OUR FIRST TRY WELDING ALUMINUM WAS SOMEWHAT UNSUCCESSFUL. WE CLEANED TWO 8" SQUARE PIECES OF 1/8" DIAMOND PLATE SCRAP. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT VARIETY OF MATERIAL IT WAS. AS SPECIFIED IN THE MILLER MANUAL WE SET THE FOLLOWING PARAMETERS - 140 AMPS 3/32 RED TIPPED CORRECTLY SHARPENED TUNGSTEN, 30 CFM STRAIGHT ARGON, AC ELECTRODE NEGATIVE. WE SET THE 'DEP' KNOB TO DEEPER PENETRATION. WE USED SOME PRE & POSTFLOW FOR GOOD MEASURE AND USED NO FILLER THE FIRST TIME. BASICALLY WHAT WE HAVE TO REPORT IS THAT ALONG THE 3" LINE OF FUSED WELD WE APPARENTLY DEVELOPED A CRACK. ANY IDEAS? WE DIDN'T HAVE ANYFILLER SO WE SHEARED A SLIVER OF THE PLATE AND TRIED TO FILL A CRATER AND ALL WE DID WAS CREATE A BIGGER BLEMISH. NOW WHAT ANY COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED
NEW TO WELDING TIG
Dec 28, 2003
6 Replies
Please dim your lights.
snipped-for-privacy@AOL.COM (VITO) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
Not all caps.
If you don't use the correct filler, you will get a crack. You will get all the info you need by using google on this newsgroup. This is what I did when I started.
That was really hard to read (in fact, I didn't get past the first line), please turn off the CAPS.
Stop Shouting. Ben
If your TIG set was turned to AC, which is generally used for welding aluminium, how on earth is the electrode positive?
On the other hand if you have the set switched to DC, then you will have problems welding aluminium easily!
Chris
Ps: also a very good idea not to use CAPS in future posts, as everyone else as said.
Here is what you should have for that weld.
1 amp per 0.001" of thickness for a flat butt weld, single pass, full penetration, in steel and aluminum.Add 30% for inside fillet, and subtract 30% for an outside fillet.
so 1/8" = 0.125" = 125 amps + 30% or 40 amps = 165 amps.
Machine should be set for AC with an AC Wave ballance set to about 30% from "More Cleaning".
Tungsten should be balled first using DC Electrode positive with the torch pointed straight down at a clean piece of aluminum or copper.
Some aluminum alloys can be welded with no filler rod, but it rarely works well.
Diamond plate is either 3003 or 5052, bot are better welded with filler rod.
4043 or 5356 are your 2 best choices. 4043 is a bit softer, flows easier and at a lower temp. 5356 is stronger with better corrosion resistance and color match.Aluminum filler metals are very different from the base metal. Buy some filler rod.
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