Butt Welding Aluminum Pipes

[Rugar]

Here are some pictures of the gas fitting on the case. To me it looks like the black rubber hose is held on with a metal crimp to keep the line from blowing off. Hope these pics work for you. If not let me know and I can try to get different ones.

Perfect! Thanks for taking the time to take the photos and post them for me.

I hope you have found your problem. You will know right away when AC kicks in for sure.

[everlastsupport]

Hey Mark,

This is only the second one (shipping bounce maybe). The only one I had was when Brian (aka Wrenchtamer) came to you and I told you to trace that switch and you found the plug was off (I should have got that on the phone; sorry Brian). That is the only one I have had, so looks like two now.

And he liked the class in welding you offered so I hope it was worth his drive to you and I know I owe ya on that one.

It's "Christmas" time and shipping has always been rough on us, it looks like this year, it's not bad at all. Last year, cracked bezels, bent cases.... So I can not complain.

[drifterific]

Perfect! Thanks for taking the time to take the photos and post them for me.

I hope you have found your problem. You will know right away when AC kicks in for sure.

Yeah its no problem, Im glad that I could help you out. I will be putting the unit back together here shortly after I finish writting my paper for school. I will report back the findings after its all back together.

[drifterific]

So I finally got the chance today to put the welder back together and got a chance to test it out and now everything sounds like it does in Jody's videos. Thank you for all of your help. now I will get some correct practice welding aluminum after I get some more gas tomorrow. Also another question I have is should I use 2% ceriated tungsten for aluminum or just stick with the 2% thoriated tungsten.

[Rugar]

So I finally got the chance today to put the welder back together and got a chance to test it out and now everything sounds like it does in Jody's videos. Thank you for all of your help. now I will get some correct practice welding aluminum after I get some more gas tomorrow. Also another question I have is should I use 2% ceriated tungsten for aluminum or just stick with the 2% thoriated tungsten.

Awesome! Glad it was a simple fix.
I used 2% thoriated when I first got mine and didn't like it. But it was the cheap Radnor brand from Airgas (guess I should say expensive in price from Airgas, but cheap in the quality area), but it could have just been me just starting out. Since I have used Tri-mix (which is a hybrid mix) and 2% Lathonaided, both from Diamond Ground Products, and just recently Arctime from Arczone which is also a hybrid mix, and I cant really tell much difference between the last three. Once I get more experience I might, but for now they all seem fine. I'm going to try the 2% thoriated again now though just to compare it, since I'm welding more now then grinding electrodes like I was a month ago. LMAO

[sschefer]

Gerald, the turning point for me was what I found out about cleaning Al. Those cheap Radnors turned out to be not that bad after all.

[performance]

About any combination will be fine. Thoriated has been the standard for years, and still in most tests, show the best HF starting characteristics and general overall stability. Ceriated is something that MIller recommends on their products, however, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Lanthanated works well in ours, as well as Thoriated. I use thoriated. I guess if someone else was paying for it, I'd get lanthanated.

Its a common misconception to believe that the whole electrode is made of this as a "alloy". In fact the outside is actually tungsten, and a small shaft or core of thorium runs down the middle.

Here's some useful reading from a site "promoting" its own product, but cites from reliable sources, though it is highly summarized:
http://www.pro-fusiononline.com/tung...ioactivity.htm

[drifterific]

I went ahead and just stuck with the thoriated tungsten. Now that my AC switch is working I am getting good result. I was able to but weld some aluminum pipe together.

I did have a question though, will I eventually beable to tack weld aluminum together without filler rod? I saw my friend do it on his syncrowave but it would break easily when we would move the pipes to fully weld them.

But everything is working great and I hope the pictures of the connector will help anyone else that may have this problem in the future.

[everlastsupport]

I did have a question though, will I eventually beable to tack weld aluminum together without filler rod? I saw my friend do it on his syncrowave but it would break easily when we would move the pipes to fully weld them.

If the two base/parent metals are tight to each other (no big gap) and clean, you can tack them with a TIG by flowing them together. The thicker the better.

Run the heat back and forth and they will flow together. If one side is thinner you will want to keep more heat on the thicker side. When you see both side are melted/liquid normally they will pool into each other, use the heat from the arc to bring the together and make the tack as long as you need. They will follow the heat.

[drifterific]

Thanks for the tip mike. I was able to sucessfully weld an intake pipe together that had a decent sized gap. Of course I got to excited and didn't watch my heat as well as i should. But this was on a practice pipe that ive been running passes on.

[everlastsupport]

Thanks for the tip mike. I was able to sucessfully weld an intake pipe together that had a decent sized gap. Of course I got to excited and didn't watch my heat as well as i should. But this was on a practice pipe that ive been running passes on.

Aluminum can be a pain when you first start. The pool is harder to see than steel and SS. Thin aluminum adds another level to it. It just takes time at it.

Glad to hear you are getting there.

[drifterific]

I would like to thank everyone that helped me out. I can now weld two pices of aluminum pipe together now and tack them with minimal filler rod. I still need to work on my welds but I am showing pic now that I can weld aluminum together. I will keep practicing on this piece of pipe till there is no more room left to weld lol. I think my welder is a bit close and blowing out my argon so I need to move the table further away from the welding stand.

[everlastsupport]

I think my welder is a bit close and blowing out my argon so I need to move the table further away from the welding stand.

We have a big fan in there to keep the IGBT's and electronics happy. But you are right, do not point the welder at what you are welding. It will blow the argon away for sure.

Looks like you are getting there and pretty fast.

[drifterific]

Thanks mike. It seems that the welds lok way better when I pick up my travel speed. I am still practicing to see what works the best for me. I know I'll get it down with the more his time I get.

[presure2]

i love seeing threads like this, where the OP gets the help he needs, and has sucsess doing what he/she wanted to do.
i absolutly cannot wait to join the crowd!!!

[jetjoe]

Nice looking welds. This is the type of material for which I am looking into a tig to weld. I just need to decide on either the PowerTig or the PowerPro.

[Wookie]

Nice looking welds. This is the type of material for which I am looking into a tig to weld. I just need to decide on either the PowerTig or the PowerPro.

dont know about nice looking welds but maybe a start in the right direction ....
you need to get some penetration on the toes of those welds they are COLD weld being only on the surface of the base material
weld it HOT and Fast its not steel

[jetjoe]

Well since it is his first was his first attempt at aluminum, I was taking it easy on him.

[Tritium]

Its a common misconception to believe that the whole electrode is made of this as a "alloy". In fact the outside is actually tungsten, and a small shaft or core of thorium runs down the middle.

I believe that the above statement is in error. Please see the link I have added from a tungsten manufacturer: (Particularly section 2.3.1)

http://www.diamondground.com/TungstenGuidebook2011.pdf

Thurmond