- Thread starter Wyn F
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Cheers, it was also the tungsten and rod size etc that makes the other type charts a handy guide
Once I started to follow all of it and not guess at settings things seemed to go right
Am starting with some thin alloy plate today but tbh I am guessing at settings
Once I started to follow all of it and not guess at settings things seemed to go right
Am starting with some thin alloy plate today but tbh I am guessing at settings
chevy2
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Up to about 2mm material and around 80-90 amps a 1.6mm tungsten,
Above that and up to about 6mm and 200 amps go for a 2.4mm tungsten,
Either use white or grey tungsten,
4043 filler rods work well on most stuff,
As above 1.6mm filler on the thinner stuff and 2.4mm on larger,
Obviously all rough settings,
Next thing to play about with is ac balance and maybe frequency if your machine has it?
If you get black sooting/peppering in the weldpool then adjust the ac balance for more cleaning until the weldpool is shinier with no black deposits.
Above that and up to about 6mm and 200 amps go for a 2.4mm tungsten,
Either use white or grey tungsten,
4043 filler rods work well on most stuff,
As above 1.6mm filler on the thinner stuff and 2.4mm on larger,
Obviously all rough settings,
Next thing to play about with is ac balance and maybe frequency if your machine has it?
If you get black sooting/peppering in the weldpool then adjust the ac balance for more cleaning until the weldpool is shinier with no black deposits.
Cheers for the pointers, that gives me a good guide to follow
What started out ok...ish as usual has turned to mud
This must be some sort of black magic voodoo **** to learn
No way is it as easy as the videos make it look
Going to take a long time to get this right lol
What started out ok...ish as usual has turned to mud
This must be some sort of black magic voodoo **** to learn
No way is it as easy as the videos make it look
Going to take a long time to get this right lol
wheresmejumper
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If you can tig weld aluminium with a torch switch properly I reckon youd tig anything
luckily my machine came with a foot pedal which I'm now trying to learn with
Have noticed that I have to back off the gas else the weld grows and sinks as it travels along
Not that it helps much as I still keep jabbing the tungsten in the weld
btw, as I look at the end of the tungsten after short use it looks all jagged and eaten ?
Is that because of the above or wrong machine settings elsewhere ?
chevy2
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Jabbing the tungsten into the weldpool is common when starting out on ali due to adding more filler rod giving a taller pool as the weldpool size is generally bigger than with steel,
The tungsten may be getting jagged for a couple of reasons, one being where you're touching the pool or possibly not enough ac balance cleaning?
Be sure to regrind the tungsten if you touch the pool or touch it with the filler rod, very easy to not bother and think you'll get away with it, we all do
The tungsten may be getting jagged for a couple of reasons, one being where you're touching the pool or possibly not enough ac balance cleaning?
Be sure to regrind the tungsten if you touch the pool or touch it with the filler rod, very easy to not bother and think you'll get away with it, we all do
Jabbing the tungsten into the weldpool is common when starting out on ali due to adding more filler rod giving a taller pool as the weldpool size is generally bigger than with steel,
The tungsten may be getting jagged for a couple of reasons, one being where you're touching the pool or possibly not enough ac balance cleaning?
Be sure to regrind the tungsten if you touch the pool or touch it with the filler rod, very easy to not bother and think you'll get away with it, we all do
Cheers I noticed that, after practising the arc gap with steel all of a sudden with ally things are all change
I was going to ask exactly that as well about the tungsten. So after "every" touch down no matter how small it needs regrinding? As you say it still works so is it that critical ?
I need to read up on ac balance as am only using the default Lorch factory settings the machine comes with
As it is sometimes the weld bead looks to come out spot on with no black edgings, then the next one is blackened so I assumed user error ?
pic below some look ok .. ish, others are blackened on the outsides ?
chevy2
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The black sooted welds are most likely where you've dipped the tungsten into the pool or touched the tungsten with the filler rod,
With the ac balance, make a note of where the default setting is and then make a fairly big adjustment either side of this and do a weld pass, if the weld pool becomes cleaner with a wider silver etching zone along either side of the weld pool coupled with the tungsten tending to ballup on the tip then thats the direction of more ac cleaning,
The other direction of default will possibly give you blackened/peppered deposits in the pool, a narrower etching to each side of the pool (less cleaning) and the tungsten will tend to hold its point.
Ac balance is all about finding the sweet spot for the material you're welding,
Dirty or old ali and particularly cast ali needs more cleaning whereas new ali needs less ac cleaning which can help the tungsten hold its point.
As far as regrinding goes, until you get fully competent with ali its best to keep the tungsten in good condition, 1 thing less to blame if you are having problems.
Maybe get on youtube with keywords like 'tig ac balance'
Lawnmowerboy
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Clean the material properly and it will make a big difference
Am on it, many thanks for all the pointers. Much appreciated
Doesn't look like it by the pic, but I did use a bench wire wheel to clean the ally edges of that plate
I assume a wire wheel isn't going to cause an issue with the ally weld ?
Lawnmowerboy
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Depends what you have used it on before. A new or dedicated stst wire brush or scotchbrite and acetone is what gets it properly clean. If there is any trace of oil grease paint etc it will be embedded into the surface of the ally.
Guilty as charged then as its just a 8" bench wire wheel I use for general diy metal use
Hello everyone. New member here joining 
I have bought myself Kemppi MLS2300acdc welder and also trying to learn to weld aly. I do use ss wire brush but have not tried acetone. I am using grey tungsten. After some practice I can do reasonable passes on flat sheet but have some issues and would like your advice. I am working with 1.5mm 1xxx shet. Using 50 to 60amps and balance is at 40%. Argon flow is 17cfh or 8l/min. Sqare wave, 130Hz. I am doing open corner joint and all I get is loads of aluminium.
What would be the amp seting for this tipe of joint? What angle to grind my tungsten, sharp or less sharper?
When welding on the flat sheet it sinks through the material, is this right or it has to stay uneffected? Thanks, nice forum by the way.
Regarda
I have bought myself Kemppi MLS2300acdc welder and also trying to learn to weld aly. I do use ss wire brush but have not tried acetone. I am using grey tungsten. After some practice I can do reasonable passes on flat sheet but have some issues and would like your advice. I am working with 1.5mm 1xxx shet. Using 50 to 60amps and balance is at 40%. Argon flow is 17cfh or 8l/min. Sqare wave, 130Hz. I am doing open corner joint and all I get is loads of aluminium.What would be the amp seting for this tipe of joint? What angle to grind my tungsten, sharp or less sharper?
When welding on the flat sheet it sinks through the material, is this right or it has to stay uneffected? Thanks, nice forum by the way.
Regarda
Hi, I don't know if you have seen the miller welding calculators. You just input your material details and process and the calculator will give you recommend settings. I have attached the link for the tig calc. I hope this is off help.
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/calculators/tig_amperage_calculator.php
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/calculators/tig_amperage_calculator.php
Noooooo, i wouldn't pay much attention to anyone that recommends purposely contaminating the tungsten. The 'balled' tungsten thing is a result of the tip melting, in the old days (pre squarewave & fixed AC balance, especially with pure tungsten) the tip melts more than it does with modern kit and it wasn't uncommon for people to purposely ball the end by striking an arc on a piece of scrap with the machine set to DCEP. It's the EP (electrode +ve) phase of AC that melts the tungsten as around 2/3 of the total heat occurs at the +ve electrode. Bit more on the subject including AC frequency here... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/waveshapes.37420/#post-412262
The Miller calculator is occasionally somewhere near the mark but is often miles out. The amperage guide in the tutorial is much closer, granted nothing on ally but as Chevy said the best guestimate for a starting point on ally is the 1 amp per thou (or 40A/mm) rule of thumb. As Paul the thermal conductivity of aluminium is kinda a curve ball... it's why ally typically needs more amps than steel despite it's lower melting temp but small pieces quickly become heatsoaked requiring large changes to amperage or travel speed. Larger offcuts for practice make life a lot easier in that regard, to avoid wasting loads of material can cut a bunch of strips and then tack them all together to make a larger piece with lots of joints. Make two of 'em and you can switch between 'em as a means of controlling how hot they get. To practice fillets/ouside corners just tack 'em up in a \/\/\/\/\/\/ pattern
A couple of threads about weld penetration with ally which have links to other stuff on the subject too... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/alu-tig-questions.22605/#post-250838 & http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/weld-penetration.36529/#post-402400
Rough and ready butt weld being bashed about here ... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/useralbums/ally-weld-abuse.743/view
While you can't get things too clean for welding, especially TIG and/or aluminium it's all overdone a lot of the time IMO. When working with new sheet ally i rarely if ever use a stainless brush or sctochbrite etc and if i do never on the frontside- it's the cut edges and backside where the 'cathodic cleaning' from the arc can't reach that need attention. If it's something important or is covered in residue from sticky tape/cutting lubricants etc i might give it a solvent wipe for hydrogen porosity reasons but a lot of the time welding prep consists of peeling off the plastic protection and maybe given the cut edges a scrape with deburring tool if i haven't just cut them
Obviously old/manky ally that's covered in gunk/isn't shiney anymore due to oxidation needs cleaning properly and being a soft metal it's easy to embed crud into it hence a stainless brush that's at least clean and ideally not used for anything else to avoid cross contamination with rust etc
The Miller calculator is occasionally somewhere near the mark but is often miles out. The amperage guide in the tutorial is much closer, granted nothing on ally but as Chevy said the best guestimate for a starting point on ally is the 1 amp per thou (or 40A/mm) rule of thumb. As Paul the thermal conductivity of aluminium is kinda a curve ball... it's why ally typically needs more amps than steel despite it's lower melting temp but small pieces quickly become heatsoaked requiring large changes to amperage or travel speed. Larger offcuts for practice make life a lot easier in that regard, to avoid wasting loads of material can cut a bunch of strips and then tack them all together to make a larger piece with lots of joints. Make two of 'em and you can switch between 'em as a means of controlling how hot they get. To practice fillets/ouside corners just tack 'em up in a \/\/\/\/\/\/ pattern
A couple of threads about weld penetration with ally which have links to other stuff on the subject too... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/alu-tig-questions.22605/#post-250838 & http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/weld-penetration.36529/#post-402400
Rough and ready butt weld being bashed about here ... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/useralbums/ally-weld-abuse.743/view
While you can't get things too clean for welding, especially TIG and/or aluminium it's all overdone a lot of the time IMO. When working with new sheet ally i rarely if ever use a stainless brush or sctochbrite etc and if i do never on the frontside- it's the cut edges and backside where the 'cathodic cleaning' from the arc can't reach that need attention. If it's something important or is covered in residue from sticky tape/cutting lubricants etc i might give it a solvent wipe for hydrogen porosity reasons but a lot of the time welding prep consists of peeling off the plastic protection and maybe given the cut edges a scrape with deburring tool if i haven't just cut them
Obviously old/manky ally that's covered in gunk/isn't shiney anymore due to oxidation needs cleaning properly and being a soft metal it's easy to embed crud into it hence a stainless brush that's at least clean and ideally not used for anything else to avoid cross contamination with rust etc
