Aluminum Woes...Extremely Annoyed

I bought a 185 Micro a while back from Mark. Great guy to deal with btw. Anyways, I have not been able to get my welds on it consistent on AC when welding aluminum. It is really started to frustrate me. I've researched a ton, and still can not come up with a conclusion as to why welding AC on this machine sucks. DC was good, had no problems with it.

So here are my issues... my tungsten balls up real bad (thicker than the diameter of the tungsten) and the arc wanders everywhere. Have tried both 2% thoriated, and pure tungsten. 3/32 in size. Using a #6 cup with a regular collet body. Running 100% argon. 20cfh. I've checked for leaks, and there isn't any. I sharpen the tungsten and put a flat top on it. Tungsten sticks out about 3/8" from the cup before it balls.

Pic of the settings I'm using:

http://i.imgur.com/dDWcg.jpg

I tried welding this together till I got frustrated. Both pieces of aluminum are .090" thick. Welded on 95 amps. When I would get a puddle, the arc would make the rod real crummy, not sure how to describe it.

http://i.imgur.com/yn1gp.jpg

:sigh: .... any suggestions before I quit aluminum tig welding forever...? Not really. But I feel like that right now. :mad:

A few things, don't use pure tungsten on inverters, the 2% thoriated should be fine. I take it this is your first time with TIG welding aluminum?
3/32" should not be balling up the 2% at 95 amps, was it only the pure that was balling? Set your frequency around 100Hz and your balance at 30% for clean metal, up to 50% for not so clean stuff. I would use a bigger cup and a little less gas flow. Maybe a #8 with about 15cfh. Try to keep your stickout around 1/4". Aluminum needs more of a blanket of argon rather than a jet. Practice running beads on one plate before trying to join pieces. With a fixed amp setting it will take a little while for the puddle to form. Move the arc around a little and let the cleaning action drive away all the black speckles and frost the aluminum before even starting a puddle. This will take at least 10-15 seconds. The arc will be much more stable once the aluminum and the tungsten are both hot. If you are using a pedal you can start with more amperage then back down once the puddle is established. With a torch switch, just wait a little longer. Pre-heating the parts can also help a lot. Do not add any rod until you have a puddle. You want the puddle to melt the rod, not the arc. Keep your arc length between 1/16" and 1/8" the closer the better, but don't dip it in the puddle. If you do, stop and regrind the tungsten and clean the aluminum before trying again.
Go watch more videos on torch angle and technique. (sure wish YouTube was around when I was learning, you young punks have it made;))
From your pics it looks like you are just melting the rod with the arc and dripping it on the joint.

Start first by running beads with no filler, then with filler, then joining two pieces. Crawl, walk, then run. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oClown/ram.gif

has that tubing been anodized?

Too much cleaning action won't help. Try turning your AC balance down to 20% - 40% to start. It looks like you've got it at over 70%.

The PowerTIG 185 has a wonderfully huge range for AC balance but you have to be careful you don't overdo the cleaning without a specific reason. Too much electrode positive will tend to ball up your tungsten and result in an erratic arc.

Cheers!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by undercut

Too much cleaning action won't help. Try turning your AC balance down to 20% - 40% to start. It looks like you've got it at over 70%.

The PowerTIG 185 has a wonderfully huge range for AC balance but you have to be careful you don't overdo the cleaning without a specific reason. Too much electrode positive will tend to ball up your tungsten and result in an erratic arc.

Cheers!

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I concur … when I first started using my 200DX I had the AC Balance up to 60% and I had the same big ball form at the end of my tungsten and even fried a cup … when I brought the balance down to 30% everything fell in line.

I would get another piece of aluminum, clean it good, run some beads to make sure the machine is working OK. Aluminum is a little more work than steel, harder to see the pool, oxidation and cleaning issues, etc.

Also, are you sure the tubing is not anodized? What filler rod are you using and the diameter? Your gas is a bit high, and avoid green (pure) tungsten on our welders (inverter types). Balance start around 30%.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by undercut

Too much cleaning action won't help. Try turning your AC balance down to 20% - 40% to start. It looks like you've got it at over 70%.

The PowerTIG 185 has a wonderfully huge range for AC balance but you have to be careful you don't overdo the cleaning without a specific reason. Too much electrode positive will tend to ball up your tungsten and result in an erratic arc.

Cheers!

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I noticed teh balance as well. Having it that high will put a load of heat into the tungsten itself.

That said, I think you will be better suited to step back and just try some simple bead on plate welds until you get it sorted. Starting out with a tube to plate round fillet is probably not the best way to figure it out. The arc will likely wander from one part to the other as you try to weld it.

start with freshly Cleaned ~1/8" flat stock
4043 filler
Pure Argon as the shielding gas
Thoriated or Lanthanated tungsten
about 100 -120 amps

I got it all figured out last night guys, thanks a bunch. Balance was too high. I was mis-understood on how it worked on this machine I guess, I'll take some updated pics of my welds tonight. Also lowered cfh to around 12.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tt ws6

I got it all figured out last night guys, thanks a bunch. Balance was too high. I was mis-understood on how it worked on this machine I guess, I'll take some updated pics of my welds tonight. Also lowered cfh to around 12.

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Glad you were able to get it all worked out. The PowerTIG 185 is a marvelous welder and it's got features that are sometimes overlooked. The AC balance is a very powerful tool. You might not need it too often but when you do, you'll really appreciate that its there.

Cheers! :)

The regulator is in lpm....lower it to 7. AC balance was the issue. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by performance

The regulator is in lpm....lower it to 7. AC balance was the issue. A picture is worth a thousand words.

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But they never posted all the pictures, just the balance being off in left field. Balance was bad and they said cfh not lpm, so it was a cherry pick. Their CFH was still too high, 12 would have been fine if I saw that picture. If they are using our flow meter I would have said 8 or 7.

The 180 micro is adjustable down to 10% EP (90%EN) correct? That's some nice range of adjustability.

There is however, pretty much no reason to ever turn the AC balance knob counter-clockwise beyond 12:00 (50% EP and EN). Even at 12:00 (50%) will be only for those situations where you want to penetrate as lightly as possible (for build-up without minimal heat input) Glad you got it figured out so quickly! Cheers

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=59766&page=3

get it?

Looks like some of the same problems i was having the settings make a lot of difference, i turned my balance back to around 25-35 and your frequency looked ok in the pic. I could not get the arc to stabilize in the corner of the joint on 90 degree welds and pulling the balance back down and the freq up centralized the arc where you could get it to stay in the corner. I used the older style machines several years ago and had to rethink these new inverter machines over to regain control of what i was doing. Clean helps also a dedicated SS brush and some acetone help a lot. One other thing i noticed if welding on a table ground your work not the table and raise the material being welded a little of the table if possible it seems like the heat is pulling out of the material to the table.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tt ws6

I got it all figured out last night guys, thanks a bunch. Balance was too high. I was mis-understood on how it worked on this machine I guess, I'll take some updated pics of my welds tonight. Also lowered cfh to around 12.

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You need to watch the videos on tig welding on www.WeldingTipsandTricks.com . Jody will educate you on how to set up your machine and how to practice welding for the best results. Even though I've been welding for almost 35 years, I still learn from Jody as he gets all kinds of different jobs and the nice thing is that he makes a video of it to teach the rest of us! He's done a great job in reviewing the Everlast 250EX and has a complete video of how to set it up. That 5 part video is good even if you don't have a 250EX. A lot of the functions on the 250 are just like other machines.

I support Jody and his efforts by buying a Tig Finger. Not only does it support his web site but it also is a great little product to keep yourself from cooking your fingers.

I'm really glad I got to spend most of my time in night school tig welding Aluminum. I went through double the cost of my tuition in materials and got a good head start for welding Aluminum. I still have problems here an there.

Practice, practice, practice!!