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  #21  
Old 09-03-2017, 09:35 AM
Maxakarudy Maxakarudy is offline
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This year I needed to get to grips with ali welding and so did a lot of research into both methods, one thing I realised, is you don't hear of welds cracking with o/a welding, only issues with tig.
I watched Geof Moss o/a weld 18g ali, with very little filler rod, he'd planish it flat, with very little filing work needed to finish, superb work.

I joined a UK welding forum to get some technical info on tig welding & now feel pretty confident with tig to join 16g ali. There is a lot to learn with machine settings & it can be very frustrating to begin with to get it right or looking right as everyone judges it by it's appearance.
With tig, there is a lot of technical advice, but not a lot of advice from people shaping it, so this is where you are on your own & have to work out that appearance isn't the aim, as you will file it down to panel thickness anyway. My personal preference is to add as little filler rod as possible and fuse up the backside, then planish it. Always use the same material filler material as the sheet metal, don't mix alloys.

I also played a lot with o/a, fluxes make a big difference, so experiment with different brands to see how they flow, wash the flux off thoroughly as it will rust any tool you use on the panel. O/a is a lot simpler to learn imo and chances of weld failure are less, but chances off blowing holes is more common. Good clear vision of the weld pool is essential, the cues for when the ali melts are very subtle compared to tig, with it's glossy puddle, so keep prodding the ali with filler rod to know it's melting, then be quick and keep the puddle moving.
Here are some examples of my welding, tig, gas & two panels, the E type on the left was tig welded & the XK120 was gas welded.

I'm still learning & haven't settled on a preference in welding aluminium, both have good & bad points, learn them both is my advice

tig.jpg

gas2.jpg

panels.jpg
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Last edited by Steve Hamilton; 09-05-2021 at 09:20 AM.
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  #22  
Old 08-31-2021, 03:20 PM
vroom vroom is offline
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I've been away from my project for a year of new shop construction and now this question is coming up again. That is: how do I TIG .040 or .060 3003 Aluminum ? Before my shop building break I was trying OA with no luck. Now I want to get going and I fell into a rabbit hole. I thought I had found a ray of hope. They said I should try He/Ar mixed 50%/50% and a 1 sec. pulse. I would be glad to try this but none of the gas suppliers around here sell He/Ar.

So has anybody tried He/Ar mix ? If they have, how does it work? Or is this just me trying to make up for my lousy technique?
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  #23  
Old 08-31-2021, 05:40 PM
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Steve Hamilton Steve Hamilton is offline
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Helium is not needed it will produce a hotter temp arc.

You must use a stainless steel wire brush to remove the oxide from the top, bottom and edge of the joint.

the oxide melts at higher temp than base metal. scotch brite filler to get oxide off.

wash rod and metal with acetone or alcohol.

Full pedal to get the puddle started then back off.

as the panel gathers heat along the weld less pedal needed, and faster travel speed.

show us your samples
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  #24  
Old 08-31-2021, 10:43 PM
weldtoride weldtoride is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vroom View Post

So has anybody tried He/Ar mix ? If they have, how does it work? Or is this just me trying to make up for my lousy technique?


Many years ago when I took TIG welding classes at my local community college, the evening instructor was a part-timer. But by day he was a weldor/fabricator in an all-around large repair/fabrication shop. When he demonstrated each new weld we were supposed to emulate, it was always a thing of beauty, but also practical in that he could lay down beads so fast...

He was old-school, he told us we were going to use as few variables as possible, because life in the real world of fab/repair wasn't always perfect: "learn to deal with it".

For the aluminum welding unit, he stressed cleanliness more than usual, but the old mantra of practice, practice, practice, was in my head as I dabbed, dabbed, dabbed, my filler rod into the puddle. A few of the new tungstens had been on the market for a while but we used pure tungsten and the same old argon delivered through the community college manifold system as for our ferrous weld practice.

He taught a lot of boneheads and less than bright bulbs, including me, to make decent welds on aluminum and stainless through practice, practice, practice. However, he was right there with us to analyze our mistakes, on the spot, and we could correct them each evening.

For you practicing in a relative vacuum, lacking that immediate feedback from such a knowledgeable person is extremely difficult. Like Steve says, I think some pictures of what you are doing would be helpful to those of us willing to help you.


Don't be ashamed, each and every one of us has laid down long, long, lines of booger welds, burned holes, and dripped molten metal to the floor. It's how we learned.


Feedback wont be in real time, but given my experience with this forum, it will be useful.

As to your question about different gas mixes, as my instructor would say: save that for when you get hired by NASA.
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Last edited by weldtoride; 08-31-2021 at 10:51 PM.
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  #25  
Old 09-05-2021, 09:06 AM
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Where can you buy the "Kent's" torches mentioned here?
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  #26  
Old 09-05-2021, 09:31 AM
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Where can you buy the "Kent's" torches mentioned here?
Kent White at http://www.tinmantech.com
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  #27  
Old 09-07-2021, 01:47 PM
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Quote:
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Thank you very much!
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