Welding Tips and Tricks

What do you guys think?

Spacing of the puddle is nice. Material is way too hot. Insufficient filler size for the material thickness. This is very evident by the chewed off top edge of the material.

If you are running the bead and stopping, let the material cool way down between segments. Or, clamp the material to some thick chill blocks to help control the heat saturation.

This was my first time running tig

Ran some aluminum lap joints today. Having a little trouble running T-Joints on aluminum. Cant seem to get the puddle to flow into the joint right. Well see how tomorrow goes. Unfortunately my tig course wraps up on friday, then its on to pipe monday. We’ll see how that goes. By the way did not prep the aluminum at all as you can tell lol

The trick for aluminum T joints is to get the puddle established on the vertical first, then whip down to the flat, then with both sides fully wet, aim the arc dead into the root. Stuff the filler directly into the root. When you see a “rabbit hole” for,MIG in the root, it’s an indication of insufficient filler. Step the torch back, hit it harder and add more filler. Then use an ever so slight push angle to keep the front edge of the puddle all the way down to the root.

Too many folks add filler (steel and ally) and leave that hole because they are afraid of pushing enough heat or they have the incorrect torch angle. This will only come from experience and guidance from someone who has made these mistakes before you, so don’t fret. Welding is a learned skill.

For what it's worth, I think your doing pretty good for a novice tig welder. Practice, practice, practice and you'll get much better.

Thanks for all the input guys. Ive come to learn aluminum Tjoints are way more difficult than carbon steel/stainless. Still alot of fun though