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snapped some pictures of my plates.

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
so, im a jr in highschool. i go to a tech school obviously, and we just started going over tig welding, which is the main reason i went to the school in the first place. i have about a week total of welding mild steel so far, and one day of welding aluminum.

here is my mild steel mock test, on the bottom edge it looks like undercut, but its from the way the flash makes the other root pass look. i also passed my 1/4'' mild steel stress test.



here is my first (well second aside from a class demo) aluminum tig weld, 1/4''.



here you can see the starts and stops. gets a little squiggly because your hand doesnt slide very well due to the freshmen not knowing how to stick weld.



the pictures are from my cell phone, sorry there not the best. i polished it after i took the picture, now i REALLY cant get a good picture from my cellphone lol. any advice is welcome.
 
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FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
i believe tomorrow i will be on aluminum, with out a contaminated wire brush as well. ill take some pictures then also.

in case anyone is interested, we just got a ton of new syncrowave 350's and i must say i love them. although only 4 of them are water-cooled :(
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
Nice. I have been mig welding for a while now. Just picked up an entry level Tig to get my hands dirty and work on some technique before I decide on which tig I want.
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
Nice. I have been mig welding for a while now. Just picked up an entry level Tig to get my hands dirty and work on some technique before I decide on which tig I want.
nice, we have 5 migs... every time someone offers my dad a deal he buys it... not sure why... haha. we have 3 millermatic 252, im trying to get him to get rid of a few and get a dynasty or syncrowave but its not working to good haha.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
nice, we have 5 migs... every time someone offers my dad a deal he buys it... not sure why... haha. we have 3 millermatic 252, im trying to get him to get rid of a few and get a dynasty or syncrowave but its not working to good haha.
Migs are nice to have. I have a Miller 180 with .030 wire in it. I would like to get a smaller machine to load with some 0.023 wire for thinner stuff. The tig I just picked up is a Thermal Arc 95s. It was basically brand new that the guy used twice in stick mode. The tig parts were still wrapped. Not something I would have bought new, but couldn't pass it up for $200.
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
We mainly focus on SMAW and I am currently certified in every position except over head, which I will have next year. We worked up to gtaw with gaswelding which I liked alot.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
Learning to weld on a syncrowave is kinda cheating. Wish I had the luxury.

Work on your travel speed on the alum. You should have more distance between pools. Add more filler at a time too.
One of the tricks to welding alum is knowing when to use a LOT of filler to cool the puddle and then back off the peddle.
 

FlyinPolack

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
371
0
Your first welds look great, keep at it, & you'll kickass!

When it comes time to buy a TIG welder, get a Miller. Nothing else welds aluminum as well. :thumb:
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
Learning to weld on a syncrowave is kinda cheating. Wish I had the luxury.

Work on your travel speed on the alum. You should have more distance between pools. Add more filler at a time too.
One of the tricks to welding alum is knowing when to use a LOT of filler to cool the puddle and then back off the peddle.
haha, yeah they are sweet, i love the pulsing. i haven't had time to do any more aluminum, i have been assigned to TIGing a cross for a church (ughh lol). i will be doing more aluminum after break. we were using 3/32 tungsten which is kind of pushing it with 180 amps on 1/4'' so it was a little tricky i guess. will hopefully be on something thinner when we get back. as far as the puddle, with out sounding cocky, its mostly because of the table, my hand isint steady enough to do it free hand and out table are complete junk, i cant even begin to explain (ill have to get a picture soon) and that is leading to the irregular puddle, typically i have pretty good puddle control. im a hands on person i grasp things pretty easily when its something im interested in and i cant wait to get a job in the welding industry (although im more then likely going to be in the ironworker's union since thats what m father is in).
 

CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,484
Groton, MA
Go over to welding web and check out ZTFab. The guy is amazing. Couple examples of Mig welds...
I'm all for trussed axles, but not when it means never having access to my ring and pinion gears ever again. *facepalm*

Aren't those trusses in the wrong axis anyway?...shouldn't they be above or below the axle tubes? I'm sure kickstand can chime in. Me = confused.

EDIT - I am looking at a Yota axle right? After looking at it a bit I thought maybe it was the underside of a Rockwell, but it doesn't look quite right...
 
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kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
I'm all for trussed axles, but not when it means never having access to my ring and pinion gears ever again. :facepalm:

Aren't those trusses in the wrong axis anyway?...shouldn't they be above or below the axle tubes? I'm sure kickstand can chime in. Me = confused.

EDIT - I am looking at a Yota axle right? After looking at it a bit I thought maybe it was the underside of a Rockwell, but it doesn't look quite right...
Looks likes a Ford 9". The gears are actually set in a third member that comes out from the front.:thumb:

That was the start of the project. He braced the top and bottom as well and added spring perches and some other crap. The brackets and rear were for a desert truck.

 
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CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,484
Groton, MA
Looks likes a Ford 9". The gears are actually set in a third member that comes out from the front.:thumb:

That makes more sense.....though I still think it's trussed in the wrong axis.

This is what I thought I was looking at (Yota axle), trussed in the right axis:

 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
Probably more what you were thinking. I couldn't find finished pictures of the other housing.



Edit: Damn photobucket. I don't know why it's showing a red x.
 

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buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
haha, yeah they are sweet, i love the pulsing. i haven't had time to do any more aluminum, i have been assigned to TIGing a cross for a church (ughh lol). i will be doing more aluminum after break. we were using 3/32 tungsten which is kind of pushing it with 180 amps on 1/4'' so it was a little tricky i guess. will hopefully be on something thinner when we get back. as far as the puddle, with out sounding cocky, its mostly because of the table, my hand isint steady enough to do it free hand and out table are complete junk, i cant even begin to explain (ill have to get a picture soon) and that is leading to the irregular puddle, typically i have pretty good puddle control. im a hands on person i grasp things pretty easily when its something im interested in and i cant wait to get a job in the welding industry (although im more then likely going to be in the ironworker's union since thats what m father is in).
I don't know why, but I almost always use 3/32 with alum. I just like the smaller more focused arc better. Even for heavy stuff at 300 amps.
Your arc hand doesn't need to be that steady. The puddle spacing is more controlled by when you add the filler. Your torch hand can be all over the place if you tempo is still right.
I've never used pulser. It's one of those things that if you learn pulse with the peddle, you never miss it.
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
I don't know why, but I almost always use 3/32 with alum. I just like the smaller more focused arc better. Even for heavy stuff at 300 amps.
Your arc hand doesn't need to be that steady. The puddle spacing is more controlled by when you add the filler. Your torch hand can be all over the place if you tempo is still right.
I've never used pulser. It's one of those things that if you learn pulse with the peddle, you never miss it.
i hear ya, when i was talking about the hand thing, i meant thats why it wasnt strait lol. pulse is just fun to use if your doing something for production just keep the pedal down. i find the the tungsten seems to blow up, but my teacher also told me it was because i was moving to quickly and in turn it made the tungsten get to hot. i have herd on the web that using a sharpened 1/8th electrode it will just ball the tip. have not tried it though. also we are using strait argon, i really want to use a helium mix.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
i hear ya, when i was talking about the hand thing, i meant thats why it wasnt strait lol. pulse is just fun to use if your doing something for production just keep the pedal down. i find the the tungsten seems to blow up, but my teacher also told me it was because i was moving to quickly and in turn it made the tungsten get to hot. i have herd on the web that using a sharpened 1/8th electrode it will just ball the tip. have not tried it though. also we are using strait argon, i really want to use a helium mix.
Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am not formally trained, but have probably 100 hrs on alum in the last 2 yrs and my stuff looks pretty decent.
I was taught to ball the electrode. (grind to a point and then strike an arc in reverse polarity)
I have heard that you can get away without, but I have good results with about an 1/8" ball on a 3/32" electrode.

We always use helium. The mix we buy is only a few $$$ more than argon and you can weld much thicker stuff with less power and have higher travel speeds. Those gains make up for the difference in price.
We even use it for steel. The welds look better and it's faster.
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am not formally trained, but have probably 100 hrs on alum in the last 2 yrs and my stuff looks pretty decent.
I was taught to ball the electrode. (grind to a point and then strike an arc in reverse polarity)
I have heard that you can get away without, but I have good results with about an 1/8" ball on a 3/32" electrode.

We always use helium. The mix we buy is only a few $$$ more than argon and you can weld much thicker stuff with less power and have higher travel speeds. Those gains make up for the difference in price.
We even use it for steel. The welds look better and it's faster.
haha, yeah. i apprecieate it though, i value your real world expierence. why do you ball it on DCRP? does it not get hot enough to ball on ac with helium?

i plan on just getting a seprate tank of helium and just Ying it in with 2 check valves since i use my argon bottle for my mig aswell.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
haha, yeah. i apprecieate it though, i value your real world expierence. why do you ball it on DCRP? does it not get hot enough to ball on ac with helium?
Try it. You'll see.
Grind a point, hold the torch 3/8" above a piece of scrap steel. Keep the tungsten completely vertical. Mash the pedal for 2-3 sec. on reverse polarity.
You should have a perfect shiny ball.
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
Try it. You'll see.
Grind a point, hold the torch 3/8" above a piece of scrap steel. Keep the tungsten completely vertical. Mash the pedal for 2-3 sec. on reverse polarity.
You should have a perfect shiny ball.
ill give it a shot next time im on aluminum.

im to busy working on a project that i dont want to work on. ha.



 

FlyinPolack

Monkey
Jul 16, 2007
371
0
I was taught to ball the electrode. (grind to a point and then strike an arc in reverse polarity)
I have heard that you can get away without, but I have good results with about an 1/8" ball on a 3/32" electrode.
I've never "prepped" my electrodes: Try grinding a 3/32 tung to almost a point, & grind the tip off, down to about 1/16 thick at the tip. Now go weld on AC. The ball will naturally grow to the size that you need for the amps that you are using. Smaller ball = tighter arc control (the whole reason for sharpening in the first place). On *Puretung & Zirtung. That's all I use on aluminum.

Also, make sure that the Aluminum is totally clean.

i plan on just getting a separate tank of helium and just Ying it in with 2 check valves since i use my argon bottle for my mig aswell.
Don't do this, you will NEVER get consistent mixes. You need an actual gas manifold for that to work out right.
For anything under .250" you don't need Ar/He. Straight Ar is fine, save the money. Anything above .250" should use an He mix, & preheat though. He/Ar mixes are great & can be used on just about anything but it's $24.00 more/bottle.
Hope this helps
 

FOXROX

Turbo Monkey
Jun 23, 2007
2,120
0
hambur,nj
I've never "prepped" my electrodes: Try grinding a 3/32 tung to almost a point, & grind the tip off, down to about 1/16 thick at the tip. Now go weld on AC. The ball will naturally grow to the size that you need for the amps that you are using. Smaller ball = tighter arc control (the whole reason for sharpening in the first place). On *Puretung & Zirtung. That's all I use on aluminum.

Also, make sure that the Aluminum is totally clean.



Don't do this, you will NEVER get consistent mixes. You need an actual gas manifold for that to work out right.
For anything under .250" you don't need Ar/He. Straight Ar is fine, save the money. Anything above .250" should use an He mix, & preheat though. He/Ar mixes are great & can be used on just about anything but it's $24.00 more/bottle.
Hope this helps
for alum we use pure tungsten (green band) and for mild steel we use 2% thoriated (red band)

i think prep of the electrode is really based on the job your doing. there really isint a wrong way of doing it. as long as the grain is going lengthwise.

we haven't used anything under .25''...yet. im really anxious to start thinner stuff. my dad got me a bunch of 1''x3''x5' pieces of alum, but it will most likely find its way to the scrap yard... i hate when he brings home nice pieces metal that i have no use for, just makes me want a milling machine more and more! lol