Thread: TIG Welding Aluminium back for more Q's

well here it is my first project/thing ive built it still needs a lid that will be hinged by stainless hinges and screws

its not a show pony job just something that will hopefully get a lot of use in my boat and i actually got to put my welder to use yay

if u notice the pliers in the pic we were stranded when i bought the boat the pull cord snapped had to improvise LOL

the welds are also high because i had the frequency turned up to lessen the penetration as i was still getting to much penetration at 54amps to the point it shows on the inside of the welds

You'll get there Gazza. There are some quite reasonable sections of weld in what you have done.

i decided to weld up another box but the cost of gas is adding up very fast im in need of yet another tank that'll be my 3rd but at last i now have better welds i reduced the amps to 45amps i will take pictures soon when my camera battery charges

can someone tell me the best way of marking leaks? seems i find the leaks, mark with a texta, weld up those holes than more leaks are found

Texta is probably as good as any, but take care not to write in the actual weld zone as it can leave a contaminant on the the finished weld bead.
Tig is considered quite miserly in its gas usage, especially when comparing it to ally mig which runs over 20LPM. Either you have done a lot of welding, or you are losing gas somewhere.

It does sound like you are using a lot of gas.

Do you have a flowmeter on your gas? If so, does it show any flow when not welding?
Do you turn off your cylinder when you finish welding, or when taking a break?

I had a small leak in my MIG setup many years ago and as I wasn't welding with it often, didn't realise it was there until I lost most of the cylinders contents.

Now I religiously turn off my cylinders when I am not using them.

i think its my flow meter than little hand held type thats been talking about before in this thread, i lowered it to 5lpm? and it still welded fine but sounded like a lot of gas was coming out of the torch it wasnt a gentle wisp it was more of a fast hissing sound, i done a crap load more welding on my last tank than i did this tank

Originally Posted by Vernonv

It does sound like you are using a lot of gas.

Do you have a flowmeter on your gas? If so, does it show any flow when not welding?
Do you turn off your cylinder when you finish welding, or when taking a break?

I had a small leak in my MIG setup many years ago and as I wasn't welding with it often, didn't realise it was there until I lost most of the cylinders contents.

Now I religiously turn off my cylinders when I am not using them.

Many years ago I was taught to not only turn the cylinder off but to drain the pressure from the delivery side of the regulator as well. I'm not sure if that's still necessary but I still do it out of habit.

i just swapped my tank, came home and thought i'll turn the gas right down untill i hear a gentle flow of argon in my ear, than i started welding and it worked brilliantly so i grabbed the little gas flow meter/tube thingy i purchased from the shop and it read about 3.5L per minute so all that time i was setting up using 7.5L per minute on the flow meter, i was just blowing all my gas away
so i must have been flowing around 10L per minute no wonder the last cylinder didnt last long

Originally Posted by gazza2009au

i just swapped my tank, came home and thought i'll turn the gas right down untill i hear a gentle flow of argon in my ear, than i started welding and it worked brilliantly so i grabbed the little gas flow meter/tube thingy i purchased from the shop and it read about 3.5L per minute so all that time i was setting up using 7.5L per minute on the flow meter, i was just blowing all my gas away
so i must have been flowing around 10L per minute no wonder the last cylinder didnt last long

If it were me Gazza, I would ditch your current flow meter and bite the bullet on a bobbin type flow meter. These are much better at the lower flow rates used when tig welding. I know it's all expenses, but as you have discovered, gas gets expensive when you waste it and a decent flow meter will soon pay for itself in gas savings.
Using the Tig at work ptetty full on, with a G size cylinder, changing cylinders was a fairly rare event. Tig really is quite frugal with gas usage.

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

If it were me Gazza, I would ditch your current flow meter and bite the bullet on a bobbin type flow meter. These are much better at the lower flow rates used when tig welding. I know it's all expenses, but as you have discovered, gas gets expensive when you waste it and a decent flow meter will soon pay for itself in gas savings.
Using the Tig at work ptetty full on, with a G size cylinder, changing cylinders was a fairly rare event. Tig really is quite frugal with gas usage.

That's good advice Karl
Gazza, if you haven't already, mix up a strong detergent solution, grab a small paint brush and coat all your gas line joins/fittings, etc. turn on the gas and look for bubbles.
Apart from your gas flow rate, also check your pre and post flow settings. I don't set pre-flow and typically have 2-3 seconds post-flow (depends on tungsten size and whether I'm doing stainless or not). At the start of a weld, I usually trigger the argon flow by tapping the button or foot pedal whilst holding the torch away from the work (so no arc). This way you can hear that the gas flow sounds about right and this acts as a preflow to ensure there's argon around your tungsten. Half a second later while the gas is still flowing I go straight in an initiate an arc and weld. So each weld only has say 3 seconds of extra argon usage in addition to the welding time.

heres a picture of my welds now using the new torch im still finding it hard to weld right on the edge of the corner

You're running a bit cold and your AC balance is a bit high (too much electrode +ve). If you adjust the AC balance back a bit this will give you a bit more heat and reduce your cleaning width a little - just fix that one thing and I reckon your settings will be good. Maybe just a few more amps too - suck it and see.

I reckon you're still dipping the rod too early (at least sometimes), wait for the puddle to follow your torch and only dip the filler directly into the puddle. Turning up the heat a bit will help with this.

And finally, are you propping your arms, so you don't shake around too much? set up some chunks of wood, bricks or whatever, so you've got something to prop both your torch hand with, the ideal is that you prop the middle of your forearm against something that you can slide along parallel to the joint you're welding. The idea is to PROP not LEAN. Leaning with all your weight on your elbow is a poor habit and means you can't move properly when you need to progress your torch along the weld. Propping is lightly bracing your arm to stop the shakes and allow you to make micro adjustments to torch angle, arc length etc.
Also prop your filler hand, I would just sit my filler hand about 10-15cm away from the weld on the actual job. If this doesn't work out, prop against something else.

Once you're steady and have a little bit more heat in the weld, you should be able to fit up the two pieces of metal symmetrically like I suggested in a previous post and get a good controlled and strong bead - you don't want to see any of the straight cut edges remaining along your weld line.

Looking better

- Mick

Mick is dead right. Ally is a bit of a bugger inasmuch as it takes the correct amperage to produce a good weld. Too low is as bad as too high in many ways. Because of its high thermal conductivity, you need to hit it with enough amps to form the puddle otherwise the whole job gets heated up. Hit it with too many amps and you will fall foul of ally's low melt point and end up with a blob of ally on the floor.
You are really close though. Don't give up, success is in sight.

Gazza have a look at this video - particularly around 8:06 Brown Dog Welding builds Panic Attack oil tank using Dynasty 200 - YouTube

That man sure does like his scotchbrite pad.
Not sure it's required though.
The idea of watching the puddle and adding filler when the keyhole appears is dead on though.