Popping noises

I've been practicing my aluminum welding and ran into a few things that I don't understand. First is this popping noise I get occasionally from the arc. It doesn't seem to affect the weld. Another issue I have is that sometimes the arc is tight and small and I can get small consistent beads and sometimes the arc seems to spread and has a green hue and make a huge wide puddle and the bead ends up flat and wide. I'm not adjusting anything. I'm going to grab some more scrap from work and run some more beads so I can take pictures Monday. I ended up welding over the welds and sorta erased my evidence. doh!

I hardly do aluminum, so I shouldn't comment, but almost sounds like something is popping back and contaminating your electrode (when the electrode gets contaminated, you get that kind of arc action; hot and unfocused). What kind of aluminium are you welding?

That popping noise is when the tip of the electrode shorts out in the puddle and turns it into a miniature arc furnace. The metal deposited on the electrode from that dipping spreads the arc out and widens the puddle and diffuses the arc and makes it time to regrind.
The skill of TIG is being able to keep a very tight, focused arc without 'dipping the wick'. It helps to raise the work so you see under the cup better.

dry argon important , number one on aluminum is cleaning for a good weld , tunstian properly ground point , if hits puddle stop and re sharpen , and last settings on machine . seams that mostly what i weld at my machine shop lol since next to the river do lots of pontoon boats

also how much shielding gas you are using . can go both ways not enough or to much argon shielding

found what helps also when welding rest your welding hand on a extra glove to help keep proper distance from weld when welding

forgot what machine are you using

I'm using a PP256. I have no idea what kind of aluminum I have. It's just some scrap 0.50" sheet from work. I don't think the popping is from hitting the weld pool cause it happens right after I have sharpened the tungsten before I've even dipped the filler rod. I am hitting the puddle quite a bit though as I weld. maybe the contamination is higher up than just the point. I also tried turning the argon up to about 9cfm. Had it at 7cfm but I haven;t tried to bring it down at all. I'm using a 1.6mm 2%Thoriated with a 5 cup. I'm going to grab some more scrap from work and practice some more this week. I'm also going to pick up a virgin SS brush to clean before I weld.

were do you have your ac balance set at , here a pic of were i have my 250ex set at seams to be closely dialedAttachment 6133 in for most my welding on clean aluminum , could have contaminated brush and how do you sharpen i use a dedicated mini grinder since then i can do different angels i dont like the dip stuff

7 cfm i run about 20 if under that i get popping here is a calculator for rods and gas flows .http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...calculator.php

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Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

also how much shielding gas you are using . can go both ways not enough or to much argon shielding

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Aside from wasting gas, what ill effect does too much argon cause?

lol i hardly ever use the foot pedal since the pulse control works so nice on welder . its nice since pulses off and on so can weld slow with out burning through

normal is 20 cfm for flow on like 1/8 or a Little thicker the thicker the aluminum the more argon flow you need . that why i use a large bottle on my welder and always have a spare tank full must have like 12 tanks of gas;s at my shop for my different welders , tig a lot different than mig welding doesn't need much gas but tig dose need more shielding when doing aluminum

at 7 cfm bet that's why your Poppin and also to low will cause the tip to burn up to fast

rod u do relise there is an edit post button so u dont have alll these little posts. REDBEARD, if you have too much argon it can cause turbulence and actually suck in air instead of shielding, contaminating your weld. you just need enough argon to protect your weld from atmosphere.

thanks didn't know

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Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

normal is 20 cfm for flow on like 1/8 or a Little thicker the thicker the aluminum the more argon flow you need . that why i use a large bottle on my welder and always have a spare tank full must have like 12 tanks of gas;s at my shop for my different welders , tig a lot different than mig welding doesn't need much gas but tig dose need more shielding when doing aluminum

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Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

at 7 cfm bet that's why your Poppin and also to low will cause the tip to burn up to fast

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It's cfh (cubic feet per hour) not cfm (cubic feet per minute). Everlast has welding calculators to help with setup. http://www.everlastgenerators.com/we...alculators.php I'm not sure why they give cfh when all the everlast flowmeters are in lpm (liters per minute). If someone wanted 15 cfh set an lpm flow meter to a little less than half that at 7 lpm.

Sorry I should have been putting lpm not cfm. So I've been between 7lpm and just under 10lpm. I think I contaminated more of the rod than just the point. I had a lot of stick out for welding a corner and never set it back so I may have contaminated more of the rod than i thought.

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Originally Posted by Ron66

Sorry I should have been putting lpm not cfm. So I've been between 7lpm and just under 10lpm. I think I contaminated more of the rod than just the point. I had a lot of stick out for welding a corner and never set it back so I may have contaminated more of the rod than i thought.

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Is the air still, in your work area ? There can't be any fans or draft because it blows the shielding gas away.

I do have a fan on but it isn't blowing into where I'm working but I'll turn it off just in case.