Welding Tips and Tricks

(sorry on my last post, my fat thumb hit the submit key on my phone before i was done typing )

So I just picked up a new welding job, welding Aluminum. I have been welding High Temp Alloys for years and have dabbled in Aluminum only a few times.

My question is:

I have to put a 1/2 fillet down on a part, and decided to put a few stacking welds. I am constantly being told by people in this shop that the welds need to be really penetrating in to the material. (which is 6063.) I am welding with 4395 i believe. i could be misprinting that wire number. So once i built up a few stingers i tried to put a fat cover weld on and noticed how hard it is to lay a very big Aluminum Weld. So instead i went with a "weave" style. I've seen alot of those on weld porn and figured why not .

My goal is for my welds to look like a solid bead, not a weave bead. How do i achieve that look?? What weld settings should i rock? I still need this weld to pass penetration issues.

ill post a pic of my weld, the weave, and the previous welder welds i found. You should be able to tell them apart.

im welding on a dynasty 700. I am keeping the EN at 700 and EP at 650, the Balance at 75% and Hrtz at 180. I am bouncing between soft square and Advanced square depending on the required pen i need. Also i am running straight Argon.

Thanks Guys!!

What wire size are you using? If it’s a single 1/8, try using 2-3/32 wires ganged together so you get more filler per dab?

1/8 for the fillets and 3/32 for the covers. These guys im working for dont want to see a bulbous weld. But at my current machine settings. The weld pool seems to bowl inward. Making it hard to create a wider weld. I think my problem is at my machine setting. Im not sure however the best settings to use for cover welds, nor do i want my new employer seeing me "practice" on his material.

Am I reading correctly that you're tig welding at 700 amps? What size tungsten are you using?

If your employer wants welds to look a certain way, and no established procedure has been worked up, then a little practice/experimentation is in order to determine best methods and settings for the weld - in my opinion.

I run my machine at 700. But im not giving it full pedal. Kinda always the way i welded. Expect on smaller gage stuff. Im welding with 1/8 2% lanthanated (blue)

Yeah and I agree with you on the lack of a WPS means i have every right to work out the best parameters on my own. I actually have been doing so at my main job on a dynasty 350. Since ibwas hired on for piece work. Every minute i am there i am pumping out welds left and right. Hence i try to figure out the best settings at my hourly job.

Again if i can be pointed towards a good starting location for welder setup for a cover weld on a 1/2 fillet, if anyone has that recent experience. It would be very helpful. Any favorite parameters?

@ TheBeardedWelder - we run a Dynasty 200DX with both Ar and H25 shielding, and colloborate with a local business who operates several Dynasty 700s. Personally used their rigs on 3/8” 6061-T6 with 1/8” BLUE Tungsten and staright Ar shielding. Don’t recall the amperage, but the joints were fillets.

My primary recommendation to you is to reduce your freq to 50-70 Hz. IMPO, 180Hz is not optimal for thick/thick Ally work. Thick Aluminum likes lower freqs. At a given amperage, lower freqs punch through the metallic boundary layer and inject more heat from the light-speed moving electrons. Analogous to underwater SONAR: lower frequencies travel farther distances than higher frequencies.

Also, ensure you have adequate etching:cleaning on the DCEP side. Your 75EN/25EP balance should work fine.

Fuse some lines at lower frequencies and see what results you achieve. You have the amps to penetrate. Make sure your are getting a bright/shiny puddle prior to adding filler.

The picture of the weld you "want" is a mig weld. That's why you can't replicate it with tig. Good luck with it though

weldin mike 27 wrote:The picture of the weld you "want" is a mig weld. That's why you can't replicate it with tig. Good luck with it though

Hows the quality of the weld compare. Mig vs. Tig? Penetration?

With the correct equipment you can get super quality welds quickly with a mig. But also lay a heap of pus super fast. It's not really a comparison of looks, but speed. Bulk welds and fabrication, mig or(pulse mig) with a push pull gun and a mixed gas (argon /helium) . Pure quality, it's tig. But it's slow.

TheBeardedWelder wrote:(sorry on my last post, my fat thumb hit the submit key on my phone before i was done typing )

So I just picked up a new welding job, welding Aluminum. I have been welding High Temp Alloys for years and have dabbled in Aluminum only a few times.

My question is:

I have to put a 1/2 fillet down on a part, and decided to put a few stacking welds. I am constantly being told by people in this shop that the welds need to be really penetrating in to the material. (which is 6063.) I am welding with 4395 i believe. i could be misprinting that wire number. So once i built up a few stingers i tried to put a fat cover weld on and noticed how hard it is to lay a very big Aluminum Weld. So instead i went with a "weave" style. I've seen alot of those on weld porn and figured why not .

My goal is for my welds to look like a solid bead, not a weave bead. How do i achieve that look?? What weld settings should i rock? I still need this weld to pass penetration issues.

ill post a pic of my weld, the weave, and the previous welder welds i found. You should be able to tell them apart.

im welding on a dynasty 700. I am keeping the EN at 700 and EP at 650, the Balance at 75% and Hrtz at 180. I am bouncing between soft square and Advanced square depending on the required pen i need. Also i am running straight Argon.

Thanks Guys!!

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20171104_144106_HDR-picsay.jpg

What I do is weld my first passes then let them cool and come over them with Much higher amperage with quick pedal bursts (pedal whomping) but never letting the puddle cool completely. I step on the pedal until it flows just past the top and bottom edges while adding filler, Then let off the pedal and filler , step forward 1/8" and do it again with practice it'll look very consistent

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Looks good!

update:

new employer came over to me and told me the welds are too big. I then put a fillet gage on the test piece ha told me to copy and my weld size was identical. He then followed up with "yeah about that... My bad.. Just make it half that."

sooooo.. My job just got easier haha

Thanks for the help guys!!!

TheBeardedWelder wrote:Looks good!

update:

new employer came over to me and told me the welds are too big. I then put a fillet gage on the test piece ha told me to copy and my weld size was identical. He then followed up with "yeah about that... My bad.. Just make it half that."

sooooo.. My job just got easier haha

Thanks for the help guys!!!

Sounds good, let the fillet gage do the talking!

Buy a lotto ticket. Not often a boss admits being wrong.. Lol. Good luck with it all