Neighbor gave me some aluminum, it's whatever alloy you get from Home Depot most likely, 1x1/4 bar stock. Hit it with a roloc till it was clean and shiny, started with a 3/32 with a point (been a long day, didn't think about it) sharpened to 2.5x diameter. 3/8" projection on a 6 cup, 3/32 4043 filler.

Set it to AC, abt 9lpm Ar, 150 amps, but I was playing the pedal so I don't know exactly how much. Set the balance and frequency both straight up on my 200DX.



Width was a factor of arc length, had a bit of issue early on, broke my hand last weekend so it took a bit to get to where I could control the torch.

Ran a few more



Played around a bit with balance and frequency



The whole time, it was spitting and popping, not a nice smooth sound. Had a few times where it was just did not seem to want to put out an arc cleanly and a few times it felt like the machine cut out. I had the bar on the steel table, clamp had the curve on the bar, double flats on the table, so I doubt it was a ground issue.

Here's one spot, not sure what the hell happened, tried adjusting the balance from about 10 o'clock to about 2 o'clock, no bueno...

Thought I had it ready to add and then... turd



And just below that one, I went back to both dials straight up, put on my TIG Finger and ran a nice pretty one.

So, what about the popping and stuttering, any thoughts on the half-second drop-outs, felt like it just shut off momentarily, like a brownout or broken ground, but the ground was to the piece itself and the table the metal was sitting on...