I tried gas welding aluminum sheet (.063,3003 H14)at home last night. I don't have any trouble at work, but at home I couldn't get it to flow. I thought it might be my equipment because I don't have any trouble at other places. I don't do it that often so I am not real proficient. My guages and regulators are old and are pretty cheap set that I bought at J.C. Penneys when I was working there about 30 years ago(Harris,single stage). The torch is new and is the same kind I use at work. I tried a 00,01, 03 tips. I used botted water to mix the flux, because I know my well water has iron in it. I also used a stainless steel wire brush to clean the metal. Would new two stage guages and regulators help? Do they have that much affect? Mine you can hardly tell when you have 2 lbs. on the guage. Should I invest in a Henrob torch? Any other ideas?
couldnt get it to flow? did you burn holes or did something else happen as a result? what are you using for flux? are you using a filler rod? and if so is it the same alloy as your base metal 3003 in this case? lastly I have found that the secret isnt the rod or flux. but rather being able to see when the puddle forms and moving like a bat outta hell when it does.. are your goggles at home clean? and the same shade as those at your place of employ? good luck I wanna hear more about this thanks sawzall
[ QUOTE ] I have found that the secret isnt the rod or flux. but rather being able to see when the puddle forms and moving like a bat outta hell when it does. [/ QUOTE ] Although the flux does help you know when the puddle forms as it starts to get gl***y-looking. Sawzall's right: figure out if there's anything different between work and home. What kind of eye protection are you using? Can you see the flame tip clearly? What exact problem are you having? Can you start a puddle, but it quickly gets blown out? Don't worry about the gauges and regulators, unless the flame is obviously unstable. Just make sure you're using the same slightly carburizing flame that you used at work. --Matt
I could't do anything with aluminum with my regular setup. Used 2 stage Harris as well as their torch set, borrowed a friends Victor also. Never did figure out what I was doing wrong. With the Henrob I was doing great after a short learning curve. I also would like to here more on this subject.
I am having trouble using the Henrob to weld aluminium. I have trouble seeing the puddle as just about the time it starts to puddle an orange glow forms around that area. I recently got a blue filter for my welding googles and I have not tried that yet to see if it helps.
286merc, what filter are you using. I haven't had a chance to mess with al. much with my torch. I tried some stainless. It blew my mind. I had no idea I knew how to weld SS
[ QUOTE ] I am having trouble using the Henrob to weld aluminium. I have trouble seeing the puddle as just about the time it starts to puddle an orange glow forms around that area. I recently got a blue filter for my welding googles and I have not tried that yet to see if it helps. [/ QUOTE ] wzjunk. I actually broke down and bought the "special" filter from tinman tech.. its supposed to help you see the puddle easier. and i think it does.. and hell it better for what it cost.. I think eventually i will be able to go back to the standard filter but for now its great.. anyhow one more thought to add. I am still having difficulty with OUT OF POSITION welding of aluminum. I guess I may need to practice more.. so my suggestion to anyone else who is just learnin is to set yourself up with lots of s**** and practice,practice, practice later sawzall
Sawsall; The flux is the aluminum flux from the Tinman The filler rod is 1/16 dia., 1100 aluminum welding wire. Lens is the Tinman blue lens. The wire does not seem to be the problem. I am not getting a good puddle. It appears to be not clean enough. The puddle seems to have a skin over it and won't flow with the filler rod. I will try again and try to make it even cleaner yet(I don't see how I could make it any cleaner). I have a TIG welder but it is an older model that is not of the square wave variety. It welds aluminum alright but it is a larger, wider weld than the square wave. Besides I want the softer weld that a gas welder produces because I want to wheel it smooth.
The Henrob guy told me that the material did not need to be very clean but just free from loose scale and dirt. He demonstrated on dirty metal. I want to practice some more as soon as I can find the time. As a side note, I was always taught to relieve my pressure regulators when you shut down a torch. I never did. As soon as I started messing with the Henrob and doing some adjusting to the regulator my 2 stage oxygen regualtor quit working. I had to send it in for repairs. Now I am wondering if this is just my luck or if it was because I started adjusting it more.
if possible you should use filler rod made from the same sheet that you are welding, i.e guillotine some from the same sheet. With a stainless wire brush, go over the edges, but the edge to be welded I always use a file. Coat them with a flux paste made with distilled water, or boiled from a kettle. The weld has to be made fairly quickly as the skin forms in air over the parts cleaned with the wire brush and file. You don't even need filler rod for flush fitting flat joints. When welding the sheet you will see a thin black line forming when making the weld. These are the impurities coming to the surface. This is the way the English Coachbuilders are taught. Remember, practise, practise and more practise, it'll take a while to get the angles right/ get a feel for the torch and the way to get a good joint. Keep trying and it'll all come together. I haven't done a gas weld in over 3 1/2 years and would have to do some practicing to get back into the swing of things I hope this helps
[ QUOTE ] Sawsall; The flux is the aluminum flux from the Tinman The filler rod is 1/16 dia., 1100 aluminum welding wire. Lens is the Tinman blue lens. The wire does not seem to be the problem. I am not getting a good puddle. It appears to be not clean enough. The puddle seems to have a skin over it and won't flow with the filler rod. I will try again and try to make it even cleaner yet(I don't see how I could make it any cleaner). I have a TIG welder but it is an older model that is not of the square wave variety. It welds aluminum alright but it is a larger, wider weld than the square wave. Besides I want the softer weld that a gas welder produces because I want to wheel it smooth. [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] if possible you should use filler rod made from the same sheet that you are welding, i.e guillotine some from the same sheet. [/ QUOTE ] i think this is the problem.. you're trying to weld 3000 series aluminum with 1100 series rod. I am using the same flux and the same lens as you are. however use thin strips of s**** metal to use as filler rod as described above. that should solve the problem.. good luck.. sawzall
I disagree completely with the idea that you can't use 1100 rod with 3003. It's what Ron Covell and a lot of other experts use, and you can even use it for 5052, or for welding 5052 to 3003. (Although the result would look uneven if you tried to anodize it.) As Cab Hiboy says, that's not his problem. Cabriolet Hiboy, you said "I am not getting a good puddle. It appears to be not clean enough. The puddle seems to have a skin over it and won't flow with the filler rod." I agree that you don't have to get the aluminum any cleaner. (And gl*** beading the parts is totally unecessary.) How thick is your flux? Do you heat the metal before you paint the flux on? Are you using the flux on the parent metal, the filler rod, or both? What does your flame look like? Get that tiny inner core out of the torch about 1/4" to 3/8". Use that for your welding and ignore the rest of the flame. The Tin Man 2000 blue lens is designed primarily for cutting down the yellow/orange flare that the flux gives off. Here's another alternative: you can see the flame tip surprisingly well with an auto-darkening mask in the "off" position. It's around a #4 lens that way, and is blue enough to cut out the flux flare. Try it. Gas welding aluminum is tricky, isn't it?
Tinbender, I bought the complete setup at a bankruptcy auction where I used to work. It included the gl***es, extra parts such as extensions and tips. Originally used only on heavy plate and angle aluminum prototyping. I started with thick s**** to practice then slowly worked my way to sheet and tubing. Also repaired several cast pieces such as intakes. Kept making a mess of 6061-T6 tubing until I went to the Web site and read about using the same material for filler...duh! Ive some friends who have purchased the Henrob and there is a wide range of filters used, one guy swears by WalMart sungl***es for aluminum welding! Ive been using the same gl***es for cast iron but they are marginal. But since I dont do it often and the work piece is preheated it goes pretty quick so I dont wind up with eye aches. Maybe I'll visit WalMart.
I know this sounds silly, but I've always had good luck with my normal sungl***es, Super Dark KD's(buy them at bike/chopper shops). And they ain't ****ten when they say Super Dark either, they are twice as dark as my Rayban's. They worked real nice when I brazed some studs on a pair of exhaust manifolds. -Jesse
Success!!! I gl*** beaded the parts then wire brushed them with stainless and everything worked alright. Need to work on my bead a little(its been a few years), but everything worked out fine. I guess the wire brushes I was using at work were of the large industrial variety instead of the hand brush at home made the difference. I would like to know how the Henrob works over dirty aluminum. Thanks everyone.
I have had this same problem twice now it turned out to be bad gas from my gas supplier, both times took the part used cylinders back and fixed the problem, might not be your problem but you never know
questions, ive never welded aluminium before in my life. and im pretty good at gas welding steel esp thin, so i know how to work fast. my questions are: when welding aluminium how do you set up the flame? also, is a bigger tip better? and do i need to Tin the aluminium first(black soot over aluminium then turn on oxy and flame till gone) any help would be great.
Kent White is my hero. There's nothing wrong with a henrob torch other than they are very expensive. I use the Meco Midget torch for sheet aluminum welding. It's very light. Regulators are very important. I bought a set at Sears in the 70's, and after starting to learn aluminum welding in the 90's, I found that the regulators are OK for a big torch and steel, but were **** for anything else. The problem was that they creeped all over. I could watch the flame change before my eyes. That's not good, and that means they were regulators in name only. Kent sells quality stuff. He sells the Victor regulators, and you can't go wrong owning those. I also own his TM2000 lens. Works great for all metals using a torch, and you can use it wearing gl***es.
Set a neutral flame. Use a hot flame for tacking, and then set it back down for welding. Run your tip across the area to weld to get it hot, and then brush on the flux. Do this in a single stroke. Flip the piece over and flux the back side. When welding keep the flux puddle in front of you as you move. Run out of flux, then add some more. If you run out of flux you might be too hot and not moving fast enough, but don't continue without flux. A little circular motion with the tip, and dab, dab, dab with the rod. Make dimes on the panel. The nice thing about torch welding aluminum, is that it planishes real well, and is easy to file. In high school (late 60's for me) we built trailer fenders out of aluminum, and we fluxed the rod rather than the work. This worked pretty well. Basically you run the torch on your rod tip (about 6 inches) to heat it up and then you stick the rod into a can of flux. The flux sticks of course, and you weld until you get to the end of the flux, and do it again. If you blow a hole while welding, just use the flux to ball-up a big ****** of a ball of aluminum and then drop it in the hole. Keep your work elevated. Don't try to weld aluminum on a steel table, as it will sink all the heat. Let the work cool all by itself. Don't throw it into a bucket of water!
I use Tinman's flux and also invested in his TM2000 lens. They are expensive but worth the money. I use a Henrob torch and usually weld with the #1 tip on .050 and .063 I usually weld 3003 and 6061. The Henrob has such a pinpoint flame that you sometimes have to adjust the flame so its a little soft. I also use 1100 series filler rod. I think I got the rod from Fournier Tools. My Henrob is set up with Harris two stage guages. I run 4 pounds on both guages. My oxygen gauge doesn't read that low so I set the acetylene to 4 lbs and then set the oxygen by ear to match . I coat the welding rod in flux and also coat the area that I am welding. I am wanting to invest in Tinmans Meco Torch soon and try it out. The Henrob gets a little heavy after a while.
Hey, Has anyone ever tried to weld aluminum using borax as a welding flux? I've been told this was once used to weld iron and other metals. S****ey devils C.c.
Borax was a generic term for "ABC" flux or "ANTI-BORAX-COMPOUND" made by the Superior flux company. Never use a small welding tip such as 0,00,000 reason being that to get enough heat to the part one must increase flame pressure with that the chances of blowing through the puddle increases. By using a large tip (#1) one can regulate the heat with just a wisper of pressure from the feather flame. Also by spending more time on fitment making sure there are no gaps and the two peices are touching really makes a differance---- practice- practice - practice
Here is the link to the henrob torch welding aluminum video. http://www.cut-like-plasma.com/info_welding_aluminum.htm http://www.cut-like-plasma.com/video/welding-aluminum_LAN.wmv
I've always welded Aluminum with a torch. So this may be of some help. 1: Always get the aluminum clean, clean , clean. Make sure the oxide is totally removed. 2: Set your gauges to 5 Lbs. of pressure. By the time it gets to the torch it will be about 1Lb. So low pressure, then you don't blow the aluminum away. 3: 0 tip and a neutral or slightly carburizing flame. You have to fine what works for you. 4: Polarized Sungl*** work well to see the weld, You can see the shimmery surface just before it falls away!! 5: Clean rod, sand it with 120 sandpaper before you use it. 6: Brush flux on surface. I use a flux poder and add water to make a paste. 7: 20Deg. torch angle. This preheats the aluminum before you get there and doesn't put alot of heat in the weld zone. Again you'll have to practice this to get a angle you like. 8: Fit the panels as close as you can get them. 9: Weld about 3/4" - 1" at a time. I like to tack (1/8') the panels first, about 2" apart. Hammer and dolly once it's all tacked and weld in between. 10: Watch the heat. If need be cool the panel with water or air. 11: Once finished wash off the flux with water and a scotch brite pad. This is the easiest way I've found and it doesn't drive the flux into the weld. 12: Practice, Practice, Practice. 13: Have Fun The Old Tinbasher
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