Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm pretty new with welding in general and still have a lot to learn so please don't criticise to bad. I bought a tig setup (HTP Invertig 221) fresh out of school and have had some issues welding aluminum after spending a lot of time trying to figure out these frequency and balance settings i wasn't use to i was finally able to weld a solid bead. and at first i didn't think much of the texture i was getting figured it was just the material but every time even on different pieces of aluminum from diffrent all of them have had this texture almost like someone threw sand in the molten metal.

I've tried everything i can think of, different methods of cleaning whether it's a brand new stainless brush, scotch brite, sand paper, all with and without acetone afterwards. Different tungstens. A big variety of different alumina cups and gas lenses.
I've raised and lowered the gas flow , and played with the frequency and balance both ways up and down until i wouldnt weld, And in the end still the same outcome. so i figured it was the cheap filler rod i bought from weldingcity even despite when i asked a few guys and they said filler rod was filler rod. so easy to check that i'll fuse 2 pieces together, same outcome (see last pic) still this sandy texture. Especially with me being so fresh at this idk what to do or what else to try or think weather it's me not knowing enough of what i'm doing, defective welding machine, bad gas regulator causing bad gas flow or possibly a bad batch of argon? please help

first pic is a fusion without filler second 2 are with filler

How large are the pieces you are welding? Aluminum tends to do this when it gets too hot.

Also, I would not advise welding aluminum without filler. It is very prone to cracking. What tungsten are you using? I have had similar issues welding shitty quality pipe like you would find it eBay intercooler kits.

AFR_Autoworks wrote:How large are the pieces you are welding? Aluminum tends to do this when it gets too hot.

those were 3 inch 3mm thick ic pipes. but doing it even from the first couple dips

AFR_Autoworks wrote:Also, I would not advise welding aluminum without filler. It is very prone to cracking. What tungsten are you using? I have had similar issues welding shitty quality pipe like you would find it eBay intercooler kits.

the fusion weld was only done on scrap metal and was only done to make sure it wasn't the actual filler rod causing the issue.

and as far as the pipe it was cxracing which is been known as an ebay brand but its the thickest there is out there coming in at 3.0mm thick. i have used this on all my builds and even the fab work that was done on my current car is using this material and the fab guy i used has the same welder that i bought and his looked nothing like that. and it hasn't only done this on the is pipe it has done it on every piece of aluminum i've tried to weld so pretty confident its not the base material.

What condition is your tungsten in, after these welds?
It kind-of looks like it's puking into your puddle.

Steve S

I would bet your whole problem can be solved by arc length. Get that arc length small and tight and I bet it goes away. Long arc length equals more voltage which increases heat too. Do a couple of short welds concentrating on arc length if you think it's right you prolly are not close enough. Be careful when you add filler puddle will raise and touch tungsten. So helps to raise torch a tiny bit when adding filler. Pay close attention to torch angle also, would bet you laying it back some to get as better view of weld.

edit thought i better add in case you don't know

correct arc length around diameter of tungsten and torch angle around 10 degrees.

dirtmidget33 wrote:I would bet your whole problem can be solved by arc length. Get that arc length small and tight and I bet it goes away. Long arc length equals more voltage which increases heat too. Do a couple of short welds concentrating on arc length if you think it's right you prolly are not close enough. Be careful when you add filler puddle will raise and touch tungsten. So helps to raise torch a tiny bit when adding filler. Pay close attention to torch angle also, would bet you laying it back some to get as better view of weld.

edit thought i better add in case you don't know

correct arc length around diameter of tungsten and torch angle around 10 degrees.

I usually keep it as tight as i can without the puddle coming up and hitting it when i dip,

i had actually posted this elsewhere to and i may have this problem figured out i went out to check something and ended up trying one thing real quick but wasn't really dressed well enough to be out there, sweatpants and a tshirt in a 30 degree garage lol. anyways i think i had been using to few amps, i cranked it up but had to move a lot faster which actually produced a much better looking end result how ever it seemed to still have a slight texture but a lot better except with the added amperage and moving faster i think it needed some more cleaning hopefully tomorrow i can go out and mess with the cleaning and arc size with the additional amperage and maybe get this whole issue figure out. i will be back to let everyone know for anyone who may stumble upon this at a later date.

thebadz32 wrote:.....all of them have had this texture almost like someone threw sand in the molten metal.

I too have fought this exact issue for quite some time now. Let me first say I am no full time AL tig welder...more weekend warrior type. But what I have noticed is the faster I can get in, puddle, and go, the better it looks. Could be wrong here but I'm pretty well convinced that a slow travel speed is the root cause of this. I even try easing up on the pedal a bit when I know my speed isn't where it needs to be, but still ends up looking like sandpaper. Practice, practice, practice....

Ooh that's interesting.

That centre pic of the weld in the OP...that is exactly what my welds look like when I switch to 4043 filler from 5356. Don't know why. I can be getting smooth, decent welds with 5356, then I switch to 4043 without changing anything at all other than filler type and boom...that's what my welds look like.

Very odd.



Kym

MosquitoMoto wrote:Ooh that's interesting.

That centre pic of the weld in the OP...that is exactly what my welds look like when I switch to 4043 filler from 5356. Don't know why. I can be getting smooth, decent welds with 5356, then I switch to 4043 without changing anything at all other than filler type and boom...that's what my welds look like.

Very odd.

Kym

Not at all uncommon on 4043. And on welds done by people where you know there is no operator problem.

Why I have no idea. Although I remember some people on the forum commenting they had a problem with 5356, maybe this texturing is a problem applicable to certain brands of 4043. Buying stuff these days is a bit hit and miss, you never know where the product actually originated, unless you buy from an aerospace approved vendor.

kiwi2wheels wrote:

MosquitoMoto wrote:Ooh that's interesting.

That centre pic of the weld in the OP...that is exactly what my welds look like when I switch to 4043 filler from 5356. Don't know why. I can be getting smooth, decent welds with 5356, then I switch to 4043 without changing anything at all other than filler type and boom...that's what my welds look like.

Very odd.

Kym

Not at all uncommon on 4043. And on welds done by people where you know there is no operator problem.

Why I have no idea. Although I remember some people on the forum commenting they had a problem with 5356, maybe this texturing is a problem applicable to certain brands of 4043. Buying stuff these days is a bit hit and miss, you never know where the product actually originated, unless you buy from an aerospace approved vendor.

Good to compare notes, Kiwi.

Yes, it's odd. I'm sure my welds with 4043 are fine but they are not 'butter smooth' on the surface like my welds with 5356. By contrast they are shinier, but have that odd 'effervescing' look on the surface. It's an effect that always has me switching straight back to 5356, simply from the point of aesthetics.


Kym

It's silicon, when the weld gets too hot (or you move too slow) it solidifies out of the molten metal. 4043 has 5% silicon. 5356 is 5% magnesium and looks better.

Going to revive this one since I am working on TIG work on aluminum, and ran into this exact issue today. It seems to be specific to 4043 filler. The big question I have is if this is considered normal for 4043?

Here's what happened today..

I just got my first gas lens kit today as well as some lanthanated (blue tip) tungsten to try out. Previously I was using either pure green or red thoriated tungsten (which seems to do surprisingly well on aluminum) and no gas lens. I don't know if either or both of those new factors magnified this issue but every weld had this same "sandy" texture. I hadn't ever seen it quite as pronounced as today. I started changing variables one at a time to see what might "fix" it, tried just about everything the OP tried changing. FInally, as soon as I switched to some 5356 filler rod everything cleared up and the 5356 makes a nice smooth pretty bead. I went back to look at previous welds I had done with the 4043 and was surprised to find that there was a bit of this texture in everything I had done with that filler, though not as severe as today - I just hadn't noticed it before.

So, easy solution... switch to 5356 right? The problem is the stuff I'm making is all going to be used in an engine bay of a race car, and I see that 5356 isn't rated for over 150°F due to the magnesium content. Great. So.. is this sandy texture considered par for the course with 4043? Am I doomed to have this rough finish on the welds for anything that needs to withstand a couple hundred degrees of heat?