Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Here are some pics of a 3" ic piping I'm welding for my car. I checked for pin holes. Please give me some advice. I'm not a good welder but I'm practicing every single moment I have free.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/pikachu/Fab/aluminum%20011.jpg

I'm not great but I tested it for leaks with with water and filling the inside.

Thanks guys.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

I just called hotrex...he says to dip the metal in cheap malt liquor before you weld it and it will look beautiful.

on a more serious note...if you're just starting out it looks pretty decent...and if it doesnt leak, then hey, all is well.

i know the material probably isnt very thick, but try beveling the edges of both pieces so you have a nice V to weld into...kinda like how the manifold elbows that everyone uses have a beveled edge to them

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

I don't do any aluminum John. I only do Steel.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

did you wirebrush that after you welded it? it looks like you did to me... it would be better not to before you ask for help.

what kind of filler are you using? what kind of tungsten? what amps? give some more details.

with aluminum it helps to pre-heat your base metal before you weld it.

i can give you more advice after i know what your setup is maybe.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Fook, this is 1/16 material. It's really really really thin. One wrong move and you'll blow a hole thru it. I love a challenge.

WeiRtech,I did wire brush right after. I wire brushed before because the material is all chrome and stuff. Material is 1/16th aluminum. I'm using the following settings.

Preflow .1sec
Hot Start 20amps
Base Amps 70amps @ 100hz with 20% balance
Postflow 6.0sec

How come it's not shiny? I think i need to clean the inside of the pipe before welding. I only used a brush to clean to the outside. I think I need to clean the inside with acetone or something to clean it up. I notice the dirt just comes all the way up to the top.

Well, it doesn't leak and it works. I need to get consistant. The welds don't leak which is the really important part.

John

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Did you brush it before or after the weld? If you brushed it before, its not shiny because of too much heat, after because it dulls it with the wire brush.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

What dia filler rod are you using?

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

i've welded the same piping without doing any cleaning at all without a problem. it is just polished, not chromed. using acetone is not nescassary for most welding unless the base metal is really oily or greasy. if you do wire brush it make sure you DON'T use a carbon steel wire brush but a stainless steel or brass wire brush.

turn your amps down to 25-30 amps. set your argon flow at about 15-20. make sure you are using a pure tungsten (green) electrode and sharpen it to a point, don't ball it as is suggested by most people. it will ball itself. make sure your gap is 0 and you could even try doing some antogenous welding with this stuff so you get a feel for how little filler you need to add.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

;)

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

The thing is if I reduce the amperage, it would take forever to melt the base metal. Argon flow is at 20. I am using pure tungsten. The only thing that I may really change is that I'm using 1/16 tungsten and I think I should switch to 3/32. I'm also using a stainless brush. I am using 3/32 filler... should i get some 1/16 filler? I don't leave any gap actually. I did notice that it seemed there was too much filler.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Aluminum is lovely to weld....Anyway, when I was welding aluminum I literally never cleaned the material and it was covered in disgustingness yet my welds looked fine. What I would suggest is setting your balance and frequency to the default number found on syncrowaves. I'd almost bet your weld looks like that due to the fact the AC Balance or Frequency is set incorrectly.

As for the actual process. Ball your tungsten before welding. It makes a difference. Balling while welding results in the arc going all nuts. Its much more consistent when doing it before hand. On 16 gauge material, set your max amps to about 100A. You'll probably end up welding at around 60-70A, but always set your pedal well over your normal welding amperage so you have some room for variation. Pedal to the ground and slowly back off. The material will begin to look wet. Don't add filler rod when it looks a little wet, make sure it looks nice and wet. Then add your filler rod. You will most likely have to move up and down with the foot pedal a decent amount to keep the puddle consistent, but its not a real big deal. I'm not saying rock the pedal, but depending on the length of the weld and how hot the material gets, the amperage necessary for welding will vary quite a bit.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Believe it or not, I'd rather weld aluminum than anything else. Aluminum gets toasty but it doesn't warp and ---- like stainless. I hate how stainless gets all warped and ----. If I lay a few more beads, I can probably get some consistancy going. I gotta take a wire brush to the inside. It's kinda nasty on the inside.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

John Have you tried 3/32 tungsten and 1/16 filler rod? I prefer that combo.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Going to give that a try. I only have 3/32 filler. Time to pick some of that stuff up. :6

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Definitely use 1/16 filler on material that thin.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Can you tell me how you pre-heat the base metal? It's so hot when welding it already.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

General rule of thumb is to use the same thickness of filler rod as the material thickness(on straight up butt welds).You should be ok with the thin tungstin on something of this thickness,but I usually use 3/32 for most everything.

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

Yep, sounds like good advice. What's the reasoning behind using a larger tungsten?

Re: Aluminum welding, CSaddict, Hotrex, give me some advice.
 

it really isn't nescassary for something this thin, but it a generally accepted practice for thicker aluminum. just throw it in the oven for a few minutes and it will make starting your puddle that much easier when you begin welding on it.