my rant/threadjack.)




Kym

I helped a guy who owns a motorcycle repair shop, set up his syncrowave 200 and give him a few lessons. He had some aluminum scraps to practice on and his machine turned out awesome silky welds on aluminum. He gave me some of his metal to take home to play with. I used the same filler(4043)from the same batch, his metal on my inverter and it looked all gritty. Couldn't tune it out. I can balance out pepper flakes but not the grit. The weirdest part is that it doesn't happen all the time. One day I turn out beautiful welds, the next day they are gritty. Beats the hell out of me.

It is an odd one.

All I ever hear from folks in the states is that 4043 is the go-to filler; yet I've tried 4043 from several suppliers, worked with different types of base metal, spent time cleaning and invested a lot of time trying different settings to 'tune out' the sandy look, but for me 4043 just stays sandy.

With 5356 I get a smooth, creamy look every time.

Can't for the life of me work out why this should be.

Sorry for my rant/

Kym[/quote]

I will try some 5356. The Sparks though are really got me thinking Maybe it is the base metal

About the sparks. Have you tried running a bead on steel to see if you get the sparks? What does your toungsten look like after you weld a pass where it has been sparking?

On steel it is clean weld the tungsten is gray looking not any color change

With a friend's suggestion to check the argon tank I switched tanks to a new one and seems to weld much better going to try and do another video see it that was the cause but from under the helmet there was seemed to be less popping and noise

The way the Sparks were traveling made me think gas contamination. It may be ok to use for practice though. Obvious not ideal but good enough for practice.

sJSgnj6wh0s
With the new gas

Nice.

It's wholly common with 4043 filler, excessive heat brings it out more.

I had continuous sandy like finishes with all my practice runs. I always kept my max amps around at or +20 of the recommended Amps using a foot pedal. For 1/8 to 1/16 gauge this was around 120-140 Amps. I moved up to 150A which was a lot higher but I found better pedal control and I could ramp up to really hot to get a puddle then ride out the rest of the run using a lot less pulse on the pedal. In most of my runs I got shiny beads, but rarely sandy after these changes. If the part was 160F or less on any future runs, I found I could do the same thing. If it was over 160F then I found I'd barely be pulsing the pedal.

entity-unknown wrote:I had continuous sandy like finishes with all my practice runs. I always kept my max amps around at or +20 of the recommended Amps using a foot pedal. For 1/8 to 1/16 gauge this was around 120-140 Amps. I moved up to 150A which was a lot higher but I found better pedal control and I could ramp up to really hot to get a puddle then ride out the rest of the run using a lot less pulse on the pedal. In most of my runs I got shiny beads, but rarely sandy after these changes. If the part was 160F or less on any future runs, I found I could do the same thing. If it was over 160F then I found I'd barely be pulsing the pedal.

Will give it a try. The dynasty is a new machine just bought it this summer my old one was an dialarc monster. So I am still playing around with it. I have not messed with the pulse that much yet.