Welding Tips and Tricks

Pic of 1st try at tig.
1/8" thick aluminum butt joint to try and make a piece
Big enough to practice padding beads.
3/32" e3 tungsten ground to a point with a little flat spot.
100 amps every thing else proset on 280dx miller.

Looks great for a start! Learn to move your hand like an assembly line robot rather than tilting the torch, to move the weld forward. And don't be afraid to ease off the pedal as you notice the work heatsoaking

You need to up your amperage. 100 is too cold as you can see where you started the bead it is laying on top and as you moved forward and the piece got hot you can see your bead start to flatten. But not bad though. We have seen people come here with welds that look like goose crap and they wanna know why Looks like you have a good handle on it...shouldn't take you too long. You need to be good on the pedal and a heat sink for your coupon will really help you.

Looking pretty good.

What others have said regarding amps and heat control is spot-on. Also, Nailer's comment regarding a heat sink or 'chill block' is very good advice. Chill blocks have quickly become vital to my welding!



Kym

Thanks guys,

I will move the amps up, I noticed that the penetration wasn't there for the 1st inch or so and then you kind of felt it go all the way through once the piece got warmed up.

The footpadal...This is gonna take some experimenting. I was wearing my big winter boots. I need to be more like Mr. Rodgers and have a thin pair of sneakers I can change into when I get down to the shop. I believe this will help with the control of the pedal.

My practice will be slow in coming for awhile yet as I am recovering from neck surgery and its painful to hold my head up for any extended length of time. I am hoping to get 30-45min sessions in one to two times a day for the next little while. I hae 16 weeks of this recovery to learn a little about this welding.

Now that the piece is large enough I will begin the bead padding exercise.

Sure wish there was a way to slow it all down...The pedal, feeding the rod, adancing the torch along smoothly while keeping the arc the appropriate length...It seems as the heat builds you keep moving faster and faster to the point that it gets away and I get that hole at the end. Oh well, that was the first try, I am sure I will get it all figured here eventually.

A "HEAT SINK"....where does one find one of those big hunks of copper or aluminum? As I am practicing with aluminum I would want copper right? Is there an industry that would have leftover chunks of copper? I am guessing they would be pricey. I do have a bunch of copper wire, a lot acually in the form of all the starters and alternators I replace in the boats each year. Could one strip the windings out and then melt it all into one big block somehow?

Jakedaawwg...if you want to "slow it all down"...practice on steel and then move to aluminum. Your first beads showed that you have some skill or experience welding but jumping right into aluminum is sometimes a hard road uphill. I don't know what to suggest for heat absorbing material. Practicing on such a small coupon is going to be challenging unless you do a bead and then quench...rinse and repeat but small coupons heat up so fast that it's hard to control your puddle even after a short run. I know wearing big clunky boots can hamper pedal input but the good news is...you will get to a point where you will be carefully watching your puddle and your pedal input will become instinctive no matter what you're wearing on your feet. Just like driving a car...you don't really need to think about the gas pedal, you just drive. Aluminum is pretty unforgiving so you have your work cut out for you. Plain old mild steel is like a vacation at the beach...aluminum is a day at the beach...with sharks in the water.

I have debated starting on mild steel. My reasons for starting on aluminum are:

1. If and when I successfully learn to do this all the work will be aluminum. Pontoon repair and cast aluminum repair. Figured I may as well learn what I am going to use.

2. Many have said that once they started on steel and then went to aluminum it was very frustrating and hard to make the transition. If I don't know the steel part i wont get discouraged with the aluminum.

3. I was worried about picking up bad habits when doing steel and then have to break those habits once I transitioned to aluminum.

4. This was just the first attempt so I will continue padding out this coupon as pain permits and then re-evaluate if I need to go to steel to get the basic mechanics down and then re-transition to aluminum. Just worried about bad habits I may pick up with the steel practice.

On another note, I found my grandmothers old metronome for playing piano. It works. My plan is to gring some wire and my tig gloves back from the shop this afternoon and practice feeding to a rythem while I sit and rest my neck. It would be like "tic", advance rod, "toc", advance rod. The metronome is adjustable so I will be able to gradually increase the speed of feed in a rhythmic way. Does this type of practice sound like a waste of time????

I have never heard of any one picking up bad habits from welding steel. There is a set of skills you need to learn to tig anything and starting with aluminum, one of the trickiest to learn, makes the learning curve alot steeper. Let us know how it goes.

I did it the same way, the learning curve is much steeper but once you've got a handle on aluminum, try steel and you will drool over how easy it will be.

But the problem is that everything that matters with steel, REALLY matters with aluminum so you have to be extremely critical of yourself. It's very tempting to blame the machine, settings, material etc when things go wrong with aluminum but it's pretty much guaranteed to be you. I quickly transitioned to doing T fillets with aluminum and it was the bane of my existence. I was still inconsistent with the torch, rod and pedal, didn't have a good feel for things and with T fillets you have to do everything pretty much perfectly. But when I eventually started getting it, it was a really cool feeling.

So if I had to do it all over again, I would personally start with steel, and get the basic torch and rod mechanics down, then quickly move to aluminum. Until you have that, the added concerns with aluminum just make learning unnecessarily hard.

Any practice of good mechanics isn't a bad idea but you should be holding a torch at the right angle and moving it the right amount at the same time. I personally wouldn't bother for the same reason I don't like using low speed pulse for the same end goal because I find myself needing to react and adjust too often - in reality you rarely get a chance to have a nice large, flat, clear work surface, joining a straight line coupon. This is probably wrong as I'm still a newbie myself but I've found it to be more beneficial to practice making the weld look consistent by adjusting on the fly, not depending on a fixed rhythm and welding pattern. The T fillets really taught me a lot about that because things change quickly, especially on coupons as you need to start off with a lot of jam but if you don't progressively back off (and if needed, slow down the travel and add more rod), it gets worse and worse until at the end everything just melts and sags.

But if you want a metronome, use the Dynasty pulser. Set it to 1pps, 50/50, and when it goes high, dip, when low, advance.

Yeah,

Nice early effort.

I mean, I've only started doing AC TIG on aluminum about a year and a half ago, and that only includes a handful of small projects involving, maybe, several hours of AC arc time. But I previously did a lot more DC TIG on a more basic unit, using no foot pedal at all, since one wasn't included and it wasn't so critical to use one on mild and stainless steel, I think.

Your coupon, even though it's a decent size, shows how quickly the heat in aluminum will saturate a piece like that and bonce back at you, so-to-speak, i.e., the bead profile starts out nice, maybe even too convex, but then flattens, widens, and virtually drops out at the end.

Your torch and filler technique looks good. Maybe just watching the puddle a little closer, starting off a little hotter and slower, backing off the heat a little sooner, moving a little faster a little sooner, or using a little bigger rod as filler to provide some quenching action. But, I'd probably want to use 1/16" filler on that and just have a nice, narrow bead with decent penetration. So, you may want to show us the underside of that coupon, to identify the kind of penetration profile you're going for too.

Otherwise, I'd undoubtedly want to crank up th AC frequency a bit, maybe use a Triangle wave, and just move faster. Or, maybe even stop midway, let the piece cool for 30 seconds, then pick back up on the exact same spot, which will be virtually undectable (it looks like you may have tried that, for how long?). Or, stop midway, let it cool, and restart at the other bitter end and meet in the middle, to avoid the potential dropout on the heat saturated edge. Pulse is another option in the heat management TIG tool box, but I've honestly not dabbled with pulse much at all yet.

Some other tips with you Dynasty and thin aluminum is to set the pulse on. That turns the heat back and allows you to use more amps (probably 125) without over cooking the sheet while you trudge along. Also, try using 150hz and see if that doesn't produce a better looking result, and balance between 60-65. You'd be surprised the difference with some small setting changes and the same technique.

this is the backside showing penettration this is my second attempt at a butt weld

I needed to make a second coupon so that after I pad a bead on one, I can pad a bead on the other while the first one cools. Next few posts will be pics of beads I attempted to lay on the coupons.

BTW...Does anyone know how to disable the caps lock key on a Mac Book Pro? I keep hitting it and then have to delete and retype everything so its not in all caps.

What you should notice is that about halfway through your bead runs, the heat accumulates in the base part, making the bead begin to get "grainy" looking and flatter. That is when you need to back-off the pedal, or increase the tempo of rod and cup movement.

Its a delicate balance of filler rod and travel speed to obtain perfect looking beads, same height, same width, same offset. And aluminum is much harder than steel to do this because the puddle grows "up" first.

In your Triangular Wave test, I'd agree, the amps were too low on that run as you have little to no burn in on the toes of your weld. You can always set your maximum amperage higher than use the pedal to modulate the amount of amps used. For instance, set it at 175 amps, but use only a 1/2 pedal to get the weld right. This eliminates the need to "mash down" and provides you more flexibility in the usage of heat to get started, then back off and run with less pedal. And you can taper off farther too. Try adding a swirling motion to your last bead and pivot the cup ahead to eliminate the cratering.

I can truly say that these welds are some of the better noob welds I have seen in awhile. If I can throw in 2 cents more...I would concentrate on welding and technique before I started trying different settings as it just gets more confusing. Learn to properly tig weld and then use the advanced settings on your machine to your advantage. You are coming up fast so you will have plenty of time to experiment with settings. Nothing can replace seat time and proper technique. There are guys doing beautiful welds with simple machines (Jody has a few vids on it) but the advanced settings do have their place. I have considered upgrading to a machine with more bells and whistles but I know my machine thoroughly and know what she can do and I can turn out some pretty welds from time to time so I keep her. I meant this as constructive criticism as you are doing a fine job for just getting your feet wet. Bravo!

looks like you might be running out of filler rod 1/2 way through and
are having a bit of trouble advancing the filler in you hand letting the heat build up.
just an observation
craig

Your welds look a lot better than my first Aluminum welds did way back when, Hell, I still have trouble smoothly feeding wire through my gloved hand, keep practising you'll get it.

Thanks guys. Please keep comments coming when you have time to do so. I appreciate all and have thick skin.

The trying the different waves was just for fun/reference. In a year or so when I have gotten competent I'll be able to go back and look. That's all it was, I don't plan on getting hung up on the bells and whistles unless directed to by someone who knows and for a certain puposes that they would explain.

I bought this higher end welder because it hopefully will be a new part of my existing business and the features may come in handy at that point. Untill then, while learning, it seems to work just fine in base mode or whatever for learning. A good buy I believe.

Be prepared for when you do pontoon repairs. As you are probably already aware, aluminum is like a sponge for picking up contamination and boats are the worst for that. Enjoy sitting at a table with nice clean metal and a nice comfy position and doing pretty welds because that will all end one day when you have to crawl into or under something and use your knee to operate your pedal or put it between you legs like a thighmaster and your boat is oil-soaked from being tied in the marina all summer. I am in the "broken shit" fixing business too and just about the time you think you have seen it all...I'm just a ray of sunshine aren't I? Nice work and good luck with the repairs.

exnailpounder wrote:Be prepared for when you do pontoon repairs. As you are probably already aware, aluminum is like a sponge for picking up contamination and boats are the worst for that. Enjoy sitting at a table with nice clean metal and a nice comfy position and doing pretty welds because that will all end one day when you have to crawl into or under something and use your knee to operate your pedal or put it between you legs like a thighmaster and your boat is oil-soaked from being tied in the marina all summer. I am in the "broken shit" fixing business too and just about the time you think you have seen it all...I'm just a ray of sunshine aren't I? Nice work and good luck with the repairs.

Yep, I am under no illusions when it comes to fixing the toons and skegs and holes knocked into lower units. I have been there when a true "master" has done it several times. But, gotta learn this perfect world stuff first, then onto reality...

actually, being in this damn neckbrace thing right now is making it a little difficult even while trying to learn on the bench.

As you can see, blew out at the end. Thats just got to be needing to lessen up on the pedal a little earlier? Was getting a little bored with padding so I jumped ahead and tried a couple different joints.

I was at 68 balance as someone in either this forum or the other one suggested trying it although I can't remember for what reason.

Had a lot of pain today so thats all I got done. Need to slow down a little and get a little further into this recovery so won't be posting for a day or two.

Question:

I am taking a couple days off from practice due to the surgery and pain and healing and what not. Doc felt I was doing to much. So, about all I caan do is sit here and think.

My question is this: With the butt weld which I used to put two coupons together so I could have a coupon big enough to pad on the goal was to be able to see the complete fusion on the reverse side, right? So, when I am padding beads on these coupons do I want that same bulge on the reverse side under each bead?

IF that's your first weld, I think you got a career in front of you bud!

That is not bad at all, I have trained a couple of guys and they were not that pretty, then again, I never let them weld on scrap more than once or twice

I am in the business of fixing & building shit so its rare I can weld on nice and fresh aluminum. 1/8" is a really good thickness and aluminum seems to just flow really good, 1/4" and 3/16" can be a little tricky unless you are able to increase your amps to the 200 range.

Either way, its looking really good.

Jakedaawg wrote:Question:

I am taking a couple days off from practice due to the surgery and pain and healing and what not. Doc felt I was doing to much. So, about all I caan do is sit here and think.

My question is this: With the butt weld which I used to put two coupons together so I could have a coupon big enough to pad on the goal was to be able to see the complete fusion on the reverse side, right? So, when I am padding beads on these coupons do I want that same bulge on the reverse side under each bead?

If you are getting bulging on the underside of you beads, it means you got proper penetration. That's the line you have to toe. Enough heat and travel speed to keep your metal from turning into a flaming comet or the opposite, a cold ropey looking weld with little penetration.
I know you have watched Jody's videos but now that you have some practical experience, go back and watch his AL welding videos again while your down with pain and I'll bet you a beer that you will pick up things that you missed the first few times you watched them. About 18 years ago I was a pretty good Tig welder on AL but that work dried up and I went on to other things. About 3 years ago I wanted to get back into Tig and I came here and started watching vids and I was back in the saddle in no time and I fully credit Jody's vids and the help I got here for that. I don't get to tig as much as I wish I could in daily life but I really do enjoy just sitting in my shop and messing around with the tig just to keep up my skills and come here and toot my horn a little bit You are virtuoso compared to what I have seen come around here.