Tig welding tips, questions, equipment, applications, instructions, techniques, tig welding machines, troubleshooting tig welding process
- LtBadd
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Weldmonger
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Joined:Sun Apr 12, 2015 4:00 pm
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Location:Clearwater FL
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Just a few questions...
Did you recently buy this rod?
What alloy is it?
Are you sure the base metal is clean?
Did you recently change out your argon bottle?
Have you tried welding a known alloy (ex. 6061) of clean aluminum? What was the result?
Have you welded aluminum in the past with good results?
Can you post a clear photo of the offending weld?
Did you recently buy this rod?
What alloy is it?
Are you sure the base metal is clean?
Did you recently change out your argon bottle?
Have you tried welding a known alloy (ex. 6061) of clean aluminum? What was the result?
Have you welded aluminum in the past with good results?
Can you post a clear photo of the offending weld?
Richard
Website
Website
The silicon in 4043 will do that if you heat-soak the part, which can happen quite fast with aluminum. You need to puddle quick and move on out fast. Even then you might still see sand-like specks here and there.
1/16 fill rod is probably too thin for what you are welding which looks like 1/8". If you don't have any 3/32 or 1/8 rod try twisting two or three rods together between a power drill and a vise and using that for fill.
Might also want to back off on the AC balance a bit. Your cleaning zone seems bigger than it needs to be and as Oscar says, you need to get heat into it fast and get moving.
Red-hot iron, white-hot iron, cold-black iron; an iron taste, an iron smell, and a babel of iron sounds.
-Charles Dickens
-Charles Dickens
- MosquitoMoto
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Weldmonger
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Joined:Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:38 am
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Location:The Land Down Under
I've tried 4043 by several manufacturers, in three sizes, across a gamut of settings - amps, cleaning, gas flow, arc length and angle, lots of different parameters and several material types. Various cleaning methods, too.
Whether I run fast, slow, hot or cold, on plate or tube, the bead winds up looking sandy.
When I use 5356 for the same welding, I get a sweet, smooth bead every time. I'm okay with that - I just stick with 5356 - but it does seem odd.
Kym
Whether I run fast, slow, hot or cold, on plate or tube, the bead winds up looking sandy.
When I use 5356 for the same welding, I get a sweet, smooth bead every time. I'm okay with that - I just stick with 5356 - but it does seem odd.
Kym
griff
- griff
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New Member
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Posts:
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Joined:Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:41 pm
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Location:Just East of Huntsville, AL
Keep your 4043 as well for castings. For me it seems to work better on a nasty casting repair. I like 5356 for welding 5052 and 6061. I've been meaning to try out some 4943 at some point.
Also try wiping down your filler rods with acetone if you are having contamination problems. Sometimes it makes a big difference.
Also try wiping down your filler rods with acetone if you are having contamination problems. Sometimes it makes a big difference.
dirtmidget33
- dirtmidget33
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Heavy Hitter
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Joined:Tue May 13, 2014 5:22 pm
It is really worth it to buy filler in 10lbs lots and with 4943 it is well worth it. It does everything 4043 does plus some. Buy it and don't look back I am phasing out my supplies of 4043. Besides aluminum filler might look like a lot but it gets used up quick.quadrod wrote:At some point I too would like to try 4093 but the only stuff I found was a 10# lot. That would last me a very long time and would be and expensive experiment at $85.00.
why use standard nozzles after gas lens where invented. Kinda of like starting fires by rubbing sticks together.
Absolutely, on all accounts. Something about that aluminum puddle that just eats up filler rod like nothing. I wish I had aluminum projects to work on to phase-out my 4043 filler rod. To those worrying about cost, I bought 20lbs of 4943 for about $110 shipped from Baker's Gas & Supply. They simply drop ship it directly from Hobart/Maxal.dirtmidget33 wrote:It is really worth it to buy filler in 10lbs lots and with 4943 it is well worth it. It does everything 4043 does plus some. Buy it and don't look back I am phasing out my supplies of 4043. Besides aluminum filler might look like a lot but it gets used up quick.quadrod wrote:At some point I too would like to try 4093 but the only stuff I found was a 10# lot. That would last me a very long time and would be and expensive experiment at $85.00.
Hobart-Maxal 4943
4943 Datasheet
http://www.bakersgas.com/quadrod wrote:HI Oscar, I did look at your post and did not find 4943 on ebay and do not know witch bakers you are referring to. Could you post a link. Thanks.
call them or email them to ask for a quote. The part #s are in the PDFs I linked.
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