Amazing Aluminum Tig Work !!

[TD2593]

I believe this guy sold his soul to the devil in trade for his tig talents !! Ive seen alot of his work and it is awesome to say the least.

[Mike J]

Yeah, that is very nice work - I like the fact that starts/stops are well handled. Look at the little injector ports on the intakes at the bottom half, you can see he started at the top and went around and stopped at the top - nice job! Maybe I can do this by 2023....

Cheers,

Mike

[redbeard]

I believe this guy sold his soul to the devil in trade for his tig talents !!

Good trade if you ask me, where do I go to sign the contract?

[SeanMurphy265]

I'm gonna say that's all he welds everyday! Probably has some type of jig to keep it in position. Nice looking beads fo-sho!

[jakeru]

Looks like Marcella's manifolds.

I think I've got his style figured out. He uses a Helium/Argon mix; which cuts down on the excessive cleaning action of pure Argon, and makes really nice, shiny looking weld beads. Of course he has developed good torch manipulation skill (applying the right torch angle, etc repeatably on every one of the welds in his manifolds), got his machine settings dialed in, etc.
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...with-He-Ar-mix


He also sands / "grains" his aluminum stock prior to welding, to give it that "satin brushed" appearance. (In above pictured example, I didn't do that. It just takes some extra time and elbow grease.)

The consistency of the weld quality throughout his projects is impressive - that takes lots of practice.

[jerky]

its beautiful work, i would want to see what thats going on top of, and what its in. that much work into a manifold, i bet the rest of it is also finely crafted

[jakeru]

http://www.marcellamanifolds.net/Elbows.html
http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=127750

He has built quite a number. It seems that he primarily does V8 engine applications.

[TD2593]

Looks like Marcella's manifolds.

I think I've got his style figured out. He uses a Helium/Argon mix; which cuts down on the excessive cleaning action of pure Argon, and makes really nice, shiny looking weld beads. Of course he has developed good torch manipulation skill (applying the right torch angle, etc repeatably on every one of the welds in his manifolds), got his machine settings dialed in, etc.
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...with-He-Ar-mix


He also sands / "grains" his aluminum stock prior to welding, to give it that "satin brushed" appearance. (In above pictured example, I didn't do that. It just takes some extra time and elbow grease.)

The consistency of the weld quality throughout his projects is impressive - that takes lots of practice.

Yes it is Marcella's work. Ive always been amazed at his ability, a true art ! He can weld on cast aluminum and make it look better than any Ive seen.

[GUNNER]

I tried running a mixture of Argon and Helium on my 250 EXT this weekend and found it don't like it at all.. The puddle is completely out of control and the heat runs away at an unreal rate... Now later on I had to figure out why this was happening when I've used it for years on every TIG machine I've ever used without issue.. I came to this conclusion after several attempts to correct the issue..

What I found is the inverter machines operate so much more on DC-EN that the heat gets out of control even backing off the foot pedal.. I discovered that if I set the machine up at 60 HTZ and around 60-40 on the AC balance like a syncrowave type machine that the Helium was well accepted like any other TIG rig... The good news is the Helium at $90 a 330 bottle isn't required on 95% of anything you will do. Why make a modern welder operate like an outdated machine just to use another bottle of gas? I couldn't find a reason to myself...

If anyone else had experimented with the Helium mixes as well please post up what you discovered as well.. I always enjoy learning new information that will help me and anyone else I may be helping at some time or another be a better welder..

[jakeru]

Gunner - I agree with you that I don't see the sense in running Helium with high % EP... the high EP% just defeats the purpose of using Helium in the first place. I use 20% EP for AC Balance, which is is the minimum that my machine (Super200P) can do. I agree with you, that I would sooner switch away from the expensive Helium and onto pure argon than I would raise the EP%.

When you tried the Helium mix, did you try a smaller sized tungsten to go along with it? I found a 1/16" tungsten extended the low range (i.e., how thin of metal is weldable with controllable heat) of what the helium mix can do considerably. And I actually am quite impressed by the upper range of what the 1/16" tungsten is capable of, combined with the Helium mix as well. If you haven't tried using a small tungsten with your Helium mix, you should give it a try. (And, don't even be afraid to grind a good taper in the tip! If it needs to, the tip can melt, but you'll be surprised how little it really does melt considering how thick of metal it will weld with the Helium mixed in there!)

I also find with the small tungsten and the Helium mix, keeping the tip prepared matters less. (Than compared to using pure Argon with the bigger, 3/32" tungsten.) With the smaller tungsten, it's easier to just "burn off" aluminum as needed (if you dip) and just keep on welding, as long as you don't touch the filler to the tip and get a huge blob wicked up onto the tungsten. (No easy fix for that; I try to avoid it.) Any touch up on the grinding wheel also goes super fast with the 1/16".

Also, what portion of helium you mix in there also makes a big difference. I find I haven't adjusted mine since dialing it in at probably about 2.5 cfh Helium and about 10-12 cfh Argon (that's with a #6'ish gas lens, I think.)

All that said, I still am somewhat new to experimenting with the Helium mix myself, but those are just my thoughts at the moment on how it can be effectively set up on an inverter.