Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm a beginner trying to weld 1/8 " aluminum together and the bead falls off. Amp is at 155. Filler rod is 3/32 what size should the tungsten be. And how much of the tungsten out of the cup.
Beth

You may want to post a pic. It might be an issue with what kind of aluminum your trying to weld. What kind of filler are you using? Generally tungsten sticks out past the end of the cup equal in length to half the diamiter of the opening of the inside of the cup. I.E. If the cup is 1/2 inch across the opening then stick out would be 1/4 inch. This is just a general rule of thumb and usually a good point to start from but you may need to stick out more or less depending on where you need to weld.

Welcome to the forum Beth.

Tigweld wrote:I'm a beginner trying to weld 1/8 " aluminum together and the bead falls off. Amp is at 155. Filler rod is 3/32 what size should the tungsten be. And how much of the tungsten out of the cup.
Beth

I don't understand what you mean by the bead falls off. Is the metal getting too hot and the weld is dripping off, or is it breaking off after the weld is complete? Pictures would also help.

Be aware that there are some types of aluminum that are considered unweldable. Most 7000 and 2000 series aluminum is not weldable. That doesn't mean that you can't run a bead on it, but that the weld will usually break soon after it is welded.

Welcome Beth
Post a location,find a member close,grab some doughnuts(and or beer, welding currency ),make visit to member, will learn more in an hour than 6 week school.
And bring helmet and gloves and a picture of the front panel of your machine
Show us progress, join the tig addicts club

What type of joints are you welding? For edge to edge you would only need about 90amps, for a fillet weld maybe around 140 amps, you're maybe just welding with to many amps depending on the joint.