I’m not sure if this is the place for this but I’m trying to weld aluminum and I’m having trouble getting a puddle. I’m just getting a pop and pitting. Any thoughts?
Kinda looks like no gas or you got your machine set to DC. Got your machine on AC high frequency? Argon gas confirmed flowing at the torch?
Let us know your whole setup. All good answers here but we can’t answer correctly based on the info you gave.
1) Argon gas 2) Balled tungsten, green banded preferably but others will work in a pinch 3) AC setting on the machine 4) Continuous high frequency switch enabled 5) Adjust cleaning/penetration knob as needed depending on material thickness 6) Higher amps than needed for steel of comparable thickness since aluminum has a lower melting point but also steals heat away from the joint faster. 7) Remove the oxidized layer off of the aluminum with a stainless wire brush that is new or has only been used to clean aluminum
^^^^ That pretty much covers it. We need more info to dial into specifics. A few you-tube how to videos may also help.
Is your pre-flow of argon set? The argon must flow before the arc starts. Looks like no shielding gas?
Thanks for the replies… yes to all of these 1) Argon gas 2) Balled tungsten, green banded preferably but others will work in a pinch 3) AC setting on the machine 4) Continuous high frequency switch enabled 5) Adjust cleaning/penetration knob as needed depending on material thickness 6) Higher amps than needed for steel of comparable thickness since aluminum has a lower melting point but also steals heat away from the joint faster. 7) Remove the oxidized layer off of the aluminum with a stainless wire brush that is new or has only been used to clean aluminum I’m using blue 2% lanthanated tungsten Argon set on pre-flow 15 cfm tried it on some 14ga diamond plate and 1/4 inch flat bar. Cleaned with stainless brush and acetone I’m using a Miller MultiMatic 220 set on Aluminum TIG auto settings on an iron table with welder ground clamped to work material. It’s weird. I can’t figure out why I can’t get a puddle. I have no problems with steel but this is my first try at aluminum. I don’t have my foot pedal here at the house so I am using my SSC Control Touch 4 finger trigger which is designed for aluminum and stainless TIG I agree it looks like no argon, no ground or possibly contamination but I’ve gone through it all a few times.
No, just for giggles try welding carbon with it. Maybe it's the power source/ jury rigged finger slider. I mean the gas you should hear on or off, see the flow meter ball rise and fall.
What size tungsten , the size for the 14ga is not going to be Big enough for 1/4 ,thick aluminum To me looks like not enough amp , Especially trying to puddle in the center of the plate, It takes more amp on start ( No heat in the aluminum ) to puddle then back off amps ,,, Im not a professional tig welder, I have always used Green & Red The Miller dealer I used , I was going to place a order on Tungsten , was going to try to use 1 color tungsten to weld steel & aluminum, can not remember color, ( blue , black , orange ,yellow ,pink) I was told wants you weld steel with that tungsten, I could not weld aluminum with same tungsten or vice verse ,,, the tungsten will become contaminated,,, I do not know if this is true or not but I'm pretty sure somebody will chime in
I struggled initially trying to weld aluminium. I'm getting somewhere now though, but I'm nowhere near a poor level yet! Previously having only worked on mild and stainless my brain was kinda hard wired to be welding pretty much from the get go. No so aluminium. You need a ton of heat input before the magic starts to happen. Large pieces of 1/4 plate lying on a steel bench will suck in even more. Try some 1/8 lying on a couple of welding rods maybe, or just crank the heat up, but do back off as soon as you see shiney. You'll be waiting for things to warm up for what seems like an age and it's difficult in that time to resist trying to poke the filler wire in! Things turn bad very quickly if you do. Best forget the filler wire initially and just concentrate on puddle creation. How are the eggs Grandma?!!! Pacific Arc Welding on the utube is a great resource without having to become a paying subscriber. When I've tried to weld aluminium with the wrong tungsten it's never gone well. I use pure tungsten on Ali. Chris
Welding what looks to be quite thick Aluminium sheet on a steel bench is going to need a lot of current to get a puddle. The 1 amp per thou' TIG welding thickness rule of thumb doesn't work on Ali, even without a big heat sink attached. I use a Blue (Lanthanated) tungsten on Ali and stainless, but always grind it when changing between metals though.
if you tried diamond plate, it likely is anodized. It will spit and contaminate your tungsten. Did you try the bar with a clean tungsten, or use it right after trying the diamond plate?
^^^^When I learned this, TIG welding aluminum finally clicked! Without doing that it's just a fight with very poor results. Lynn
That is really thick material, forget using any filler and crank the amps way up on the .250" stuff. The diamond plate also may be anodized like stated above which will need to be taken off, it resists acetone so another method is needed to get it off. You will need some really large tungsten to handle the higher amps or the ball will melt and just fall off onto the material surface. Also knowing what alloy you're working with helps too, they are not all the same and some are easier than others, find a supplier that knows and understands what you're trying to accomplish (that you're learning TIG and need something that is forgiving), they may recommend 3003 or a 5XXX alloy. The torch situation and lack of foot control is also not ideal and I hope it is water cooled at that amp level. You should only need about 10-15 cfm of gas flow if you're inside and theres no wind or drafts to blow your shielding gas away. I learned on much thinner material, .125" is much easier to get going. Worry about maintaining the arc at first and not holding it too far away or it will spread out and heat up too much of the surrounding metal. Then there is only hours upon hours of practice in your future once you get it figured out.
BAD GAS, will work for steel, but does not work for aluminum. What I found was that my supplier was not marking the bottles to get filled with what gas and some argon bottles were contaminated. After a couple times getting bad bottles, Switch companies and never had the issue again
Aluminum is a heat dissipating sponge! Anything over 3/16 aluminum, I like to preheat over 200 degrees with a torch. I keep a temp gun handy. It gets the ball rolling faster. Set your amperage about 20% higher than you think you need, so you can crank in a bunch of heat on the initial hit, then back out of it a good bit as the piece warms up. And yes, a thick plate laying on a steel table is a massive heat sink.
These are all good ideas. I’m going to run and get another bottle of argon on Monday and pick up some thinner aluminum. The diamond plate if on 14 ga and I wire brushed it with SS and acetoned it. I haven’t tried filler rod yet just trying to get a puddle. I’ll mess with it this week. Thanks fellas. If anyone in Austin wants to come by for a beer and try their luck I’m always around in Central Austin haha
If it's not the ground, I'm guessing it's probably the machine. High frequency board is out or points need ajustment.
I mean…. this is a 8 month old Miller. I would hate to even think there could be something wrong with it. I’ll try a few things and see how it goes. Thank you for the suggestion I hope it doesn’t come around to this
The Jalopy Journal
