pulse settings

[Rambozo]

I want to hone my skills ... when I have, then I'll make repairs on some classic Triumph mc casings that are waiting for me to fix ... I want my repairs to look good as well as hold ... I'll get it down ... it's all good

If those are engine castings that have been soaked in oil, you have picked probably one of the hardest things to repair as a first project. Best to put that off for awhile. Castings in general are not the nicest alloys of aluminum, and the oil will cook out of the pores and mess you up even more. Go to a junkyard and grab some other castings to practice on before you light up on something not easy to replace. But until you have gone through at least a tank or two of argon, I'd stick to clean new material.

[Rodsmachineshop]

I would be lost with out my oven to bake stuff before welding , before i got my oven i used a large propane bbq worked good to bake part before welding what works good for cleaning oily stuff is Wesley's white wall cleaner

[Rambozo]

A friend's shop has a vacuum furnace for heat treating, I have used on occasion for that. It's amazing what it will cook out of what looks like a "clean" part.

[Rodsmachineshop]

my oven go to 900 degrees . great for cooking pizzas hahahahaha

[Winky]

If those are engine castings that have been soaked in oil, you have picked probably one of the hardest things to repair as a first project. Best to put that off for awhile. Castings in general are not the nicest alloys of aluminum, and the oil will cook out of the pores and mess you up even more. Go to a junkyard and grab some other castings to practice on before you light up on something not easy to replace. But until you have gone through at least a tank or two of argon, I'd stick to clean new material.

Very astute ... that is exactly why I'm honing my skills before attempting. As far as going to a wrecking yard for other casings HEHEHE it's a 1969 T120R Bonneville Triumph 650 ... there are none left in junk yards ... the repairs needed are tiny cracks from which there are small leaks. I will bake them out first. I could probably fix with epoxy but I hate going there ... JB Weld works ... but it's a band aid; don't like doing that ... nor to I to use Heli-coils and such things ... just doesn't seem right.

[Rodsmachineshop]

lol i had a couple of triumph cub's they was neat also have had some BSA and Norton's

[Winky]

I can't imagine teaching someone to weld aluminum without a foot pedal. Sure once you are good with aluminum, you can go with fixed settings, but not while learning. It requires a lot more skill to go without, because you have to adjust your technique to compensate for the way heat conducts through aluminum. This is especially true if you are not pre-heating your parts, and your parts are not huge. The thing is is takes a lot of heat to get the puddle started, but as the aluminum comes up in temp, it takes less and less heat to maintain the puddle without melting through. With the pedal this is easy as you just keep backing off along the weld. Without it, the only thing you can do is adjust travel speed, arc length and filler rod. Or just stop and turn down the welder. The other thing about aluminum is that it does not give you as many visual cues as to the amount of heat in the part, and how close it is to melting. It's a lot more subtle than steel. The good thing is that once you figure it out, most of those skills will transfer back to steel. So learning aluminum will make you a better steel welder, too. The same thing goes for pulse, upslope, downslope, etc, turn them off for now until you get the feel for the heat. Then you will have a better idea of when to use things like that. FWIW most of those functions can just be done with the pedal anyway. and usually easier and better. For example when you are ending a weld, you will see the crater forming and learn how to get it to fill in as you back off the pedal and add a little rod. Too short and you will leave a crater, too long and you will have a bump. Once you can do that on your own, by watching, you will know how long it takes you for a particular material and weld size, and you will know how much downslope to dial in, otherwise you are just guessing. The machine can't see the weld and make adjustments on the fly, like you can.
Starting with a chunk of 3/16" and just running beads is fantastic advice. Plug in that pedal and stop twiddling knobs, for now. Welders have been pulsing with a pedal long before that feature was added to machines. Practice, practice, practice, that is what will make you a better welder.

Touche' ... that's my next step ... always done things the hard way ... that's probably why I joined The Corps instead of The Navy lol.

[Rambozo]

As far as going to a wrecking yard for other casings HEHEHE it's a 1969 T120R Bonneville Triumph 650 ... there are none left in junk yards ... the repairs needed are tiny cracks from which there are small leaks. I will bake them out first. I could probably fix with epoxy but I hate going there ... JB Weld works ... but it's a band aid; don't like doing that ... nor to I to use Heli-coils and such things ... just doesn't seem right.

I didn't mean that they had to be the same kind of castings. Just get any castings to practice on. An old transmission, an A/C compressor, whatever you can find. As long as it's cast aluminum and had some kind of oil in it, you will learn a lot about cleaning, and welding. JB weld, let's not go there. Although Heli-coils do have thier place. There are a lot of brand new parts that use them to reduce wear on things that will be taken apart and reassembled a lot, and where studs won't work. Aluminum threads have a set life but with an insert, they last so much longer, because there is no abrasive wear on them.

[Rambozo]

Touche' ... that's my next step ... always done things the hard way ... that's probably why I joined The Corps instead of The Navy lol.

You want the hard way, learn on a dinosaur, like this, instead.
If it was good enough for grandpa, it's good enough for you.

[Winky]

I didn't mean that they had to be the same kind of castings. Just get any castings to practice on. An old transmission, an A/C compressor, whatever you can find. As long as it's cast aluminum and had some kind of oil in it, you will learn a lot about cleaning, and welding. JB weld, let's not go there. Although Heli-coils do have thier place. There are a lot of brand new parts that use them to reduce wear on things that will be taken apart and reassembled a lot, and where studs won't work. Aluminum threads have a set life but with an insert, they last so much longer, because there is no abrasive wear on them.

I've used a lot of Heli-Coils in my day ... Thread-Zerts too all have their place ... point well taken ... practice ... yup ... I get it.

[Winky]

lol i had a couple of triumph cub's they was neat also have had some BSA and Norton's

I remember those ... Triumph Cub 200cc single four stroke ... what fun!!!

[Winky]

You want the hard way, learn on a dinosaur, like this, instead.
If it was good enough for grandpa, it's good enough for you.

I love dinosaurs ... maybe I wont sell my old Thunderbolt at the yard sale Saturday ... or maybe raise the price! LMAO

[Winky]

Well … Now that my 2T welds on aluminum looking much better now … I’m ganna add instantaneous control … yes … those who have been telling me this is where I should have started … I just hooked up my foot pedal. I know it’s weird but I’ve always done things “the hard way” first … actually there is a method to my madness … I have lived a life filled with lethal dangers … I’m eligible for SS in less than three years … so … it works for me

[Winky]

OK! I just spent the last 10 minutes using my pedal ... all I can say is WOW ... all I had was some 1/8" flat stock aluminum ... I made a couple practice passes in then butt welded a bunch of small pieces together ... YES YES YES!!! I LOVE THIS MACHINE!

[Brian Ski]

OK! I just spent the last 10 minutes using my pedal ... all I can say is WOW ... all I had was some 1/8" flat stock aluminum ... I made a couple practice passes in then butt welded a bunch of small pieces together ... YES YES YES!!! I LOVE THIS MACHINE!

Well I know who I am turning to when it is my time to learn.

[Winky]

Well I know who I am turning to when it is my time to learn.

Well Brian it's like Jody says the tricks to Tigging aluminum are the three p's and the three c's practice, practice, practice and clean, clean, clean. I find the practice is the same with all welding ... the more you do the better you get. Aluminum is tough but the more you do it the easier it gets and the more comfortable you get with it. Now I'm going to go down to a 1/16th tungsten and 1/16th filler and start getting into the thinner and smaller things ... the point between heat, lag time and adding filler is critical ... ya need to get into a rhythm when you add the pedal into it you can drop the heat down a little bit so you don't burn a hole if you lag to long. Just as soon as you see the puddle back the torch to the back of the puddle then add the filler and bring it forward and do the same thing all over again ... and don't tilt the torch back to far because you don't have the leading edge of the puddle fully shielded from the air, you can pull the tungsten out a little bit from the cup then hold a tight arc with the torch almost perpendicular ... or at least this is what I'm experiencing.

[Scotty1]

Well Brian it's like Jody says the tricks to Tigging aluminum are the three p's and the three c's practice, practice, practice and clean, clean, clean. I find the practice is the same with all welding ... the more you do the better you get. Aluminum is tough but the more you do it the easier it gets and the more comfortable you get with it. Now I'm going to go down to a 1/16th tungsten and 1/16th filler and start getting into the thinner and smaller things ... the point between heat, lag time and adding filler is critical ... ya need to get into a rhythm when you add the pedal into it you can drop the heat down a little bit so you don't burn a hole if you lag to long. Just as soon as you see the puddle back the torch to the back of the puddle then add the filler and bring it forward and do the same thing all over again ... and don't tilt the torch back to far because you don't have the leading edge of the puddle fully shielded from the air, you can pull the tungsten out a little bit from the cup then hold a tight arc with the torch almost perpendicular ... or at least this is what I'm experiencing.

Onya Mate,now your WELDING

[Brian Ski]

Well Brian it's like Jody says the tricks to Tigging aluminum are the three p's and the three c's practice, practice, practice and clean, clean, clean.

There you go, I will still keep listening to you guys...