Welding Aluminum...Top 10 Mistakes Noobs make TIG welding Aluminum

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video page on aluminum welding training

"Hobart and Lincoln both offer 1-2 week Tig Welding Classes...just do it! "

"Hobart and Lincoln both offer 1-2 week Tig Welding Classes...just do it! "

1. Forgetting to set high frequency to continuous when tig welding aluminum ….. this will result in the machine stuttering at low amperage because the alternating current will loose some of its half cycles when the direction of the current changes. Its pretty obvious and hard to miss. If the machine sounds like a Volkswagen with one spark plug wire missing, this is probably what it is.

2. Wrong size electrode … the electrode gets really hot at 250 amps on a/c. Using the same size tungsten as you would on DCEN does not work! The tip of the electrode will ball up and quiver and will eventually explode into your weld. Trying to weld beer cans with a 1/8” electrode is just as bad. The arc will wander and you will cuss.

If tig welding aluminum is making you cuss, you are doing something wrong.

3. Wrong size filler rod …too small a filler rod will result in the rod melting before it ever gets to the puddle. Too big a rod can actually block the shielding gas and will suck the heat right out of the puddle.

4. Cleaning aluminum with a carbon steel brush instead of using a stainless steel wire brush … every text book tells you to brush aluminum with a stainless steel brush dedicated for aluminum. The books are right on this one.

5. Too much torch angle … too much angle of the dangle will melt the filler metal and make it blob into the puddle. When you use the right torch angle which usually means only about 10 degrees tilt, the wire will feed into the puddle instead of blobbing.

6. Too long an arc see number 5…you have got to find a sweet spot where your arc is close enough but not so close that you spend more time prepping electrodes than you do tig welding aluminum.

7. Too much argon on the torch ….this one is subtle because most resources for tig welding aluminum recommend too much torch gas. If the arc is really noisy…like rattling your brains out, you probably have too much argon flow. For a 7/16” tig cup, you only need about 13-15 cfh depending on how far you have to extend the electrode. More torch gas is not better.

8. Not enough electrode stickout …some manuals are just plain whack when it comes to electrode stickout. Hobart training manuals actually recommend only 1 to 1 ½ electrode diameters.! thats whack!!! If you can’t see the tip of the electrode, you can’t be sure your arc length is right. Right??

Use this rule of thumb: Extend the electrode far enough to see the tip without getting a pinched nerve in your neck. No more than that.

9. Using pure tungsten ….pure tungsten is is not that great. it balls up nicely but thats about all it has going for it. For years, textbooks have called for pure tungsten for tig welding aluminum. But pure tungsten often requires using a bigger electrode. And some inverter tig welders dont like pure tungsten at all.

If you want a good all purpose electrode , good for a/c and dcen. Get some 2% lanthanated.

10. Balling the electrode …never “ball” the electrode. Just round it.. the ball shouldn’t resemble a monkey fist or tootsie roll pop. That ball makes the arc wander all around at low amperage. Who needs that?

11. Not using a tig finger

When you are about to pee in your pants because your fingers are so hot, its hard to make a good weld.

Leave Welding Aluminum Newbie mistakes and visit HOME more on tig welding aluminum

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TIG welding High Strength Steel parts

This weekly video is about tig welding high strength steel parts and so about using a big tig cup to limit weld discoloration.

I had a comment on youtube last week about how I went way overboard with fabricating the Chinese up bars. He said I should have just laid some pipe and fittings on the floor, squared them up and arc welded them up.  He also said I should "get real"

I guess the guy didnt understand that all that overkill was intentional.

I am always looking for extra stuff to talk about during a video to try to make it more interesting or at least educational.

This weeks video is no exception. I thought it would be interesting to pretend these parts were stainless and go thru the steps needed to limit discoloration.

Even though these parts are high strength steel and not stainless steel, the principles apply for limiting same discoloration.

Today, I used a one inch diameter necessary cup along with a piece of copper to weld one of these parts just to show how it helps on weld discoloration.

I see a lot of questions on forums about how to tig weld stainless steel headers and exhaust collectors, turbo tubing, etc without it turning grey.

Using a bigger cup helps a lot on welding of stainless steels and steels of all types.  But its not always needed and since a bigger the cup uses more argon, its not something you want to do all the time...even though its tempting because it makes your welds come out looking better.

The parts I am the welding in the video are just plain gravy work.  This is why I like doing work for machine shops.

Parts are typically shiny and clean like this, and are often machined with a groove so they fit together like a glove.

Settings for this job are as follows:

90 amps dcen
1/16 "(1.6 mm) 2% lanthanated tungsten combined
1/16 "(1.6 mm) er70s-3 filler rod
1 "id cup using 25-30 cfh argon
or #7 cup using 15 cfh argon

Another use for a big tig cup like this is for welding stainless headers and exhaust systems, there are move in collectors where the angle is so tight that even the smallest tig cup will not allow access.
In situations like this, being able to extend the combined out really far like 1 1/2 "usually allows a welder to reach the weld while maintaining good argon coverage.

Yes it uses more argon, but when you need a big cup, you need a big cup.

Here are some basic tips for preventing discoloration on steels and stainless steels and titanium:

use a big cup, limit heat input, increase cooling rate, and establish a puddle quickly and get moving to prevent heat buildup.

And one more thing, I am finally getting around to having some of these cups made for sale on my site. I think I am the going to call it the "big white necessary cup" TM

If you would like to be notified by email when they are ready for sale, just fill in the info below.

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flux core welding tip

by Ryan P.
(Meridian, MS)

When flux core welding especially for newbies like myself, do yourself a favor and buy a flux core nozzle so you can actually see the puddle or you can just take the nozzle off completely, but the flux core nozzle actually keeps your tips a little more free from later than without a nozzle. And dip in nozzle gel so, even though it's made from different materials than gas nozzle usually it works fine.

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TIG welding tips and tricks worth copying

Click here for Tig welding tips # 1

Click here for TIG tips # 8--11

Click here for TIG tips # 12-17

Click here for TIG tips # 18-23

Click here for basic Tig welding info

Do you enjoy getting shocked? Me neither. necessary welding aluminum with your high-frequency switched to continuous means that the high freq is always looking for a path to follow. So even resting your forearm on the metal table can let that high frequency current bite you just when you least want it, like right when you are near and edge and you are being extra careful not to melt the edge away and then ZAP!. Who needs that?

Put a glove, block of wood, folded up heat resistant cloth or something non-conductive on the welding table to rest your arms or elbows on and to protect your arms from shock hazard.

So do whatever it takes to rest your torch hand on a steady object. Again, a block of wood, a balled up tape ball etc can all be used to give you something to rest your torch hand on.

You can thus make a "hot fingers" out of an old stick welding glove and use it to rest against the part to be welded. The "hot fingers" is pretty common Switzerland pipe welders and boilermaker welders.

keep scrolling down for more tig welding tips

When welding oil soaked aluminum castings like engine blocks, or transmission cases, clean the surface with acetone, alcohol or similar cleaner.

Route out any cracks with a really coarse carbide burr. (if you done have one try a drill bit)

Carefully heat the area with a oxy-acetylene torch or propane torch to cook out the oil.

Use a 300f temperature stick so you have some gauge to how hot the metal gets. (Its easy to overheat aluminum because it does not change color before it melts.) try to cook out the oil in the weld area without overheating the metal.

Then...Go over the crack with the TIG torch with low amperage, barely puddle every now and then to see what it looks like. If it is shiny, that's good. If it looks fuzzy, its still crapped up. Use as small a tungsten combined as you can and still the puddle aluminum.

These are called cleaning pass. Do not add welding rod. Every time you go over the area it should get cleaner. You will see black discolored or fuzzy looking aluminum in the beginning.

Weld; grind; weld; grind, wire brush, lather rinse repeat.

Eventually the aluminum will be shiny silver color, then you can weld with filler rod and larger tungsten.

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You know how when you use a sanding disc on aluminum, it loads up and doesn't cut after just a few seconds? To keep sanding discs and carbide burrs from loading up with aluminum, use bees wax on the disc. You will be blown away at the difference.

If you don't have beeswax, use mineral spirits or WD40.

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This sounds like a no brainer but I see it backwards all the time...

The reason this is important is that the chamfer on one end of the hebel is designed to seat in the same chamfer angle that is up inside the hebel body.

If the seat is not good then the shielding gas can stream out around the electrode instead of out of the diffuser screen or side diffuser ports.

This can make for a really turbulent flow of gas and can really make you pull your hair out trying to figure out the problem.

You waste time adjusting your flow rate can, checking for leaks, getting on the phone with your welding supply accusing them of selling you bad gas…. when all the while the problem what so simple…your collet in bassackwards.

You can sometimes get away with it. The tungsten wants to tighten, it might weld fine. All I am saying is that I have seen it a chance happen more than once so why take. Just put the stupid thing in the right way and be done with it.

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See page on tungsten sharpeners here...

...more tig welding tips

When TIG welding steel, nickel alloys, titanium, stainless steel, and all other corrosion and heat heat resistant alloys, you will be using DCEN aka straight polarity.

Whenever you are on DCEN, use a sharp combined. Whether you use a hand held the weldcraft tungsten sharpener like triad, a "stilo tig" tungsten sharpener, belt sander, 4 inch electric grinder with sanding disc or grinding disc…. the main thing is to use a combined sharp and clean.

That means when you dip your wick, sputtering the tip in the puddle when you and you are tempted to keep welding, stop and put sharp tungsten in.

That means keeping a big supply of pre sharpened electrodes mobile.

A lot of welders make a tungsten holder out of copper tubing with a cap soldered on one end and another removable cap on the other end. It's a pretty good way to carry around a good supply of sharp tungsten.

If you are constantly swapping tungsten size for the work you do, you may want to make separate copper tubing tungsten holders, one for each size tungsten you frequently use. and if you are using different color electrodes, you might want to only sharpen one end and leave the color code on the other.
necessary welding tips 1-7
Tips 8-11
Tips 12-17
Tips 18-23
necessary welding 4130

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TIG welding tips and tricks worth trying

READ ABOUT THIS NEW TIP FOR PRACTICING TIG WELDING ALUMINUM
Click here for Tig welding tips # 1

Click here for TIG tips # 8--11

Click here for TIG tips # 18-23

Click here for TIG tips # 24-28

Click here for basic Tig welding tips

certain alloys like inconel, hastelloy X, haynes 188 and others will crater crack if you let off the amperage too quickly. do want this too 4130 chromoly. Its a good habit to taper off the amperage while you keep the torch moving.

Set the machine so that you are at welding amperage with the foot pedal depressed about 3/4 of the way.

The 1/4 pedal that you have left is for just-in-case reserve, just like driving a car...

Having the amperage set this way gives a lot more control than just setting the machine to 200 amps and controlling everything with the foot pedal.

I don't know about you but sometimes I loose focus when welding long periods.

I don't want any chance of welding with 200 amps if all I need is 50 10000amps.

My ankles pop sometimes too, one ankle pop, and you might jump or drop 30 amps if your machine amperage is too high.

keep scrolling for more tig welding tips...

Too short of a tungsten stickout from the cup will not let you hold a close enough arc length and will not let you see the tip of your electrode.

You need to be able to see the tip of the electrode without getting a kink in your neck in order to keep your arc length right.

Some textbooks are just plain wack when they only recommend extending your electrode one tungsten diameter past the end of the TIG cup.

Holding too long an arc will not pinpoint the heat well enough and will let your rod ball up and blob into the weld... but we already covered that didn't we?

I remember a consulting gig once where the welder at the aluminum body truck repair shop could not get the aluminum socket weld to puddle. The only thing wrong what that the electrode which recessed back in the cup. Once I extended it out about 3/8 ", everything what fine. (I also talked them into getting some helium argon mix.)

keep scrolling for more tig welding tips...

Use gas lens style bodies and cups hebel to weld stainless steel. The screen in the gas lens allows far better gas coverage of your welds. You can use lenses gas to weld all material is you want; They therefore allow you to stick your tungsten up to 1 "out of the cup by increasing gas flow. Sometimes you need to extend it just to reach a tight spot. The screen diffuse gas at higher gas flow Council eliminating turbulence which is what you would get if you tried this without the gas lens. Too much gas is as bad as too little gas. (Especially for TIG welding aluminum) Typical gas flow Council are around 15 to 20 cfh. BU it really depends on the nozzle/cup diameter.

While I am on the subject, what do the numbers on TIG cups mean?

I am glad you asked… A #4 means 4/16 "or 1/4" A #7 means 7/16 "

In other words the number cup means how large the inside diameter in 1 / 16's

When you use a #4 cup remember to adjust the argon flow to around 10cfh. And the bigger the cup inside diameter, the more gas flow...to in extent.

more tig welding tips below...

For example: 7075 and 2024 are not considered readily weldable using TIG welding.

You can usually TIG weld them and they might be fine for a tool tote or some little way project...but do not be fooled.

You can't depend on the welds in critical applications.

Take a tree stand for instance.

Lets say Joe gets a good deal on some aluminum angle iron at his friends scrap yard and he decides to make was a tree.

Joe has no way of knowing what alloy of aluminum he got from the scrap yard. He makes the tree stood, it holds together and looks just fine.

The welds are real pretty…like a stack of dimes.

One day he is sitting in his tree stand about 20 feet up a tree. The stress corrosion that has been happening on a microstrucutural level since he finished welding the tree was finally comes home to roost and CRACK!

Down goes Joe.

Now Joe is being fed thru a tube and slurs his words.

Did you know that Alcoa will not even sell you aluminum if they even think you are going to build a tree stand. They won't even sell you the weldable grade like 6061 for tree stands. The moral of the story is…For any aluminum weld that is critical, know what alloy you are welding and use Alcotecs filler metal chart found here.

This is a really good resource…. you're welcome.

keep scrolling for more tig welding tips...

Tungsten size should be selected mainly according to amperage AND polarity and not always dependent upon metal thickness.

When TIG welding aluminum to ball if your tungsten begins up and quiver, this means your tungsten is getting near its capacity. This can be minimized by using the A/C balance dial and setting it for more penetration and less cleaning…or if you are using a TIG inverter like a miller dynasty, the a/c balance should probably be set to 65-70% EN.

For transformer machines like the syncrowave, the a/c balance set to the cleaning side means more dcep of the side of the a/c wave which means more heat is on the tungsten tip = wiggling more.

The more to the penetration side, the more the arc is on the negative side and the less heat on tungsten tip and less cleaning action but the square wave usually provides enough cleaning anyway even in max penetration mode.

A/C balance explanation again… the higher the number, less cleaning and more penetration and less heat on the tungsten.

This applies to square wave machines. So if you are using one of the older sine wave machines that have no adjustments for this, you might need to preheat material and use hotter gas like 50/50 argon/helium so that less amperage is required to do the same work.

If you weld a lot of thick aluminum...like 1/8 "and thicker...get some 50/50 helium/argon.

necessary welding tips 1-7

necessary welding tips 8-11

Click here for TIG tips # 18-22

Click here for TIG tips # 23--28
Basic Tig welding
necessary welding 4130

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6011 Welding rods - tips for vertical uphill

6011 welding rods are very much like 6010 rod.

The 6011 rod was designed with some stabilizers in the flux to allow welding on AC without the arc snuffing out.

6011 rods will run on AC, DC straight, or DC reverse (so called DC positive and neg DC)
Whereas 6010 rods typically only run ok on DC.

Trouble watching this video on 6011 rods?  Try watching on my other site welding-tv.com

6011 rods and 6010 rods burn almost the same welding schools often use 6011 rods because doing that provides a good opportunity to teach polarity and therefore allows the student to learn the difference between AC and DC.
And some schools still use 6011 rods simply because when the school curriculum was written, there were pilot of AC welding machines.

Personally, I like 6011 rods way better than 6013's.

For general purpose stick welding like if I am the building or fixing something outside where there is a bit of wind, some rust or paint on the metal, or when all I have available is an AC buzz box, you cant beat 6011 welding rods.

For thin sheet metal like exhaust pipe and mufflers, I like the tiny little 1/16 "diameter 6011 rods. They weld sheet metal downhill about as well a small 115 volt flux core welder.

This weeks video is about vertical uphill welding using 6011 rods on a tee joint.

This tea joint is a very common skill exercise used by welding schools and some students hit a plateau and can maybe use a little nudge to help them over the hump.

So here are tips for vertical uphill welding using 6011's.

1. find a way to prop yourself and be comfortable.  A steady hand welds better.  Sure its possible to prop with one hand and weld with the other. Welders do it all the time. But if you are a student, you progress wants faster and getting a paycheck quicker if you get past this joint start. So figure a way to prop and things will go better.

2. use a slight whip and pause technique.  About one per second.  I even had someone tell me they like to hum the song "Black and Yellow" while stick welding with 6011 in order good rhythm to get into a.

3. about 85 amps is a good place to start. Much colder and your puddle will not flatten out.  Much hotter and you might struggle with arc blow toward the end of each rod.
machines differ and some folks like to weld hotter, but 85 amps will get you in the ball park.

4. What is dig?  If your machine has a dig setting and more and more welders have the dig function thesis days...set the dig to 50-60 for 6011 rods.

5. when welding with 7018 rods, the dig setting should be on around 30.  7018 rods are designed differently and for different applications than 6010 or 6011 and run better using a different dig setting.

Another thing I really like about 6011 welding rods is their ability to weld downhill.   That makes them very versatile.

see more 6011 welding videos

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What i think of Tungsten Sharpeners?

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by Rob
(Bromsgrove, England)

I'd love to have one, but my company wouldn't spend the money.
So, i carry on using my £2.50 pin drill holder on the belt sander instead.
I initially got it to stop me from burning my fingers when sharpening my short tungstens. Yes, my company rations tungstens as well...

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TIG welding videos

welding a bike frame using er70s-2 and weldmold 880 rod welding the bike frame. M.t.p on the strong hand tools build pro precision welding table.
TIG welding tubing...thin stuff tig welding thin wall tubing used for custom bike frames using high speed pulse settings...the rule of 33, and a tungsten grinder. so comparison between er70s-2 and weldmold 880 tig welding filler rods.
TIG welding high strength steel parts using the "big white necessary cup" TM to weld high strength steel parts
Socket welds fit up and weld video socket welds used for making a Chinese up cash. 1 inch schedule 40 pipe and socket weld fittings tig welded. necessary welding aluminum 3F tee vertical uphill tips for welding a 3F position TEE joint using 11 ga 6061 t6
necessary welding a tubing bender kit from SWAG off road SWAG off road makes a kit that adapts certain JMR, JD2, and pro tools tubing benders to a air/hydraulic ram from Harbor freight.
necessary welding repair and tips for identifying metals tig welding repair on a C clamp. Some would'nt think this C-clamp what cast iron. Here is a down & dirty test to tell if its cast iron
TIG welding a seat for a shop stool using pulse outside corner and lap joints using pulse tig and the rule of 33
TIG welder comparison tips for using lift arc tig welders. A scrap piece of copper helps a lot
TIG welding 9 random tasks welding build up on aluminum, razor blades, stainless handles to carbon steel nuts, boat prop repair and more
stainless steel weld repair job weld repair on a mis machined stainless shaft
TIG welding on aluminum boat prop oct 2, 2012 weld repair on a blade of at aluminum boat prop using a tig inverter

necessary welding quick job short video shows necessary welding carbon steel to stainless using 309 tig wire. so shows tack welding technique
multi pass tig weld on thick stainless steel video shows multiple pass of walking the cup as well as using a tig finger

DIY bronze hammer welding project
a cheap and useful welding project that makes for a bronze face heavy hammer for tapping on finished surfaces you dont want to ding up.

TIG welding lap joints this one shows lap joints on 11 ga cold rolled steel, 4140 multi pass, and so welding a bearing sleeve
necessary fingers in action on pipe etc.
pipe welding test
Part 3... this link will take you to part 3 of a 3 part series on tips for taking a pipe welding test on a 2 "schedule 80 6 g test.

a review of root and hot pass and then...stick pass cover

6 g 2 inch schedule 80 welding certification hot pass

This video shows tips for the hot pass in 2 inch schedule 80 pipe done in 6 g position.

so, a review of amperage used for the root pass...and a review of reasons to buy a tig finger
6 g 2 inch schedule 80 welding certification root pass tips for the root pass in 2 inch schedule 80 pipe. lay wire welding technique as well as dip and keyhole technique.

A 6 g pipe test is pretty hard. You could use some tips.
Remove a broken bolt from exhaust manifold a tig welder with a foot pedal and you are in business to remove a broken stud, some 309 stainless tig wire

All purpose water cooled TIG torch video watch all the Tig welding videos you can stand right here.

TIG video showing technique on root pass with a tig finger

TIG video showing settings comparison using 3 tig inverter a necessary welding video with arc shots

aluminum tig welding and ac balance settings

TIG welding 4130 chromoly tips
How to necessary weld steel corner joints

welding aluminum laps and teas with tig
TIG welding aluminum parts

Aluminum butt weld

TIG welding techniques for stainless
cast aluminum welding tips

necessary welding carbon steel with 309 tig rod

TIG welding stainless steel parts

TIG welding steel parts on a stronghand welding table

Aluminum Welding Practice A great way to get plenty of aluminum welding practice

Do the aluminum drill

TIG welder demo Miller diversion vs Everlast 185 micro necessary welder comparison video

welding 4140 is a lot like welding 4130 , which is a lot like... welding carbon steel content is the main difference...
How to necessary weld overhead video

necessary welding overhead is mostly a matter of figuring out how to be comfortable and how to hold the torch.

TIG welding techniques and welding magnesium

magnesium castings can be repaired using tig welding... the same techniques used for aluminum work with some tweaks...

Walking the cup vs not... necessary welding video

Walking the cup for Tig-welding works good sometimes. Especially on pipe larger than 2 inches slide... other techniques can be just as good...
Aluminum properties and how to weld There are a few things you need to know about all aluminum welding... aluminum is hot short...cracks means that it easily at certain temperature ranges. That is why tack welds done with no filler dont work.

Welding stainless to carbon using hastelloy W tig rod

Hastelloy W works for all kinds of different steels. But it is very expensive. ...312 stainless is almost as good for when you are not sure of the steel you are welding.

metals and how to weld nickel

nickel alloys like inonel, hastelloy, nichrome V and waspalloy do not need as much heat and have a moving sluggish puddle.

properties of stainless and how to purge ...one of the properties of stainless is that it wants sugar if not purged on the back side and like Fido's ass that looks. This short video on the oxidation properties of stainless shows how to purge and weld.
properties of stainless and how to weld it tig welding video on the properties of stainless steels...best practices for welding stainless to keep it from rusting

metals and how to weld them properties of metals

welding certification test practice practicing for a welding certification test...part 2

necessary welding test tips for tig welding practice

TIG welding techniques tips for tig welding lap joints and butt joints

TIG welding razor blades tips for welding razor blades and why you should'nt sharpen your tungsten like a freaking needle

TIG welding techniques for pipe welding root pass and fill pass without walking the cup.

weldtec tig torch...a small water cooled torch rated at 320 10000amps... thats what i said...320 amps
exit necessary welding videos and go to main video archive page

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TIG welding tubing...Thin wall steel tubing

This weekly video is on tig welding tubing... thin wall steel tubing.

What kind of steel is this tubing made from?  I dont really know except that it seems to weld a lot like a plain carbon steel and that it is used for custom bicycle frames.

According to Mike Zanconato of Zanconato Cutom cycles (thanks for all the help Mike!)    "Compared to 4130 steel, this alloy has about half the carbon and chromium content that 4130 does, but it has about 3 times more manganese and vanadium so added. This allows the wall thickness to be reduced to 0.016 "in some cases. "

having trouble watching this video on tig welding thin tubing?  try watching it on my other site welding-tv.com

The manufacturer of this thinwall steel tubing recommends using weldmold 880 tig rod because it provides excellent strength and elongation properties.

Elongation is basically how much a weld will give or stretch before breaking.  You want welds on bicycles to have a bit of stretch to them.

So using the rule of 33 (thats my rule and its not really a pulse rule...just on easy way to remember settings that work) I set the pule set rate to 33 pulses per second, and I the background current to 33% and the % on time also known as pulse width to 33.

Why?

Because thin wall tubing can be hard to weld if it has any gap in the fitup and pulsing at 33pps allows a bit of time before a hole is blown.  It gives me an extra second to get the rod in there when I see that I am the about to melt a corner off, blow a hole, etc.

There are plenty of bike builders who never use pulse tig because pulse is not absolutely needed.  But I just like it on thin stuff.  I think it helps.

Another tig welding technique that helps is to back up the arc while you are adding filler rod.

On thin metal, if you move the arc ahead too far, wait too long, dont add filler quick enough...you can have a hole quickly.
Backing up the arc while you add filler puts the arc over a thicker area that is less likely to melt away.

So which rod is better?  ER70s-2 or Weldmold 880?

I think I would have to say the weldmold 880 rod was more fun to weld with.  It was prettier and flowed like honey.

But does that make it better?

But both rods passed the hammer test and ER70 necessary rod is very cheap and works just fine for tig welding chromoly tubing as well as other alloy steels like the tubing welded today.

I would feel safe riding a bike made from this tubing welded with either rod.

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Mug for cleaning mig welding wire

by Duane Campbell
(Calgary AB)

Whelp we all know that it's good to keep our wire clean, so I like to take a but from a cigarette and put it on wire just after the rolls before it goes through liner...This will help keep your wire clean for welding.
------------

Thanks for the post.

This is jody and i want to add my two cents...

There are actually pads for sale along with cleaning solution used to soak the pads that is supposed to clean and lubricate the wire to make the liner last longer.

Some folks swear by them. i have used them... but not for long enough to really tell a difference in life of liner.

they are called "Weld aid Lube-Matic wire Jake pads".

I like the cigarette butt idea better. It sounds like it would work and of course is much cheaper than buying pads.

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Cigar Ashtray...

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by Don
(Belleville, Michigan, USA)

I took a welding and fabrication course at my local community college. For the final project, we had to think of something to make for ourselves. I couldn't really think of what I wanted, so I thought I would make something for someone else. I would visit my brother in law in New York City, and he would always offer me a cigar after dinner. After we would enjoy our cigars, he just tossed the butts onto his metal awning outside his porch. So I decided I would make him something to put his cigar butts in.

For the project, I chose to make the box out of 14 ga mild steel. I use oxy-acetylene for all my welds except the plug weld I did for my cut tubes I used for cigar holders. The box warped slightly due to all the heat, but it seems that I am the only one who notices it. lol If someone else chooses to do this project, I would suggest tig welding it and reconfiguring the cigar holder layout. It was my first personal project with welding, so I hope you guys are not too harsh about my welds. LOL thanks I hope you like it.

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Tig Welding Tips and Tricks

"pay attention...tig welding tips given here are worth more than pay for them...oh snap what you!"

Click here for Tig welding tips # 1

Click here for TIG tips # 12-17

Click here for TIG tips # 18-23

Click here for TIG tips # 24-28

"stop reading and weld!.."

more tig welding tips...

TIG welding filler wire and MIG welding wire from a spool are essentially the same composition except that mig welding wire often contains more silicone and that can actually be a good thing for TIG welding steel. Don't hesitate to use steel or stainless steel mig wire if you run out of TIG welding filler metal. If small, double it its too up and twist it up into a cordless drill

Standard TIG wire for welding mild steel is E70S2 it seems like the standard mig welding wire off the shelf these days is almost always E70S6. The 2 and the 6 indicate the addition of silicon and deoxidizers in the wire.

Stainless tig and mig wire is most often E308L unless you ask for something else.

more tig welding tips below...

Don't use too much torch gas when welding aluminum on A/C. aluminum takes a lot of amperage to weld. Even though the melting temperature of aluminum is less than half that for steel, it takes about twice as much amperage to weld.

Why? Because aluminum conducts heat away from the weld puddle faster than you can put it in. This brings me to important point.

Do not use more argon than necessary on your torch gas. If you do, it will be like blowing cool air on something you are trying to heat up with a torch. All that argon blowing on the part makes for a loud, erratic arc because the arc force is so great. Have you ever lit up on a thick aluminum casting and listened to how loud the arc is? I bet your torch gas what up around 20 like the books recommend. (Unless you are using on argon helium mix) that's too much for aluminum.

And another tip is use the old school type of collet body (not gas lens) and one size smaller cup than you would use for steel that still provides good shielding. A smaller old school (not gas lens) TIG cup confines the shielding gas envelope to the puddle so that arc energy is not wasted in the form of frosty-cleaning action outside the weld. A lot of old timers use the small cups, they just don't know why.

Pay attention next time you weld aluminum and use a small cup and then turn the shielding gas flow down to around 12-15 cfh with a #6 cup and see if things don't quiet down a bit.

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Shielding gasses for TIG welding Argon is not the only shielding gas used for TIG welding...just the most common and versatile. Argon will usually get the job done. But there are times when some helium mixed with argon makes a world of difference. Especially if you are using a small inverter TIG welder that is limited to around 200 amps.

100% Argon - is the most often used and coolest gas...the best all around gas. 75% Argon/25% even helium - 25% helium will make a big difference when welding aluminum that is thicker than. 063 ". Anything under. 063 "thick and helium is unnecessary.

50/50 argon/helium-awesome for thick aluminum and magnesium 75% Helium/25% argon - awesome for thick aluminum castings… Nailpolish really quick and welds cleaner than 100% argon. So good for bronze and pure copper on DCEN welding.

100% Helium-. Hot but hard to start the arc on A/C.

Did you know that you can use UHP helium (ultra high purity) and weld aluminum on DCEN? I have not been able to make this work on dirty castings but on something like on injection mold or aluminum fixture made from new fresh aluminum plate that is not heavily oxidized, it works great and does not heat the base metal nearly as much as welding on A/C.. takes a lot less amperage too.

more tig welding tips below

TIG welding is not nearly as forgiving as MiG or stick when it comes to dirty metal. For TIG welding, the metal needs to be clean; No rust, scale, paint, etc. that means hot rolled steel needs to be ground to shiny bright metal…not just polished over.

Welding hot rolled steel without grinding will make you look bad.

Don't do it if there is a chance someone might see it windy conditions or drafts in the welding area and you will loose shielding coverage and get pinholes/porosity in the weld. If you have to TIG weld in windy conditions, you are going to have to spend some time making wind breaks out of cardboard, plastic, or whatever you can get.

TIG welding will just not tolerate much much less a breeze of a gust of wind. And please don't try to TIG weld with a coat hanger or gas welding rod. They will bubble and hiss.

TIG welding rods like E70s2 have silicon and other deoxidizers designed to scavenge impurities out of the weld. GAS welding rods are pretty much copper colored coat hanger wire. Do not use them.

If you just cannot clean hot rolled steel, using ER309 stainless looks better and stops the porosity. But it's much more expensive and not to be used to replace engineering authority for coded or critical welds.

more tig welding tips below.

for tig welding tips # 1-7 click here

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Click here for TIG tips # 24-28

Basic Tig welding information
necessary welding 4130

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Virtually

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by Charles
(Mayfield, KY)

Like you I'm old school I believe you need to feel and hear the process as well as see it. You use more of your senses in welding than just your eyes

I would ask if virtual welder training might virtually lead to a person getting a virtual welding job? And if so would that person get paid with virtual dollars? :-)

View the original article here

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Ricrkp

by Ric
(Monessen, PA)

I recently bought a MITTLER BROS 36 "bead roller for doing embossed panels and car interiors. The machine is FABULOUS but the stand that they offered fell short of what what needed. The scooter rocked back and forth due to the one point mounting.

SOOOO I bought a harbor freight engine stand and added the following pieces to make it a solid mount and portable. I came off the engine mounting flange with a 2 x 2 square tubing forward and then down to the front of the stand. then came off the tubing with 4 pieces of 2 x 2 tubing to support the table. the uprights are 3/8 1 1/2 flat bar and the table support are the same flat bar. The tubing affords a place to mount the spare it. Now it is rock steady and portable.

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A steady hand welds better

by Rodiron
(Kelly, N.C..)

This is a tip my father gave me back when I first let him know I was taking up the pipe welding trade. He was a 34yr. Union boilermaker and owned his own shop, (that which when I was going to wear a suit and work in a office) this may not help anyone but then again over my 40yrs in the trade for stick it has come to mind many times and mainly and mig welding. He told me to always try to find something to rest my free arm on, ya know, the one that steadies the one holding the stinger. And if you can't find anything, tack somthing up. A steady hand makes for a better weld and better looking.When taking a 6 g review I'd always stick my file or wire brush handle in the cupon or somthing. I hope someone can use this tidbit. Burn em down!

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cooling tig welded304 stainless pressure pipe with spray bottle

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by mark
(calgary)

I am doing a job with sch 10 304 stainless pipe which is
pressure and 100% xray it gets hot while I am tig welding a welder told me to cool it using a wet rag or a spray bottle which does not seem like a good idea to me will it make the weld crack or any other problem?

--------------------------------------------------

Hi Mark, good question.
I worked a Dept of Energy job fab shop where each work station had a water mist contraption that mixed compressed air with water to cool stainless pipe welds. All those welds were x rayed and as far as I know the air/water cooling did not pose a problem.

Its best to use distilled or demineralized water.
to avoid chlorine etc. but as far as cracking goes, 300 series stainless will not harden from quick cooling.

a spray bottle is a pretty good idea because you can use a fine mist for more even cooling.

And keeping the joint out of the too hot range can help on corrosion later down the road .

Some stainless welds that get hot and stay too hot for too long lose corrosion resistance from being sensitized. ( chromium and carbon combine and cause chromium depleted areas...technical term is carbide precipitaion).

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Tig Welding Socket Welds

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This weekly welding video is about socket welds.

I needed to hang a chinup bar in my basement so I figured instead of using threaded pipe and fittings,...Why not just use socket  fittings?

It might even make for a decent tig welding video.

I have done my share of these welds...Like a whole crap load of them. But it has been almost 25 years, So I had to shake off a little rust.

Here is the setup I used for these 1 inch pipe and socket welds

125 amps dcen
#5 cup
3/32" 2% lanth electrode ( 2.4mm)
15 cfh argon
ER70S-6 filler rod  3/32" (2.4mm) for root, and 1/8" (3.2mm) for second pass

I used a lift arc tig machine set to 1 second upslope and 3 seconds downslope.  That allows for a low amperage arc start that takes only one second to ramp up to 125 amps.  And 3 seconds to taper off.

In the field, on construction sites, its still pretty common to use a scratch start tig welder.  It works well but you do have to file and brush the stop where you whip or trail out. Lift arc with upslope/downslope is better than scratch start. adn high freq start is better still.

Walking the cup is a good way to go on socket fittings if they are one inch or bigger.

Some welders walk the cup on pipe all the way down to 1/4" but personally, I would rather use the freehand technique on the small stuff.

But today, the pipe and socket weld fittings I am working with  is 1" schedule 40 . Which is  1.315" on the OD.   Plenty big enough to walk the cup.

Some tips for walking the cup...

for the root pass, choose a cup size that lets you easily wiggle the cup without having to rock the cup on the ledge of the socket weld fitting.

for later passes, you are not actually wiggling the cup but walking it like you would walk a 55 gallon barrel across the shop floor.

Watch the video and you will see what I am talking about.
see more tig welding videos

If you are interested in seeing tig welding on some open butt 2inch pipe, go here

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Kids my age these days

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by Trenten Morris
(South Texas)

Hello I'm 21 years old and wanted to be a welder since I could remember I tried the whole college thing for operations due to peer pressure seeing a lot of my buddy's go and I absolutely could not stand sitting by a computer screen all day. I got out of school after two semesters and got a job on the railroad repairing all the railcars in the Dow chemical fleet in Freeport Texas. I couldn't believe the looks and snotty remarks given to me from the kids of my class and even their parents! Every time an elder Asked me where I worked they thought that was a highly respectable job and it just boggles my mind. Needless to say I finally got my welding machine after 7 months of saving and alot of sweat in this south texas heat and i hope to be an aerospace welder when it's all said and done. What you do on this site rocks and means alot to me mr Jody all the times I've had problems with laying a nice bead down there is more times than not been a video on here that has straightend me out and kept me going.

Much appreciated, Trenten Morris

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Welding rods for maintenance jobs

What are Maintenance Welding Rods?

Maintenance rods are for those jobs when you don't know exactly what you are welding.

You know its some kind of steel but you dont know exactly what child.

In other words, you know its not aluminum, its not titanium, its not magnesium, and its not copper.

Its steel...but what kind?

It could be cast steel, stainless steel, tool steel, high speed steel, manganese steel, abrasion resistant AR400 steel, 303 free machining steel, nickel steel, P91 chrome steel, etc.

Get the point?

There are all kinds of steels that are used to make machinery. And its hard to determine the exact metal things are made of sometimes.

I have a friend who has maintenance contracts for several small factories.

He often welds wear in conveyors, cracks in brackets that removes broken studs, and just basically welds anything that is broken and needs fixing.

He swears by Certanium 707 stick welder rods.

Now I am not saying its OK to use Certanium 707 or other maintenance arc welder Rod indiscriminately for anything and everything.

When the job calls for it, you need to determine the exact metal that is going to be welded and even get engineering support when the application calls for it.

But if a stainless steel angle iron bracket gets backed into by a forklift and now the sonderanlagen system is broke, you need to have an all purpose steel welding rod that will get the job done.

You can worry about details later when the machine can be shut down for to outage.

When a machine breaks down and is costing a factory 500 dollars or more per minute, you need a maintenance welding rod that will get the job done, wont crack, can be drilled and tapped if needed, and will make a sound weld that abuse will hold up to future.

Certanium 707 is such a welding rod.

It is similar to 312 stainless but my analysis showed a much higher chromium content.

The tests I had run indicated a chromium content of around 40%.

312 stainless arc welding rods have about 30% chromium and 9% nickel, and the rest is mostly iron.

But maintenance welding combined manufacturers are not bound by AWS specifications and if crack chromium helps the rod weld better, they discover that extra 10% less, and makes a stronger weld, then by gosh-they will add it.

In fact, they are free to add frog legs, sawdust, and pig testicles if they want to.

Other welding electrodes similar to Certanium 707 are:

Eutectic 680, American filler metals Super missileweld, and Rockmont Brutus A Patriarc, all State of 275, 600 MG, Inweld 955, UTP 65, Welco.

The cool thing about maintenance rods is that they work.

They are not bound by AWS or us tolerances for chemical composition so if they discover that a little more of this or that works better for welding thru rust or coatings, then they can add it and not get spanked for not complying with a AWS specs.

Besides, Maintenance welding rod makers are very tight lipped on the exact composition of their maintenance welding rods anyway.

When they find a recipe that works and that welders like, they keep it a big secret.

Speaking of secrets...

some maintenance welding rods are not much different than 312 or 309 stainless welding electrodes. In fact, since they wont say whats in them, what is to keep a company from buying some 312 stainless rods and labeling them with some exotic name like Neptune Astro and charging 10 times as much?

I have heard from some welders that some suppliers charge as much as 100 dollars a pound for Certanium 707.

309 and 312 are way cheaper...like around 20 bucks a pound...sometimes less.

Lets talk for a minute on how to price tig welding jobs.

While I what shooting this video, I had to finish a welding job for a machine shop and so I thought it would be interesting to talk about how to price welding jobs.

I have done quite a bit of work for machine shops and here is how I rate of jobs...

Since the machine shop fronts the money for materials, I don't have much risk, but I still don't like bidding a job too low and working for peanuts.

Here is my highly scientific formula for pricing tig welding jobs.

Are you ready?

$1 per inch and $1 per tack weld.

simple.

exit welding rods for maintenance and Lake welding T shirts

Still dont have a TIG finger?

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TIG welding a bike frame

TIG welding with a bike frame. 032 "wall alloy steel tubing and with WeldMold 880 Tig rod and then smashing it with a hammer.

Bike frame fixtured on a strong hand tools welding table and welded out using both ER70s-2 tig rod along with Weldmold 880.

I wanted to shoot a video on welding thin wall (. 032 ") steel tubing... the child of used for building bike frames.

Mike Zanconato of Zanconato custom cycles what kind enough to provide the coped tubing bike frame kit...

so... a big shout out and thank you to Mike.!

Seriously, you should check out some of his work at his website... Zanconato.com.  Mike is a craftsmen.

I remember checking out some tig practice pics of his time welds on his blog some ago when hey what first learning to TIG weld.
In not much more than a year, I checked out his blog again and what I saw was near perfect tig welds.

Anywho...thanks to Mike, instead of just sticking a couple of pieces of tubing together I what able to fixture up a bike frame and talk about some of the challenges bike builders face in fitting and welding bike frames.

Now understand this...I am no bike builder. I just thought welding the joints of a bike frame would make for interesting video.

...and besides, this bike frame is never, ever going to be ridden...like...ever.

Why?

Because after the welding was done, I exposed it to the BFH. (big freakin' hammer)

Here is a bit of info on the tubing as quoted from one of Mike Zanconato's comments on the last YouTube video

"Compared to 4130 steel, this alloy has about half the carbon and chromium content that 4130 does, but it has about 3 times more manganese and vanadium so added. The result is an increase in tensile strength and yield strength of 60-70% depending on heat treatment.This allows the wall thickness to be reduced to 0.016 "in some cases. "This particular tubing is on the thicker and heavier side of what we'd use on custom frame."

For filler rod, I uses ER70 S-2 as well as some Weldmold 880 filler rod.  . 035 "diameter.

I tig welded up the bike frame using some of each rod.  The front with the weldmold 880 rod and the half with the larger tubes back part from the seat post tube backward using ER70S-2.

All of the bike what using pulse tig welded tig.

33 pps
33% pulse on time
33% background current.

I call these settings the "rule of 33".

There is no magic to these parameters...they just work very well on thin wall tubing or sheet and the best part is they are very easy to remember.

After welding, I took the bike frame outside and beat on it with a sledgehammer.

I what bracket able to cause some tearing on the toe of the weld on the bottom which I am pretty sure what 4130 chromoly because it had the typical brown mill finish like normalized 4130 has.  That might account for my being able to fracture that weld on the toe where the thin tubing met the weld. The weld probably picked up enough carbon from the 4130 to harden just a bit.

Either way, it took quite a bit of beating with the big hammer to make a weld failsafe so I would definitely ride a bike weld welded with either rod without fear of a failing.

see more necessary welding videos

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Tig Welding Tips

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Tig welding tips...

When you are learning to tig weld or just trying to be a better tig welder, The last thing to come up to speed is the hand that feeds the rod. We all learned how to hold a big crayon in kindergarten and holding a big crayon is not too different from holding a tig torch….so we’ve got that going for us.

But the other hand? the hand that feeds the filler rod... It’s a bit of a slow learner.

A really thin glove helps. If you have problems feeling the wire with a glove, Try some mechanics gloves or really soft and thin tig gloves like Tillman goat skin tig gloves or even some woven cotton gloves... Whatever it takes.

FYI...The problem with mechanics gloves is that you cant get them off quick enough if your hand heats up.

"Tig Welding Tips ...happiness is a tight arc!.. "

Learn more about the TigFinger

"Where have all the welders gone?"

Click here for Tig Tips # 8--11

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Go here for How to Feed the Tig Rod

For sheet metal up to 1/8” thick, don’t use a welding rod that is bigger than the thickness of metal you are welding…at least not much bigger.

A good example…is using a 3/32 rod for welding .040 metal.

That will just give you a fit.

The amperage is low and the weld puddle needs to be small in order to prevent blowing a hole…and then when you dip the rod into the puddle, the rod is a big heat sink and sucks the heat right out of the puddle making it hard to maintain a consistent size bead.

But Beginners should probably not be practicing on really thin metal.

If you are a beginner you should be practicing on around 1/8 " thick metal, and the bigger the rod, the easier it is to feed. For 1/8 " metal, Use larger diameter rods (3/32” to 1/8”)

So here is the rule….thin metal, use a thin rod Thick metal, use a thicker rod.

This might seem like a no brainer, but I have answered a lot of questions like this about the rod melting before it gets to the puddle. If torch angle and arc length are right, its usually the rod size.

for more tig welding tips...keep scrolling

3. Ideally, torch angle should only be around 10 degrees or less. Too much torch angle will deflect the heat and melt the rod before you ever get it into the puddle. This causes the rod to ball up and blob into the puddle. That’s bad. You don’t want that. You want to slip the filler rod into the puddle so that you can get a consistent bead. There are exceptions to this…like when you are using a lay wire technique and leaning the torch back while you walk the cup. But if you are dipping the rod in the puddle, too much torch angle usually is not a good thing.

Lay wire technique using a lot of torch angle

It is usually one or more of these things:

• Too long an arc… • Too much torch angle • Not enough amperage for the rod size • Bad filler rod angle • Or some combination of all of these things.

The 2 things I see most often with noobs are too long an arc AND too much torch angle. A long arc sets TIG welding back a few decades because it’s more like gas welding with an oxyfuel torch. The heat is not concentrated and you get this big heated arc plume like you get with a gas welding torch.

Why would you want that?

Your arc length should not be much more than the diameter of your tungsten electrode. I know that’s pretty close and if you get too close you will be grinding electrodes more than you are welding. But if you want really good welds, you need to use a tight arc. Torch angle is the other thing…we already covered it in TIG welding tip #2.

Example of What happens when you Tig Weld with a Long Arc

Word on the street is that 2% thoriated tungsten electrodes are mildly radioactive. They say deer meat is too. No one gets out alive.

Good news though…and it’s not just that I saved a bundle on my car insurance by switching to GEICO..

I have learned through testing a bunch of arc starts and by welding on all different metals that 2% lanthanated electrodes are about as good as the 2% thoriated. I even like the lanthanated a little better for some applications. So if you are scared of thoriated tungsten but you are even more scared of crappy electrodes that don’t work as well, use 2% lanthanated…they are colored blue.

One word to the wise here. The blue ones are not brittle like 2% thoriated electrodes. And they splinter if you try to break them or snip with dykes.

You have to cut or score with a grinder in order to cut to size or cut off a bib blob of metal you don’t want to sand off.

• 2% thoriated is Red

• 2% lanthanated is Blue

. Use the smallest tungsten to get the job done. …within reason. Another way of saying this is don’t just use a 1/8” electrode for everything.

There are jobs where a 1/8” electrode is great like for welding 3/16” thick aluminum.

But what if you are welding on the edge of a .030” turbine blade? A .040” electrode will be plenty to handle the 15 amps and will give much better starts than even a 1/16” electrode.

Too large an electrode can cause an erratic arc and contamination…and A bad start where the high frequency tries to arc up inside the cup and off the side of the tungsten can easily melt off a thin edge and scrap an expensive part.

2% thoriated or lanthanated tungsten electrodes hold up at high amperage better than most all other electrodes. When welding at higher amperages, often times you can use one size smaller electrode by using 2% thoriated or lanthanated. And that is a good thing.

Here is a down and dirty breakdown of amperage ranges for 2% thoriated/lanthanated.

For DCEN welding on steels, 1/16" will work in the 20 to 100 amp rage as long as you prep it right. If you are using 20 amps, you will need a needle sharp point to get good crisp arc starts.

At 100 amps, you might not want quite a needle sharp point or you might be putting a smidge of tungsten in the weld. You need a blunter taper. Some charts extend the range to 150 amps for 1/16, but I think that’s way too much. Why not just swap to a 3/32 at that amperage.? 3/32" is good from about 65 – 200 amps. And 1/8" 2% thoriated electrodes are good in the 85 – 300 amp range. ( Drop all these numbers by about 30% for A/C) Using helium mixed with the argon will also change the recommended currents because the arc is hotter with the same amps.

These recommendations are from down and dirty experience and don’t come from a chart. Most charts I have seen tell you a 1/16 tungsten is good all the way to 150 amps…Please.

Keep in mind that for given amperage, larger electrodes will last longer but will be harder to start. On the other hand, Excessive current with smaller electrodes will cause the electrode to melt and drop off. Insufficient current with too large an electrode makes for an unstable or wandering arc and can cause pieces of tungsten to spit when using alternating current.

more tig welding tips...keep scrolling

Stack of Dimes page

see more tig welding tips #8--11

Tips for Tig Welding #12-17

More tips for tig welding #18-23

More tips for How to Tig Weld #24-28
tig welding aluminum using helium and argon mix
a tip for how to organize tig welding consumables
tig welding pictures

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More Tig welding tips and tricks worth stealing

"the angle of the dangle is inversely proportional to the mass of the ...something"

Click here for Tig welding tips # 1

Click here for TIG tips # 8--11

Click here for TIG tips # 12-17

Click here for TIG tips # 24-28

Click here for basic Tig welding tips

"sideways scratches on your tungsten will cause dogs and cats to sleep together."

"sideways scratches on your will so tungsten cause pandemonium and the end of the world as we know it.

so pay attention to the way you grind your tungsten. You have probably read that tungsten electrodes should only be ground longitudinally, not sideways or the world will come to an end and dogs and cats will start sleeping together.

Take it from someone who has been TIG welding for over 30 years and has sharpened electrodes every way imaginable including using a cutting torch. That's right I said cutting torch.

Does it matter how you grind tungsten electrodes. There is a big difference between a tungsten combined ground sideways on a 36 grit stone to one ground properly on a fine diamond wheel.

But there is not much difference between a tungsten ground sideways on a fine wheel and one that has been ground longitudinally on the same wheel… Unless you are welding razor blades or at extremely low amperages. or doing automatic low amperage orbital welding.

A lot of people argue this point will with me. I dont care. I cant make myself say that tungsten grinders make a lot of difference when I dont really believe it.

Its splitting hairs over something that makes so little difference.

If I am welding really thin stuff, I like sharp electrodes. Really sharp ones.

I want them to draw blood easily.

But if you want penetration on the thicker steel, it's good to have a little less taper with a little flat spot ground on the tip.

Scroll down for more tig welding tips

Torch angle effects penetration. The more vertical the torch is, the more arc is directed into the part think about it like this…when you angle the torch too much its like trying to attack thru thicker metal. 90 degrees is the shortest distance to the other side of whatever you are welding.

Scroll down for more tig welding tips

Check out this video on how to feed the tig rod...

Put a vent hole weld that in anything you will be sealed up completely or air will heat up and expand and blow away your shielding gas or even blow out at the end of the weld bead.

Some machined joints that are sealed on one end will not even allow you to start welding because the fit is so good that the part is air tight before you even weld.

Other machined parts where a part is pressed in and bottomed out can give cracking problem because there is no where for the part to shrink. If you have to weld something that has been pressed in and bottomed out, make sure to add more filler metal than average to tacks and the final weld bead. That is to prevent the cracking that happens when you run a concave bead and the metal has nowhere to shrink.

Alcotecs aluminum filler metal chart. Go online to alcotec.com for an aluminum filler wire chart. You probably won't find a filler metal chart that covers welding dissimilar metals so here is your filler metal chart right here: are you ready? Here it is…

If it you don't know what metal you are welding, but it sparks when you grind it, and it is not titanium, try using hastelloy w of or 312 stainless

Hastelloy W TIG welding rod has become extremely expensive. 312 stainless is therefore a very good rod choice for welding steel of unknown composition.

For a critical weld, you should just rely on 312 without knowing the metal type...You should determain the metal type for any critical weld.

Read about choosing Tig welding rods here...

Write down what works and doesn't work.

Write down that perfect amperage that works every time for a certain job.

Get a $100 digital camera or use your phone camera and keep a record of complicated fixtures or certain sequence of welds that works.

Keep a record of what filler rod which used on what and how it worked.

It doesn't have to be neat, just keep a notepad and pen phone in your toolbox.

Extend the tungsten out of cup 1/4 "to 5/16" when welding high amperage aluminum or heat will radiate from the cup to tungsten and reduce output, especially if the orifice is too small.

Have you ever seen small diameter TIG cups glow red from extended welding at high amperage? ...me too.

All that heat close to the tungsten electrode will make it get even hotter and reduce the amperage carrying capability
TIG welding tips 1-7
TIG welding tips 8-11
TIG tips 12-17

Click here for TIG tips # 24-28

Click here for basic Tig welding tips

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Tig Welding Aluminum Tee Joint

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Today we are tig welding a vertical uphill tee joint.

Vertical fillet welds are called the "3F position" in AWS terminology.

I am using 11 ga 6061t6 aluminum. 

11 ga is 1/8" thick or .125" (about 3mm)

Tig welding vertical up is not all that different from welding flat or horizontal but there are a few things to keep in mind that makes it a lot easier.

Tig welding aluminum in the vertical position is most always going to go slower than if you were welding flat or horizontal where you could get more comfortable and be steadier.

Still, you want to try to go at a pace of around 1/8" (3mm) per second.

That means you should be adding rod every second and moving the torch about 1/8" in between each dabbing of the filler rod.

that will give you a travel speed of 1 inch every 8 seconds or around 8 inches per minute.

Here are some tips to think about to make your tig welding aluminum go better.

balling the electrode vs pointed...whats the best choice for aluminum?

Whether you round the electrode or use a tapered electrode depends a lot on the application.

for example, welding at the high end of an electrodes amperage range can make it do weird things. Little nodules can grow and spit into the weld.  Rounding the tip slightly helps in those situations.

Other times, being able to light up crisply at low amps is important and thats when I use a tapered electrode. It also helps in pinpointing the arc more precisely than you can with a balled or rounded tip.

Here is how to round the tip of a tungsten electrode using an inverter or other machine equipped with AC balance.

Adjust the AC balance to put more Electrode positive into the welding current.

using a piece of copper or aluminum, or clean bright steel, hold the electrode around 1/4" inch of the metal and press the foot pedal to start an arc. Increase amps slowly until you see the tip get bright and it will round a bit. Press  the foot pedal just enough slightly round the tip so as not to put a big ball on it.

Now set your AC balance control back to around 65% EN and you are ready to resume welding.

The need for foot or torch mounted amp control

Aluminum is very conductive. At first you need lots of amperage, but when the piece you are welding gets saturated with heat, you need much less amperage.  Without an amperage control, you cant make adjustments to compensate for aluminum's conductivity.

Prepping Aluminum for welding.

The most important thing is to make sure there are no oils or grease and you want to do this before you start brushing or sanding.

Remove residues with acetone BEfore using a wire brush or abrasive.

Brushing before wiping with acetone will contaminate your brushes and possibly just smear the gunk into the surface making it very difficult to remove.

Wipe with Acetone, wire brush with clean stainless steel brush, or use other abrasives wheels designed for aluminum.

Its even a good idea to label your wire brushes so that you only use certain brushes on aluminum.

How to prop while you are tig welding aluminum

There is always a way to prop.

But sometimes it takes some ingenuity to create a prop.

Why not just carry your prop in your pocket like me?

see more tig welding videos

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1977 Cold Case Leads to Arrests

AppId is over the quota
Reported by Samantha Riley:

For 30 years the trail had been cold — Major Chester Garrett, a decorated U.S. Army officer, found murdered in the desert near El Paso, Texas in January 1977.  Now, police say they have arrested his stepson and estranged wife.

Maj. Garrett was 36 when he was found dead.  He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, and stab wounds as well. At the time, local authorities pursued leads, but eventually the case went cold.

PHOTOS: Dishonor Roll Mugshots

It was only in 2006 that the case was reopened after family members contacted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to review the case. “New information and new leads developed and the case was reopened,” said El Paso Public Information Officer Angelica Becerra in an email to ABC News.  She would not be more specific about the new information.  “[The] family was looking for justice.”

The trail led investigators across state lines to Knoxville, Tennessee. Investigators say Maj. Garrett’s stepson, Roger Garrett, 54, had been living there for 2-3 months and had recently been fired from his job. Police went to his apartment, found it empty, and called his cellphone.

Roger Garrett and Lizbeth Ann Garrett, suspected in the 1977 killing of Maj. Chester Garrett.  Knox County Sheriff''s Office|El Paso County Sheriff

“Obviously he didn’t know we were calling about the homicide,” Knoxville Public Information Officer Darrell DeBusk told ABC’s Knoxville affiliate, WATE. “He thought we were calling about another issue and he made the suggestion for him to come by. When he did we placed him into custody.”

Meanwhile in El Paso, police arrested Lizbeth Ann Garrett, 74. She had been Maj. Garrett’s wife.

“According to military authorities he was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the Vietnam era.” Sgt. Jim Belknap of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office told WATE. The El Paso Times also reports that at the time of his death he was the executive officer of the student battalion at the Air Defense School at Fort Bliss, where he was stationed.

Investigators have not cited a possible motive for the killing.  Both Roger Garrett and Lizbeth Ann Garrett are charged with murder and are each being held on $5 million bond.

“From what we’ve learned, the man was real tough — a Special Forces type, almost what you’d call a superman,” Sheriff’s Capt. Mac Stout was quoted as telling the El Paso Herald-Post in 1977. ”Whoever got him must have been mighty tough, too, and probably more than one, and probably took him by surprise.”

 

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7 Diseases that strike young

"intro:"When we re young, we think we're invincible,"says Georges Benjamin, MD, Executive Director of the American public health association.""But we're not." And safeguarding, diseases we commonly associate with people in their 60s and 70s are hitting two, three, or even four decades earlier. Why? Better screening and early detection are part of the picture, but lifestyle factors such as poor diet and the fact that we're living more sedentary lives are to blame as well. Here, 7 diseases you can do something about today-- to make sure you feel better, longer.

QuickList: 1 category: diseases that strike Younger Than You Think title: Melanoma url: text: typical age of diagnosis: 50s and beyond

But it can hit as early as: late teens and early twenties

What you can do now: steer clear of tanning salons-- even occasional trips to the tanning bed can triple your chances of developing melanoma, according to the journal cancer epidemiology, bio-marker & prevention. Avoiding the sun altogether is next to impossible, so use a daily moisturizer with at least SPF 15-but many experts think SPF 30 is preferable. Wear a broad spectrum sunscreen if you're going to be outside, and avoid going out between 10 a.m.-2 p.m., when the rays are most intense, says Thomas S. Kupper, M.D., professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School. There's also some evidence that a daily vitamin D supplement can help keep melanoma at bay, he adds.

Read more: 20 ways to prevent cancer

Media: caption: relationship:

QuickList: 2 category: diseases that strike Younger Than You Think title: Osteoporosis url: text: typical age of diagnosis: 65 and beyond

But it can hit as early as: 50 s

What you can do now: don't wait! "It's vital to strengthen bones early with vitamin D supplements and calcium," says Kathryn DIEMER, MD, clinical director of the bone health program at Washington University School of medicine. Do regular exercises that build muscle and strengthen your skeleton-such as jogging, walking or climbing stairs. "Smoking and alcohol are really toxic to the bones," says Dr. Diemer. Stick glass a day two for men, and ditch smoking to one for women. Finally, avoid cola: Its high phosphoric acid content can leach calcium from your bones.

Read more: do you need A bone scan?

Media: caption: relationship:

QuickList: 3 category: diseases that strike Younger Than You Think title: stroke url: text: typical age of diagnosis: over 65

But it can hit as early as: 20s or 30s

What you can do now: If you smoke cigarettes even occasionally, now's the time to quit because smoking doubles your chance of stroke. Something else that ratchets up risk? Health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol. "Diseases that increase risk should be treated early-- and be controlled," explains SHAZAM Hussain, MD, Section Head of the Cleveland Clinic stroke program. Dr. Hussain therefore recommends reducing your salt and trans fat intake, eating fish twice a week, and exercising. "Even if it's 30 minutes of walking a day, it will make a difference," he says.

Read more: 13 ways to naturally lower blood pressure

Media: caption: relationship:

QuickList: 4 category: diseases that strike Younger Than You Think title: breast cancer url: text: typical age of diagnosis: 45 and above

But it can hit as early as: teens

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Alleged COP-killer has dangerous skills and weapons

The find manhunt is intensifying to Christopher Dorner, a highly-trained former Los Angeles police officer who is believed to be on a rampage to kill his former colleagues.

Police officers say Dorner has now become their worst nightmare--a heavily armed man with the same training they have, plus a military background.

As the search continues, law enforcement officials are wondering whether Dorner has been engaged in diversionary tactics--leaving a trail of false bread crumbs.

"He's extremely dangerous," said San Bernardino Sheriff John McMahon at a news conference on Friday. McMahon said that his officers, along with law enforcement and the FBI had been searching for Dorner all night, even with SWAT teams in snow-cats on California's bear mountain.

Police are trying to figure out if Dorner deliberately dropped his wallet and his LAPD badge in San Diego, where earlier in the week he allegedly attempted to steal a boat to flee to Mexico.

"He knows what he's doing," L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters yesterday "We trained him. He was also a member of the armed forces. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially for the police officers involved."

In a "manifesto" attributed to Dorner posted on the Internet, the former cop boasts about his combat skills, writing that he will utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance and survival training he had been given in the LAPD, and in his career in the Navy.

I know your TTPs (techniques, tactics, and procedures). Any threat assessments you generate will be useless. "This is simple," Dorner wrote in his lengthy manifesto. "I mitigate will all risks, threats and hazards. I will be target rich environments. assure you that Incident command posts"

Dorner is believed to be heavily armed, possessing on assault rifle and other weapons. Dorner so claims to have a.50 caliber rifle, which fires bullets five inches long - capable of piercing bullet-proof vests, cutting through cars and some armored vehicles. Sources say it is likely that Dorner has such a rifle. The combination is concerning since Dorner's LAPD trainer rated him on "expert" sharpshooter with a.9 millimeter handgun, and "marksman" with an M-16 rifle.

Former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett says Dorner's weapons training and his familiarity with police protocol make him a lethal adversary.

"He knows how to move around and is very familiar with how to use firearms," Garrett said. "And knowing how the LAPD and other search for suspects, he wants departments would look certainly avoid the logical places where police, like prior homes or locations that he used. He would thus get rid of any electronics that might be used to track him,"Garrett said. "He's probably using a prepaid cellphone."

As man, Dorner would still have his a former Navy uniforms, and Garrett says he would not be surprised if he dressed in uniform to help avoid being spotted and identified.

"A uniform has been part of his identity all of his life," Garrett said.

Dorner has already cut a wide path of destruction. Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference Thursday that Dorner "ambushed" two Riverside, Calif. officers as they sat in their squad car at a traffic light in the early morning hours. One officer, a 35-year-old, 11-year veteran of the force, what killed. His 27-year-old partner what seriously wounded. Garrett said the ambush shows Dorner's skill as a hunter.

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Documentary Shows Beauty in the Face of Cancer

AppId is over the quota Photographer Sue Bryce invited Jill Brzezinski-Conley to Paris for a photo shoot. (The Light that Shines via YouTube)

You would never guess that the woman in a photo who is smiling and swishing a pink tulle gown in front of the Eiffel Tower underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and five surgeries when she was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago. You would also never guess that after a yearlong remission, she was diagnosed with incurable bone cancer.

Jill Brzezinski-Conley is beautiful even with a gap in her dress where her right breast used to be, and she wants other women to feel that way too.

“If I could change one woman’s life, I would die the happiest woman,” she says during the opening of the 15-minute documentary about her, “The Light That Shines.”

The film already has more than 358,000 views, and it’s only been up for two weeks on Vimeo.com.

“A woman who’s diagnosed or already has it, I’m sure she’s scared and she feels alone,” Brzezinski-Conley told ABCNews.com, addressing why she decided to share her story with the world. “I didn’t want people to feel alone anymore.”

In the documentary Brzezinski-Conley takes a trip to Paris to pose in couture gowns for photographer Sue Bryce, while first-time documentary maker Hailey Bartholomew films the experience. The film also includes reenactments of pivotal moments in Brzezinski-Conley’s story as she tells it – from crying in the car after the startling breast cancer diagnosis after just a few months of marriage to going out on a dinner date with her husband and ditching a fancy wig halfway through because “this isn’t me.”

Since the film debuted online, Brzezinski-Conley said she receives 500 messages a night from people all over the world who want to thank her for making their wives feel better about cancer, teaching their daughters to appreciate their bodies, or just being courageous enough to show her scarred chest. She’s received notes from fans in Poland, Russia, Kenya, India and New Zealand.

But perhaps the best reaction came from Brzezinski-Conley’s mother.

“She started crying and said, ‘I’ve never been so proud of you,’” Brzezinski-Conley said.

Still Brzezinski-Conley said she doesn’t want to sugarcoat her experience with cancer.

Doctors diagnosed Brzezinski-Conley with breast cancer when she was 31 years old, and she had a double mastectomy as a result. Although she initially had two breast implants, one became infected because of the radiation, so it had to be removed.

“I’ve been through hell and back,” she told ABCNews.com. “The chemo was so intense. I felt like it was killing me. The side effects you hear about and read about – it was times ten. But good things are finally starting to happen. ”

Yet Brzezinski-Conley posed bare-chested for Bryce and Bartholomew proudly, flexing her arm muscles and smiling down at her scar in a few shots.

“If we can show everybody through her how to just be so beautiful, so beautiful with those scars out, then anybody pretty much can confront anything in themselves after seeing something that beautiful,” Bryce says in the film.

Brzezinski-Conley says in the film she has a prosthetic breast, but she doesn’t bother to wear it. She told ABCNews.com that people talk about mastectomies and breast cancer, but they never show what it looks like, and she wanted to change that.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women of all races, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2009, the most recent year available, nearly 212,000 women were diagnosed with the disease.

“I will say that the entire time that she was without clothes I never saw any scars on her body,” Bryce said. “I only saw this incredible smile.”

 

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Dr. Ruth: How to Spice Up Your Love Life

Translate Request has too much data Parameter name: request Dr. Ruth's 7 Tips for Spicing Up Your Love Life - ABC News #scWinChk{right:166px; background:url(http://a.abcnews.go.com/assets/images/elections/2012/rc-blue_check.png) no-repeat;position:absolute; z-index:5000; height: 23px; width: 23px; top:20px;}#but_vt{background:#36305d; border:2px solid #36305d;}#but_vt a{color:#fff;}#but_wv{background:#b81f2a; border:2px solid #b81f2a;}#but_wv a{color:#fff;} Hot Topics: Christopher Dorner?China Rent A Boyfriend?Dorner Manifesto HomeU.S.WorldPoliticsVideoInvestigativeHealthEntertainmentMoneyTechTravelU.S. NewsBlizzard Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow...Hunt for Fugitive Resumes in Calif....Snowstorm Snips Power for More Than...Ex-DC Mayor Fenty's Legacy Still Subject...Panel to Look at Tall Ship's Sinking...WATCH VIDEO: U.S. »You Got What Where?Taking the PlungeMore U.S. HeadlinesMass. Nuclear Plant Shuts Down During...5 Killed in Head-on Collision in...Psych Eval Ongoing for NY Nanny in...Family of Victim in Gun Range Death...US Fish and Wildlife Boat Sinks in...In The NewsWeather NewsBarack ObamaObamacare | Affordable Care ActCrime News Home> U.S.Dr. Ruth's 7 Tips for Spicing Up Your Love LifeFeb. 9, 2013

ABCNEWS.com

Dr. Ruth Westheimer is a renowned psychosexual therapist whose straightforward approach to sex and relationship advice made her an American icon for decades.

Dr. Ruth first made a name for herself in the 80s with her radio program, "Sexually Speaking," in which she would speak frankly about all matters concerning the bedroom. Since then, she has appeared in every form of media: hosting her own national TV talk shows, having a regular "Ask Dr. Ruth" column, producing five documentaries, writing 36 books, including "Sex For Dummies," and even on Twitter.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Dr. Ruth offers her tips for spicing up your love life.

1. Bring Flowers

"Bringing flowers is good. Sending flowers ahead of time is better. A woman needs more time to become aroused so looking at those flowers all day will help put her in the mood."

2. The Best Gift of All? A Massage

"What's the best gift you can give your partner? A massage. It feels good, your touch will warm his or her body and soul, and best of all, it doesn't cost a cent."

3. Make Your Own Love Nest

"Instead of going out, order in and decorate with candles. Make your own love nest. Plus, you'll be closer to the bedroom."

4. Whisper Sweet Nothings

"Some men know they're supposed to be romantic but they are not sure what that means. The best way to set a romantic mood is to whisper sweet nothings in your partner's ears. If you make her feel treasured and special the two of you will be drenched in romance."

5. Have a Positive Outlook

"The key to good sex is to have a positive outlook. If you assume you'll be having good sex you will. If you assume you won't, you won't."

6. Play It Safe

"How important is birth control? If you're worried about causing an unintended pregnancy, you'll enjoy Valentine's day more if you play it safe. Don't think of contraceptives as a damper, instead think of them as an enhancement."

7. Do Something Active

"Most people think of going out to dinner as what you do on Valentine's Day but there are alternatives. Anything that gets your circulation going will make you both feel sexier. If there's someplace nearby where you can ice skate that would be perfect. Or go for a run, then share a nice warm bath. Get your circulation moving and I guarantee you that you'll have a great time."

More from ABC News Valentine's Day 101: Victoria's Secret Models Help Men Decode Language of WomenKelly Clarkson Opens Up About Love, Wedding PlansDr. Ruth: How to Spice Up You Love Life More Video » Comment & ContributeDo you have more information about this topic? 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Yesterday, 4:16 PM Photo Galleries View: Northeast Hit by Blizzard US View: Today in Pictures International View: Red Dress Fashion Show 2013 Entertainment View: Today in Pictures International View: Past Risque Grammy Dresses Entertainment ABC News Full Episodes Nightline | 02.09.2013 Nightline 02/8: Monster Blizzard:... Watch More Full Episodes Connect with Nightline

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