New to TIG, trying to weld aluminum with no success

[Mark @ Everlast]

No. We are the manufacturer, not a dealership. We have a different structure than Miller or Lincoln where they use dealers. Nothing we could do with a trade in. However, if it is one of our machines, we do offer a 6 month trade up policy if the machine isn't what you need. Or you could list it on facebook on one of our pages, or the Everlast owner's page if it is one of our machines.

 

[etpm]

So I called my local welding supply. They don't have any bottles to sell and even if I did find one somewhere else, it's $100 to fill with helium. This project isn't worth that hassle for what would likely be a poor outcome anyways.

An AC TIG is outside my budget right now and while I do have a Miller MIG machine getting a spool gun for it is about the same price as a new TIG.

Any other suggestions on how to build this? It's a vertical aluminum dock ladder anchored from the top so I only need to build four 11" horizontal stand-offs to space it away from the wall. I could built them out of steel but I'm not sure how to fasten it to the ladder without adding holes to the aluminum. It's decent thickness but I don't want to add a weak point and I'm concerned about rust or corrosion from exposure to elements and the dissimilar metals.

You can buy aluminum solder. It is sometimes called aluminum brazing rod, but is really a type of solder. Any good hardware store should have it. The stuff is a zinc based alloy and is quite strong. All you need is a good torch. Clean the aluminum well. Project Farm tested several brands of the stuff. Look for his video on YouTube and then you can make your choice. There is more than one YouTube video on how to use the stuff. It is easy.
Eric

 

[jwmorris]

Any other suggestions on how to build this? It's a vertical aluminum dock ladder anchored from the top so I only need to build four 11" horizontal stand-offs to space it away from the wall.

In the OP you said you could “MIG pretty OK”. Get some aluminum wire and connect the argon tank to the MIG.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

What would we do with another company's trade in? No value to us.

 

[Cobraone]

Argon works fine, helium allows you to weld with less current , I always use pure tungsten with a ball on the end, never a point.
after that practice,practice,practice !

and very clean materials!

 

[etpm]

Argon works fine, helium allows you to weld with less current , I always use pure tungsten with a ball on the end, never a point.
after that practice,practice,practice !

and very clean materials!

I learned to TIG weld aluminum back around 1985. Using Lincoln and Miller machines. These machines were all sine wave machines. So, since the tungsten got half the energy and the aaluminum the other half when welding using AC, the tungsten balled up. I eventually bought a TIG welder that was a square wave machine. A machine that I could also change the AC balance on. HUGE difference! Did I say HUGE? Of course I did. Most of my aluminum welding is done with a 75/25 AC balance. 75% heat to the aluminum, 25% cleaning, which means putting only 25% heat to the tungsten. The result? Way more arc control. No more balling of the tungsten. No more risk of that ball falling off the end of the tungsten into the aluminum when welding above 200 amps. Way, way easier welding of aluminum. And not just aluminum either. The adjustable square wave balance allows me to weld other alloys that before would have been unweldable. Like high zinc copper alloys such as manganese bronze. I was truly amazed at how much easier it was to weld aluminum with an adjustable balance square wave TIG machine. And then the added ability to weld other alloys that I could not previously weld made me a true believer of square wave TIG welders. BTW, I have a special Miller Gold Star welder with an extra range for sale. Besides the normal 3 heat ranges, topping out at 300 amps, it has a 4th range, rarely seen. 1 to 10 amps. I had to use this range for welding very thin metal. If you need low amperage welding this is the machine to do it. Though rare the welder is built like all the other Miller Gold Star welders. Bullet proof. Extremely reliable. Of course this is a sine wave machine with no adjustable balance. So old school aluminum TIG welding folks will be totally at home welding with this machine.
Eric

 

[kenmac]

Hi, I'm new to TIG, I can stick and MIG pretty okay. But for this project I need to weld 2" aluminum angle stock. To get started I watched a few weld.com videos and read some stuff and then broke out some old aluminum stock to start running beads. I got this old stock from my Dad so don't know exactly what alloy it is. It files and saws like any other aluminum I've used so I don't think it's anything special.

The first night I got a whole bunch of mess and tried a whole range of settings with no luck so I came back in and rewatched the TIG videos (first watching was a while ago). Started over tonight per new learnings but still had issues. I'm asking here for help on what I doing wrong.

First is probably my welder (Lotos LTPDC2000D) which is DCEN only. I know AC is strongly preferred but from my reading, it's possible, particularly when dealing with thicker metal and my end project is 2"x2"x1/4" angle.

Setup:
I cleaned the metal pretty good with a steel wire hand brush. I snapped of the contaminated part of my 1/16" red tungsten and reground the tip. First test piece is 1/8" thick so I set my welder to 125A and 100% argon to 25 CFM.

Results:
The first piece (top) is 1"x1"x1/8" angle. I cleaned a stack of mild steel and clamped it all to my table so I would be working in flat orientation.
Weld #1 - I struck the arc and waited for the pool to form, I thought I saw it and I noticed the material was starting to form a depression so I started moving. I tried dabbing with 5% silicon aluminum rod. I think I got one dab in before the end balled (likely from me withdrawing it too far). The material started melting further, faster, and wider so I stopped.

Weld #2 - basically the same thing, I got a few successful dabs in before the rod starting "stringing" like hot mozzerella cheese when I withdrew it.

At this point I discussed with my brother (also a DIY welder but zero TIG experience) and we agreed it was possible that piece of metal might have been something weird. I rummaged around in my scrap pile and found a piece of 1-1/2"x1/2"x1/8" 'C' channel that we agreed seemed promising. Cut off a piece and cleaned it pretty good with the brush and started again.

Weld #3 - my auto helmet went dark at the first spark of the HFT spark and I stuck the tungsten to the metal. Snap, grind, reset.

Weld #4 - I think it was this point that I turned my amps down to 85. I reasoned that if AC should be at 70% penetration/30% cleaning and since I'm running DC I have no cleaning "amps" I should reduce the recommended 1A/thou by 30%. This time I also kept a shorter arc, probably less than 1/16" and I started moving sooner. I managed to get a few dabs in before the filler got stringy again. Also, the 3/32" filler is comically huge compared to the short arc and 1/16" tungsten, I probably need to get thinner filler and a thicker tungsten. Anyway, only made it another 1/4" before the dreaded gorge started opening up. Note: Since I wasn't sure if I had an actual weld bead I did take the wire brush across the first part of this afterwards which is why it looks so roughed up in the pic.

Weld #5 - I reasoned that I was moving too slowly (don't have a foot pedal yet, it's on the wishlist) and the heat was building up fast in such a thin piece of metal. I started moving sooner after the start. Too soon, I think since there's no shiny metal this time. I tried a few dabs with a smaller piece of wire I have (aluminum electrical feed wire--doesn't seem promising) and as soon as the gorge started opening I rapidly increased my feed speed. By the end of the metal I was moving comically fast and the only thing that happened was a bigger & deeper gorge.

So... am I on the right track with anything here? Or do I just need to give up without an AC machine? If that's the case, is there any possibility of using those special aluminum sticks for SMAW? I just need to build 4 standoffs to mount a dock ladder, this isn't for anything life threatening.

I'm about an 1-1.5 hrs away from you. If you can transport your material, you are welcome to come use my tig machine to weld it together

 

[jwmorris]

I'm about an 1-1.5 hrs away from you. If you can transport your material, you are welcome to come use my tig machine to weld it together

It would be worth the trip for The OP to bring the part and a welding helmet. He could learn more in 10 minutes with someone that already knows how to do it, than after spending hours reading about it.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Argon works fine, helium allows you to weld with less current , I always use pure tungsten with a ball on the end, never a point.
after that practice,practice,practice !

and very clean material

You wouldn't use that ever on an Inverter machine which most new ones are. Always a point and never pure tungsten. Yours if fine for old school tech, but not on anything in the last 15 years or so that has been introduced, maybe 20.

 

[kenmac]

It would be worth the trip for The OP to bring the part and a welding helmet. He could learn more in 10 minutes with someone that already knows how to do it, than after spending hours reading about it.

I appreciate the kind words, but I'm not near as good as I once was.
I was a welder in my previous life (about 40 years ago)
Back then, I used an old huge miller water cooled machine.

I wanted to be able to weld up an aluminum boat my son has, so I bought the Everlast 210 machine and began to use it.

I manage to do pretty good with it, but having been out of it for so long, I'm by far an expert anymore. Not like riding a bicycle at all LOL.. It takes continued practice, but I get by ok.

I don't mind him coming over and if he wants, I'll stick together, or I'll let him stick it together