Inquisition

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.

Pikachu

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.

SpankedYA!

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

Pikachu

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

k24em2

Definitely use 1/16 filler on material that thin.

Pikachu

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

slappynuts

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.

Pikachu

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

gon3r

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.