Pics of first Aluminum job

[swyman]

Did my first official aluminum job the other day. Putting up pics for feedback. Don't have much tig aluminum experience so let me have it. I have a Dynasty 350 and ran at 200 amps, 3/32 2%, 1/8" 5356. THe first weld is on the outside and no obstruction. The second pic was a female dog to get into and get a good weld. I ended up pullling the tungsten out about an inch past the cup to half *** get into the location. The melat was thick and I "V'ed" the complet weld out and pre- heated using Johnnytig's method. For those who might not know, heat the aluminum with pure acetelene to cover with black soot then neutralize the flame and heat till the black soot is gone and weld away. I also post heated to hopefully stress relieve the part since I added way to much heat in the hard to get area to try to get it to wet out and look halfway descent. It made some cracking noises but see no visible signs of cracking so I post heated half the part to try to relieve the stress. I realize the 1/8" filler should have been 3/32 but was all I had. Comments please!
Thanks, Shane

[Wheelchair]

That looks better than the first aluminum that I welded and it looks like you are on the right track. Keep up the good work and practice, practice, practice.

Wheelchair

[metal-doctor]

Hey nice work for the first job.Definitley looks better than my first. Keep up the good work.

[MintSScout]

Looks pretty good to me. The second pick looks a hot tho.

[swyman]

I know I was hot on the second. I really struggled to get into that tight spot. I could not see the puddle and it was tough to get it to wet out. Any pointers on this situation? I had some aluminum rod that I could have tried to stick weld it but did not feel comfortable since I have never used that process.

[HMW]

I Like your job there, I do lots more repair work than fabricating, so I never get good practice at laying down "rows of dimes" on new aluminum. Inside corners, especially those with bottom and 2 sides are very hard. sometimes i just stop and let it cool down some and then go at the corner real quick. Sometimes hard to get the torch in there and the filler metal. Other times it works better to have it real hot, like do the outside first then do the inside. Also I use smaller than normal filler [1/16"] to get into tight spots, uses more filler but seems to work better. I found a smaller cup that seems to work in the corners better especially if the part is already nice and warm. Good luck

[terry welds]

looks good like the other welders sad it shur looks better thin my first alum weld

[dabar39]

Looks like you did a pretty good job of repairing it. I know how tough it is trying to get those inside corners like that. Dave

[MintSScout]

I can't offer to many pointers cause I I'm not very good at describing stuff by typing. One way to get better is to try to weld with you eyes closed. It's hard to get use to but it does help. (I got board one day and did some stainless tig that way.)