Aluminum Tiging

[El Guanche]

Im teaching myself how to weld aluminum on a dynasty 200 dx.
Im welding a 1/4 inch tang to a 1/4 inch plate Ihave the machine settings as follows amp 170, hz 170, balance 75. Is it right? my welds are strong but ugly how do I do the scale pattern do I have to make stops and then move or do I have to change the torch from upright to raked and move and put it upright again...

[bob_e95482]

It takes a lot of practice. Get your aluminum clean. Do a search on welding Al on this site. I have a transformer machine & use pure tungsten. Do a search on which tungsten to use for an inverter machine, & how to ball it.

[Black Wolf]

What Polarity?
What Tungsten?
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum?
What Allow filler metal?
What Diameter filler metal?
What type of shielding gas?
What flow rate of gas?
What method are you using??? Dip or Constant Feed???

Now directly from your post:
What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz.
What makes you think balance of 70 is correct? Do you know what it means?
What makes you think that the welding procedure you outlined is anywhere close to what is used in proper GTAW welding?

Lastly:
What made you think you were anywhere close to being ready to self learn how to GTAW anything, let alone Aluminum.????

If you cannot answer all of my questions, you need more education.

Sorry for sounding rude....You really bit off a mouthful with this one. From your questions and comments, you have a slow learning curve and a long road ahead of you.

Good Luck.

Later,
Jason

[Noisy Nova]

What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz.

He's got a Dynasty, AC output frequency is adjustable.

[Black Wolf]

My bad. Thanks. I use a really old Syncrowave 250 at work.

[El Guanche]

What Polarity?
What Tungsten? 3/32 pure
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? the only one they sell around here.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 30 cfm
What method are you using??? Dip or Constant Feed??? tell me about this one

Now directly from your post:
What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz. My machine you can control output frecuency
What makes you think balance of 70 is correct? Do you know what it means? yes this is 70 percent penetration 30 % cleaning
What makes you think that the welding procedure you outlined is anywhere close to what is used in proper GTAW welding? Wll i,ve read and seen all tutorials in this site plus I got a peek of a certified welder welding aluminum. I have welded for about 4 to 5 hours and my welds looks arent bad but I would like to get the scale look.

Lastly:
What made you think you were anywhere close to being ready to self learn how to GTAW anything, let alone Aluminum.???? Ive done it already but only need advice on the movement of the torch is it continuous or is it small pauses to do the darn scales thing if you know what I mean. Im a 42 year old tool & die maker. I got to weld aluminum back in 1987 at school and now Im starting again because of a job change.

If you cannot answer all of my questions, you need more education.

Sorry for sounding rude....You really bit off a mouthful with this one. From your questions and comments, you have a slow learning curve and a long road ahead of you.

Good Luck.

Later,
Jason

check this out

[tnjind]

Uh, check what out?

[El Guanche]

I answered wolfs questions see if they are alright

[Black Wolf]

It wasn't really a quiz, but now we know where you are starting from, so we can help you out.

You never specified Polarity, but since you are balancing penetration & cleaning, you must be on AC.

Pure Tungsten - have you prepared it with a balled end before welding?

Welding methods:

Dip method: Establish & maintain molten puddle, and travel speed. Filler metal is added in "timed" intervals, dipping the filler metal into the leading edge of the molten puddle. After deposition, filler metal is removed from the puddle, but still kept in the gas shield pocket to prevent contamination.

Continuous Feed Method: Kind of self explanitory. Establish & maintain molten puddle. Filler metal is continously fed into leading edge of molten puddle.

Nozzle inclination is the same with GTAW (Tig) as with GMAW (Mig) in that the nozzle angle should bisect the joint angle. ie a 90 degree fillet weld would have a 45 degree nozzle angle. Nozzle inclination, same thing, inclined slightly in the direction of travel to keep a continous pocket of shielding gas over the molten metal, to prevent contamination while welding AND cooling.

The weld pattern that you are looking for is operator controlled. Without changing nozzle angle or inclination, if you maintain an equal sized molten puddle with each step you take along the weld, you will achieve the pattern you are looking for. Many of the members here use welding positioners, and also "Walk the Cup" while doing fillet welds. I, myself, do not do this as I do not have a GTAW welder at home to play with, and I use a very old "bare bones" welder at work, with a HUGE & Cumbersome back cap. I know how to do it, but have very little experience with it.

Hopefully that helps you out a little.
Best of luck with the job change.

Later,
Jason

[shadetreewelder]

What Polarity?
What Tungsten? 3/32 pure
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? the only one they sell around here.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 30 cfm

My recommendations:
What Polarity? AC with a balance in the 65-75 range
What Tungsten? 3/32" ceriated (pure is not the best choice for an inverter)
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? 4043 (look at the end of the filler rod and it will be stamped there.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 20 cfm (30 you are just wasting gas)

The rest is practice.

some pictures will help.