Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey everybody, im new to TIG welding aluminum and im taking a class at night. Unfortunately, the instructor is more of a stick welding guy so hasn't been able to help me figure out what im doing wrong.

Here's the deal, I'm getting to where i can run a beed ok-ish but frequeny when I dip the rod in the edge of the puddle some sort of scum floats on top of the puddle and when it sets up it looks like pepper or very small inclusions.

You can see from the picture I attached it ony happens when I add metal. The clean middle section is where I just melted with out adding filler then when I started adding filler again I got the same crud.

Here are the settings:
1/8 clean new SS wire brushed aluminum
Miller Dynasty
Amps- 160
Freq- 120
Bal- 65
Flow- 10 to 15
3/32. 2% ceriated tungston

Its frustrating not knowing what im doing wrong. Any help would be apreciated.

Hey,

It is also important to clean your filler rod before welding, A scotch brite pad and an acetone wipe should do the trick. You can wipe a few sticks at a time in order to keep the acetone away from the welding area. Also, be sure that your filler matches the composition of the base metal, or is suitable for welding said base metal.

Hope this helps, Mick

IF you cant identify the source of contamination , You might just have a gas shielding issue. With AC balance set to 65, you should see quite a wide band of cleaning action "etching" along both sides of the bead. there is hardly evidence of cleaning action .

then when you add rod, it disturbs the marginal coverage and contaminates.
you might have a leak, a defective collet body, slightly contaminated gas , etc.

it might take a bit of troubleshooting to identify the problem. But thats a good learning experience since you are training.

things to try:

different bottle of gas
check torch, regulator, all connections for leaks
try a new torch
new collet body,
make sure the collet is not backwards ( I have seen that cause this problem)
use a larger dia cup with a bit more flow
one size smaller rod

good luck

Jody's right. I don't see any cleaning zone.

Is that anodized? Brushing anodized aluminum does nothing, and I see no brush scratches around your weld.

Steve S

I would say either you don't have your AC balance set correctly or you s gas leak. If you have your balance set anywhere from 65 to 75 you should be getting etching. If have it set somewhere around there check for a gas leak. Also if you are using a gas lens check your defuser if it damaged or plugged that can cause similar issues I have had that happen at work before coming after other shifts.

I think I have the answer.

You're dipping the rod, then pulling it too far out of the gas stream with that glowing end. It oxidizes before you stick it back in for the next dime.

I've had that problem.