Critique my welding

[jaywood]

I just learned how to weld aluminum. For all of you guys who are learning, watch youtube! Lots of it! Weldingtipsandtricks has great videos.

Here are my welds after an hour or so. Material is 1/8" aluminum sanded and cleaned. Tungsten and filler rod are both 3/32.



Here are my settings. The machine is a powerpro 205 from Everlast.



It looks like I need more cleaning action. Suggestions?

[der affe]

Are you using the pulse setting or doing it manually? The ones ome the left start a little hot the get better. What amperage do you have it set at? You need to start it hot then ease off the peddal VS hovering to get the puddle started.

Not bad otherwise.

[jaywood]

Not using pulse setting. I haven't tried that yet. It is manual. On all of those welds I started on the right and welded <--- way.

Amperage I believe is 120 or around there. I am using the foot pedal.

At the end of the weld it looks like I need to add more filler/use the post flow gas setting...

Thanks!

[Exodus_2pt0]

Where did you get your filler rods?

We just got our Tig welder and plasma cutter in the other day, have the tungsten rods, but having trouble finding the proper filler. The plasma cutter is a blast, but I need to start practicing with the TIG.

[mrsleeve]

Not too bad for just getting started. Are you "dipping" your tungsten to get arc or swiping your filler rod??? If your dipping while common practice for hobbyists and structural welders, its a big no no, in many types of production, as that dipping can leave an inclusion in the weld, or cause arc burns/star cracking in the preceding pass or parent material. Only thing I really see is a big heat affected zone when you arc up, and very little though the rest of the weld. You really should have a little wider heat affected zone along the bulk of the weld, you might not be getting 100% penetration at the edges due to lack of heat.


Laying a cap pass on a hunk of plate is one thing, you need to be working on joining a couple of pieces then cutting it into straps and doing a destructive test to see if your getting proper penetration. You can build a simple deal at home with a bottle jack to do a root and face bend for this. If you have access to a press then its all the easier.

Personally I would like to see a little closer space on your ripples and less peak/valley height differential, the left 1/4 of the 2ed one form the top is what I like too see on my welders caps. Yes I stare at and through welds for a living

[jaywood]

I got the filler rods from a local welding store.

I have yet to use the plasma cutter, I might be sending you a PM soon.

mrsleeve, thanks for the suggestions! I'll try giving more heat throughout the weld.

[emerson.]

Good beads. But like said above work on joints. I personally think t joints are easier.. And I most situations you will be welding t joint type things

[maniacmatt]

Agree with pretty much all that has been said above. Looks to me like you need more heat all through those welds.

Are you using a foot pedal? I find it a must for aluminum, because aluminum has very high heat conductivity it can take a lot of heat to get the puddle started on aluminum. However on long passes once the part is hot it requires a lot less heat to maintain that puddle. That is why having the ability to remotely adjust your amperage is very important with aluminum.

[emerson.]

Yes foot pedal is absolutely necessary for aluminum.. if you keep you the practice is really awesome laying nice beads. I personally like to run hot for my Tig projects.


Heres a intake manifold I've been working on recently. Jus practice practice practice

[jaywood]

I'll do some more joint work this week and post some more pics. I am using a foot pedal so I'll give it some extra throttle and hopefully get some more penetration.

That intake mani looks really nice!

Thanks guys for the help!

[maniacmatt]

If you have the foot pedal I would set the amperage on your machine to the max. Use a heavy foot to get the puddle started and then slowly back out of it as the piece heats up.

You want to be paying close attention to the edges of your puddle as you are welding to make sure they are melting into the base metal and that you are maintaining a consistent width puddle.

[Blackangusinc]

Not too bad for just getting started. Are you "dipping" your tungsten to get arc or swiping your filler rod??? If your dipping while common practice for hobbyists and structural welders, its a big no no, in many types of production, as that dipping can leave an inclusion in the weld, or cause arc burns/star cracking in the preceding pass or parent material. Only thing I really see is a big heat affected zone when you arc up, and very little though the rest of the weld. You really should have a little wider heat affected zone along the bulk of the weld, you might not be getting 100% penetration at the edges due to lack of heat.


Laying a cap pass on a hunk of plate is one thing, you need to be working on joining a couple of pieces then cutting it into straps and doing a destructive test to see if your getting proper penetration. You can build a simple deal at home with a bottle jack to do a root and face bend for this. If you have access to a press then its all the easier.

Personally I would like to see a little closer space on your ripples and less peak/valley height differential, the left 1/4 of the 2ed one form the top is what I like too see on my welders caps. Yes I stare at and through welds for a living

This is probably the most helpful post yet. I will say though, that Jody's advise at weldingtipsandtricks.com is rock solid. Practicing by building up on a piece of plate is a great introduction to the peculiarities of aluminum. Once you're comfortable doing that, you can move to butt-welds, then tackle fillet welds.

[pantelones]

I haven't really played with aluminum yet so I can't comment with any specific tips. The one thing that I always do when I want to practice is lay out my plate. Take a soap stone and a square to lay out lines evenly spaced on you plate (after you prep it of course). Start with lower amps, and run the entire bead. Take a piece of paper and make a table to record your settings. Progressively work your way up to where you are clearly running too hot. Then go back and work on bead uniformity with your optimal setting. Like MrSleeve said, you need to tighten up the beads, and it looks like you have some cold lap on the edges of your bead. I can't really tell from the photo, but the beads look to high and not enough heat was going into the base metal. Also, I am surprised that he didn't ask for a picture of the back side of the plate. If you could, take a picture of it, I am interested to see how it looks.

I have seen some of your other work and it looked really good (MIG stuff I think), and you seem to know what you are doing. Have you taken any formal schooling? (I am working on my TIG certificate, and I will be transferring to Ferris State to take their welding engineering program.)

[jaywood]

I haven't really played with aluminum yet so I can't comment with any specific tips. The one thing that I always do when I want to practice is lay out my plate. Take a soap stone and a square to lay out lines evenly spaced on you plate (after you prep it of course). Start with lower amps, and run the entire bead. Take a piece of paper and make a table to record your settings. Progressively work your way up to where you are clearly running too hot. Then go back and work on bead uniformity with your optimal setting. Like MrSleeve said, you need to tighten up the beads, and it looks like you have some cold lap on the edges of your bead. I can't really tell from the photo, but the beads look to high and not enough heat was going into the base metal. Also, I am surprised that he didn't ask for a picture of the back side of the plate. If you could, take a picture of it, I am interested to see how it looks.

I have seen some of your other work and it looked really good (MIG stuff I think), and you seem to know what you are doing. Have you taken any formal schooling? (I am working on my TIG certificate, and I will be transferring to Ferris State to take their welding engineering program.)

If I can I'll get some pics of the back tomorrow. Definitely Wednesday I'll have some pics.

Yes, I do all of the steel welding with the MIG. Thanks man! If formal schooling is considered Youtube, then yes I have ;) All of my welding has been self-taught and Youtube taught.

Good luck with that man! I would love to be certified.

[mrsleeve]

Pante: I didn't want to bust his chops too bad with a look a the back side. That and you can't really see cold lap with eye all that well, allthough with the lack of heat speed he was moving at to get that rippel spaceing I would be willing to bet there is some out on the edges hidden uncer the filler metal