Welding Tips and Tricks

An opportunity popped up at work. A large aluminum job came in and the company is looking for other people to assist the main welder in its completion. As a hobbyist I don’t have any experience welding aluminum but I am eager to have this opportunity. I worked through a few practice welds with some instruction and it went ok. The actual job will be placing 2-3 inch fillet weld along a T joint formed by 1/4 inch base plate and 1/8 inch sheet butting up to it with a spool gun. My issue is when I weld at the edge of the sheet I am getting some blowout. Are there any tips or tricks to prevent this? Would a copper back up bar or some other material help?

We are running a miller spool gun off a 252 at 20.7 v, 320 wfs, and 25 cfh.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Can you finish on a spot weld that will make it thicker there you could also spot it let it cool and weld from endge to center

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A copper backer will work, or just fire up on the 1/4” side and hold the gun tight to the edge and let the puddle reach over. Don’t try to wash over to the 1/8” side because with a spool gun you’re throwing so much wire already and the heat for the 1/4” will soak in the 1/8” side pretty well without too much effort.