Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a syncro 200 Tig, I'm using 1/8" tunsten pure with argon at 25 . My weld keeps looking like this. I preheated it because it is 1/2" thick. Any suggestions? I don't have this issue when I weld at work.

I have also played With my balance and had no luck

Did you clean the metal meticulously? Also, maybe back off the argon some. I'm a hobbiest so don't take any of that as gospel!

Looks contaminated. Are you using pure argon with AC, HF continuous?

Try to make a puddle in a smaller piece of aluminum, that doesn't need preheating, without adding any filler rod. Hold your torch perpendicular to the test piece and weld it in the flat position, to ensure the gas coverage is even. You say "argon at 25" but don't tell us what units those 25 are. Can't make much with that. cfh? lpm? psi? (If it's cfh though, I'd try setting it to about half that.)

You should be able to make a nice and shiny puddle and it should solidify without any black crud on it (assuming the aluminum is clean to begin with, of course.) Ideally, the puddle won't even have active junk floating in it. It will just be liquid chrome-like looking, shiny reflective puddle. No "scum" in the puddle.

Hi there,

It looks like theres some nasty green crap on the Al. (maybe its just the photo) You really must make sure to get all contamination off the weld zone. Also make sure your base metal isnt clear anodised. It is hard to weld with normal tig. As for fixing that weld, all the old weld will have to come out. You can get grinding wheels escpecially for Al and wire brush the crap out of it. After you determine if your tig is working correctly, a few passes without filler can help burn out crap. Keep wire brushing. Make sure to use a dedicated stainless steel brush.

Good luck.
Mick

Thanks guys, I'm Geussing its bcause I didn't clean it good. Going to grind it out and try again.

From what I can see... I would agree that you need to clean it a little more. From the photo it looks like with the pre heating you might be getting it too hot before you start to weld it. It is 1/2 thick but the part just needs a little heat to help get the weld to puddle the torch with do the rest. Also, what size cup are you using? I'd suggest a standard #5 or 6 with about 3/16 or so stick out with a clean tungsten.

And it could be also a bad gas..(contaminated or not pure Argon), and make sure you weld it ACHF, no DCEN.