At 09:18 AM 1/4/03 -0800, you wrote:
>Used alcohol to clean
>rods and around where is was welding.
Use a stainless wire brush to clean both filler rods and area to be
welded, just prior to welding, to remove aluminuim oxide,
preheat and wire brush again, hold tig torch as close to 90 degree
to the surface as possible, (do not tilt, or as little as possible, tilting
the torch over tends to draw air into the weld area and causes the
aluminum to ball up)
>Used a new grinder, bought just for
>this purpose (30 bucks) for shaping tungsten tips. Ground a ball on the
>electrode (maybe this is first mistake).
its ok to start with a flat ended electrode, it will ball naturally,
>Cranked the argon up to 18 cfm. My
>instruction book says that is the right range.
I never went over 10 cfm. the high flow rates tend to pull air into
the weld area if you tilt the torch.
.looks like
>chicken droppings everywhere. The tig tip looks like crap.
shows air is being draw into the arc or an incompatable grade
of filler rod.....also never touch the electrode to the aluminum,
if you need to strike an arc, use a piece of copper laid near
the weld area & slide to the weld starting point.
> My steel welding
>looks great in the arc, but not this. I can see the puddle forming then it
>gets scummy and nothing flows.
scum on puddle is usually the oil & oxide coming to the surface..
also could be a grade of cast aluminium high in magnesium content.
very hard to weld..
FWIW; I preheat 100-150 degrees rarely higher, tends to oxidize.
wirebrush, should be a clean stainless brush, steel bristle brushes
leave iron trace residue.
not putting it lightly, welding used aluminum that is oil soaked is
not easy, baking the oil out slowly is a must, keeping air out of the
weld area is a major issue. hitting the weld with lots of amps and
moving fast is best, do not linger any longer than necessary.
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