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  #11  
Old 11-21-2017, 10:39 PM
lots2learn lots2learn is offline
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I got a late start Aluminum welding (TIG). Did not learn it until age of 15.

In a few months will be 6G X-ray qualified on Aluminum, Titanium, and Inconel as my job in the military requires it.

Unless its a thicker piece and I can TIG it on DC using helium then my plan for any Aluminum body panels is oxy. I already have some 3003 H14 and 1100 series rod to practice with.

Can someone give me a good Victor tip size as a starting point for .063"? I have some of Tinmans flux. Only thing I need is a bottle of spring water.
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  #12  
Old 11-21-2017, 11:39 PM
trailhead trailhead is offline
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I just happen to have Kent's chart sitting in front of me and it says a #2 Victor J series for .063" (#56 wire drill).
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  #13  
Old 11-22-2017, 08:51 AM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lots2learn View Post
I got a late start Aluminum welding (TIG). Did not learn it until age of 15.

In a few months will be 6G X-ray qualified on Aluminum, Titanium, and Inconel as my job in the military requires it.

Unless its a thicker piece and I can TIG it on DC using helium then my plan for any Aluminum body panels is oxy. I already have some 3003 H14 and 1100 series rod to practice with.

Can someone give me a good Victor tip size as a starting point for .063"? I have some of Tinmans flux. Only thing I need is a bottle of spring water.
Do you have one of Kent's TM2000 gas welding lenses? There's nothing like it for seeing your puddle clearly, especially when gas welding aluminum. jmho.
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  #14  
Old 11-22-2017, 09:09 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Absolutely gorgeous welding there Mike. I think you can count yourself among the top tier of aluminum gas welders. VERY impressive, my friend.

BTW, what do you planish them with? A shovel?

Quite a while ago, I used to TIG weld 1/8" aluminum oil tanks for my stock cars. Nice new welder with water cooled torch and nice looking welds, but ALWAYS had some leaks that were often hard to find. I assumed that I was not doing a good job, as the TIG welding was a necessary evil to not send the work out and wait for return. Towards the end of my racing career, one of my sponsors was a nation wide trucking company that was facing the same trouble as Kent mentioned with their leaking fuel tanks. At that time, they did not have an answer nor did I about mine, but I stumbled across that same viewpoint as Kent suggested, and have since grown to trust what Kent presents as answers and solutions to any welding problem.

I was having some difficulty gas welding aluminum under any circumstance, until I watched one of Kent's welding videos, used his flux and MECO torch and started paying more attention to how Jim Hery was welding.
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Last edited by RockHillWill; 11-22-2017 at 09:12 AM.
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  #15  
Old 11-22-2017, 09:51 AM
mastuart mastuart is offline
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Hi Mike . Question? How big are your coupons? How are you fluxing?

I haven't done any aluminum in a couple years and I need to practice. In the past I would practice and think I knew what I was doing . Then start welding something I didn't want to make a mess of and mess it up anyway!

I feel coupon size matters.

Mark
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  #16  
Old 11-22-2017, 10:04 AM
mastuart mastuart is offline
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Mike one more question. What is your goal when welding your panels? To weld with as little filler as possible and just planish. Or do some file work before planishing.

I assume our goal should be to use as little rod possible and planish with no filing to make the weld disappear.

Mark
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  #17  
Old 11-22-2017, 03:02 PM
Mike Motage Mike Motage is offline
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Will, I was wondering if someone would notice the rough planishing. Yes I used a round blade shovel on a rough anvil

Mark, I practice both full penetration and minimal. I change torch angle to adjust penetration. The coupons that I demo with are 12x3 welded together to make a 12x6 finished piece. At home I'll use whatever odd pieces in order to focus how the puddle reacts to different mass/size. While larger panels definitely weld different than smallish coupons thorough preheating and reheating how I accommodate. As far as flux is concerned, I degrease and scuff the joint and filler and then flux just the edge and the filler. Definitely use the minimum flux necessary to flow the puddle and float the impurities out.
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Last edited by Mike Motage; 11-27-2017 at 09:37 AM.
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  #18  
Old 11-22-2017, 07:43 PM
AllyBill AllyBill is offline
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Not sure how come folk struggle for penetration with the TIG on aluminium. Give it an extra burst of pedal and push some filler through to the back-side. It's easy enough to put twice as much weld on the back as what's on the front. Prettier with a back-purge too if you can get in there.

Repaired an exploded, TIG welded fuel tank from a dragster recently and whoever welded it had started with the material cold, no preheat on 1/8th material. The result was virtually no penetration and a hard weld where the surrounding material had quenched it but further round, as the heat soaked in, the penetration was much better and the weld more compliant. The tank was pressurised to push fuel uphill but the pressurisation went wrong and blew the end of the tank out with a failure beginning at the origin of the weld. Half the battle is understanding the material.

Will
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  #19  
Old 11-27-2017, 09:46 AM
Mike Motage Mike Motage is offline
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Mark, I measured the height of the bead/root on the backside. It was about .025 tall. After planishing the panel flat, it was only. 020 max. The poor lighting of the pics and shadow made it look worse than it was.
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  #20  
Old 11-27-2017, 10:21 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AllyBill View Post
Not sure how come folk struggle for penetration with the TIG on aluminium. Give it an extra burst of pedal and push some filler through to the back-side. It's easy enough to put twice as much weld on the back as what's on the front. Prettier with a back-purge too if you can get in there.

Repaired an exploded, TIG welded fuel tank from a dragster recently and whoever welded it had started with the material cold, no preheat on 1/8th material. The result was virtually no penetration and a hard weld where the surrounding material had quenched it but further round, as the heat soaked in, the penetration was much better and the weld more compliant. The tank was pressurised to push fuel uphill but the pressurisation went wrong and blew the end of the tank out with a failure beginning at the origin of the weld. Half the battle is understanding the material.

Will
Blower pressure supplies the fuel pressure in some dragsters.
Things go south when the blower sneezes.
However, it is known that the gas welded tanks can expand when this happens, and though they can no longer be removed from inside the chassis (welded tube frame), the cap is replaced and the car continues through the season - because there are no leaks.

Gas welding does its own preheat.

TIG is sure simple and easy - when you have a gas rig around to help it make the grade.

Choose your filler metal wisely: 4043 was designed for welding castings (after WW1), according to the Aluminum Association. Brittle and hard, non-anodizeable 4043 is still a popular filler metal because the welding supply industry has been giving it out as their first choice, for the past 45+ years ..............

(ps, RCD moved in next door to me here, back in 1982, so we get a little overflow of some of the drag guys. )
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Last edited by crystallographic; 11-27-2017 at 10:25 AM.
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