First Actual Aluminum TIG Project With 210EXT

[christian]

Yes, even though I’ve had my 210EXT for 8 month or more, I’ve only used it for projects with mild steel, maybe a little stainless too. I mean, I’ve done some practice aluminum beads, but didn’t want to waste much Argon doing practice.



Anyway, a fun little project emerged that I almost defaulted to my mild steel mentality, but instead decided to used some aluminum collars to come up with a much improved motor mounting solution for a surprisingly powerful and well-priced eBike mid-drive system.



I’ll post photos here, and link to a video on it, where it shows me using 210EXT briefly, at about 10-12 minutes in.



Feel free to offer any critique, as I’m not a TIG expert. Most will notice that the AC frequency is at around 200.

[performance]

Good, creative solution. You might want to contact the company and show them this and they might even send you some proto types to test if they work it out.

[christian]

Hey, thanks for that nice feedback, Mark,

Yeah, the company/importer I bought the kit/system from (Luna Cycle) recently started an eBike forum that I participate on, so they know about my little "build" and many others that are spontaneously emerging as threads there. But they might be taking a note already.

http://electricbike.com/forum/forum/...r-etrike-build

Good, creative solution. You might want to contact the company and show them this and they might even send you some proto types to test if they work it out.

[christian]

Well, here's my "Second Actual Aluminum TIG Project With 210EXT".

Yeah, it has to do with he same Cyclone eBike Mid-Drive project though. Much like the aluminum collar mounts for the motor were a first for my aluminum welding of an actual project, this battery box is the second, and was surprisingly challenging. I mean DC TIG welding of a mild steel battery box for my other 2WD trike project was a breeze (it's painted silver, not aluminum).



I mean, even on the mild steel box, I ground down the beads to make it look cleaner, as welds look like Frankenstein to me, unless they're all identical in their bead profile throughout a project, and I'm not that good. So, anyway, I was a little surprised at how much trickier the aluminum battery box was to do. It came out well, and I ground down all of the beads but one of the better ones, to show as a reference.



Anyway, I think my 210EXT welder did well, as it tended to give me that thin bead profile that I was seeking, by using the Triangle wave at 200 Hz. But, still, technique seems much more critical on aluminum, with things like torch angle. Maybe it was the thinness of the 16 gauge metal itself, or the 3003 alloy. Whatever, I like it well. Maybe I'll step up the gauge thickness a little next time.

[zoama]

I'm not well coordinated in dabbing filler and advancing the torch so when building an aluminum box I leave one edge hanging over the other maybe .01" and use no other filler.
From a computer case that doubles as a air purifier that I built a while back.

[christian]

Hey,

Thanks for that.

I'm not well coordinated in dabbing filler and advancing the torch so when building an aluminum box I leave one edge hanging over the other maybe .01" and use no other filler.
From a computer case that doubles as a air purifier that I built a while back.