In my attempts to get good at aluminum gas welding, I've come to question something. I got some al sheet from HD just for practicing. This is .025 and I have become more consistant with puddle control on it to a point.
Obviously this stuff is coated and I have to clean it up more than expected (first lesson I learned). I can run some beads but they are very flat compared to what I see with tig or mig. This I believe is because of having to put so much heat into it that the whole coupon is ready to melt. Just to show I have a decent control of the flame and puddle, I can run puddles on the side of a pepsi can and almost no burnthru on HD foil. Well after getting the Fournier video and watching him, I'm starting to question the material because he go tack and flow in fusion welding that I haven't seen with this sheet. It is fluxed and cleaned (as is the rod) but by the time the puddle forms, the heat has spread so much that the filler look like I just soldered the material. No pretty bead (on both sides) with full penetration like I get with sheet metal. Once the bead is started it will continue but getting it to flow isn't easy. Butt joints are very difficult because almost as soon as the puddle forms, the adjacent area falls away. Normally I'd think it is an issue of tip size, it doesn't seem to be. I can finetune the flame on a larger tip to be a little hooter and get almost instant burnthru.
So the question. I've assumed that a material was weldable if you got anywelding at all, but now I question that. Just because I get fusion doesn't really mean it is weldable, right? The obvious task on the agenda is to get known material. So is my problem more me or the material? Does this sound like it could be the Al sheet being welded rather than my inability?
thanks