Help welding thin Aluminum PowerTig 250EX

[joshtodd1984]

Could be bad gas, but not very likely if the arc is nice and clean over 50 amps. No soot on the welds on thicker plate?
One thing you can do to get you over 50 amps on that material is to move up to a 3/32" tungsten and adjust your AC balance more towards 50%. That will make it so you need more amps to get the same heat in the part. But it's more of a kludge and you shouldn't have to do that. But you can see if things smooth out with the increased amperage. It sounds like something is a little unstable at low amperages. Maybe call tech support and see what they say.

Yep. No soot. I'm fairly certain something is wrong with the machine. I can hear a buzzing sound coming from the machine whenever it sputters. It isn't the sound high frequency makes. When i first bought it, i was able to see sparking through the vents in the case of the welder. Anytime i saw the sparking in the machine i also heard the same sounding noise as I'm currently experiencing when it sputters.

I know it isn't the gas. I exchanged the cylinder for a new one this afternoon and I'm still having the same issue.

Guess I'll be calling tech support in a bit. Super frustrating.

[performance]

The buzzing would be the HF. It doesn't sound like other units. Try using the torch switch and see if it clears up. If it does, it's probably the foot pedal.

[joshtodd1984]

I've already tried the torch switch. It didn't make a difference in regards to the sputtering/popping