My first TIG welds.

[der affe]

a wire wheel works just fine, but you risk boogering up the threads on an AN fitting.

downside to a preburn is you have to wait for it to cool down enought to pick it up with gloves.....if you do it hot though, it will make it easier to weld the AN fitting to the thinner alum. overflow tank because it will take less heat from the torch to heat up the fitting.

[mrsleeve]

pre heat is a must on AL on larger items especially. A pre heat will also reduce the cracking potential as well as lessen your heat effected area.

[ILoveMPower]

I don't know a fucking thing about welding and reading some of these comments are like a foreign language, but OP your welds are looking great, keep up the good work!

[Naplm00]

Not bad for a first few tries, but it is not a "stack of quarters", yet. Looks like with some steady arm training, you should have it.

i thought the saying was "a stack of dimes"

[der affe]

i thought the saying was "a stack of dimes"

nope, those are nipples