RogerH Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 7 minutes ago, mtrehy said: Current is a bit low for 2mm, I'd be nearer 90 base and you can always back off the pedal a bit. If you're material is cold you will be struggling to get a tack on without cooking the aluminium. You want to get the weld down pretty quick - don't want to hang around and cook the aluminium. Basic things help a lot - good mask (can you see the weld pool very clearly? you need to), decent gloves that allow feel (not mig gauntlets), keep the filler rod shielded, clean everything, regrind the tungsten every time you touch it (very annoying for a beginner), keep practicing... you should be using pretty thin filler wire for 2mm, (1.6). I'm doing all things you outline except pre heating the job. The settings list specifies 2.4mm filler rod but I only have 1.6mm at the mo'. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 1 minute ago, RogerH said: I'm doing all things you outline except pre heating the job. The settings list specifies 2.4mm filler rod but I only have 1.6mm at the mo'. Roger I wouldn't preheat it either, I meant when the material is cold at first I'd use higher amps to tack it. Sounds like you're doing everything correct. Just practice now. Took me a lot of practice and I don't weld ali that regularly so would still practice a bit first even now if I had an important job to do. Only other thing is to make sure you stay nice and close. Don't get hung up on filler size, electrode size etc. Even base current isn't that important as you can just set it high and use the pedal anyway. Really is just practice now I reckon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Many thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
boxofbits Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 HI Roger I also bought an R Tech 160 and in a similar predicament to you! Dont know whether you watch TRev’s blog on YouTube but he uses an R Tech from scratch and deals with all the basics on the machine. You might have already seen it but here is part 1. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Hi Folks, still playing with making a mess with molten metal. This is what I can do - occasionally they look like the first pic. But I am also capable of making a mess - as per pic 2. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 From that I'd say that you are too low on amps and doing everything too slowly. Looks like you're taking too long to get the pool going which is cooking the aluminium. Try increasing amps, if you're 60 now, try 100, you can always back the pedal off. You cleaning with acetone or alcohol before welding? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Thanks for the info. I had reduced the starting amps from 75 to 60 - bad move in hindsight. I will try the Acetone. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Not retated: When I was in the army for my duty, I was trained MIG welding thick (like 25 mm) aluminum for battle damage repair of aluminium (light weight, 20-20 tonne) tanks. It was so simple, once our instructor set the parameters. The torch looked like a machine gun, almost same size. Yes, MIG, not TIG. For my today’s Lincoln MIG welder I bought a training manual that was very helpful to get a good understanding of the effect of changing each parameter ( there are many even with MIG). That helped a lot. Knowing you (a bit) Roger, I’m convinced you will get it sorted. Cheers, Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Hi Waldi, indeed, MIG can do some mighty thick sections. The TIG is coming along. I've only been playing with it for a few days and many of the samples would work OK. Sadly I am not consistent at the moment. Bit practice practice practice and it will come. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crawfie Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 16 minutes ago, RogerH said: Hi Waldi, indeed, MIG can do some mighty thick sections. The TIG is coming along. I've only been playing with it for a few days and many of the samples would work OK. Sadly I am not consistent at the moment. Bit practice practice practice and it will come. Roger ......are you sneaking back into Heathrow and nicking aluminium from all the parked up planes ??? Ill ask my son to look for “holes “ !!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Crawfie said: ......are you sneaking back into Heathrow and nicking aluminium from all the parked up planes ??? Ill ask my son to look for “holes “ !!!! No Need - I borrowed some for safe keeping before I retired. I'm getting through quite a bit at the moment with all this practice. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 I self taught TIG after many years of mig and I reckon I was about 15-20 hours of solid practice (over the period of a month or so) before I could consistently weld thinish aluminium well enough that I'd be happy for it to be seen on a finished project. I started without a foot pedal and just using the button on the torch which I realised was so much harder than using the pedal. As soon as I used a pedal I would never go back to the button! You might find it easier practicing on something thicker, maybe 1/8" sheet. Will be more forgiving at the beginning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Hi M, I am using 3mm Ali Alloy at the moment. I find a problem and TRy to understand what is happening. Lots of problems but so far lots of answers. It is very early days Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 13 hours ago, RogerH said: Hi M, I am using 3mm Ali Alloy at the moment. I find a problem and TRy to understand what is happening. Lots of problems but so far lots of answers. It is very early days Roger 3mm I would have base at 120 amps Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Thanks for that I shall increase it and see what happens. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Hi Folks, had a while this morning doing practice runs on butt joints and solid metal and it was going pretty good more than it wasn't. Foolishly I decided to give it a go for real. The first 3" straight was very good (for me) and then ................................... The best thing I did was to stop before I melted the whole thing. Not sure quite what was going wrong. Removed the filler plate and cleaned up the edges of the hole. I then TRied a few more practice runs and it worked OK Hmmm. Scratch head time and a cuppa Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rawls Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Prep the surface to be welded using a stainless steel wire brush (keep it only for aluminium!) no need for acetone. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Indeed. I use the SS wire brush. I'm running out of things to blame. It is just practice. I am alarmed at how much gas is used. I'm running at 8L/Min and the bottle is less than 1/2 full after what appears to be a short time. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 hour ago, RogerH said: Indeed. I use the SS wire brush. I'm running out of things to blame. It is just practice. I am alarmed at how much gas is used. I'm running at 8L/Min and the bottle is less than 1/2 full after what appears to be a short time. Roger You will get through lots of gas when you're learning. Most of it is being lost with post-flow as you will be stop-start all the time and it's post-flowing everytime you stop. Obviously you won't be constantly stop/starting when you are actually reasonable at TIG welding but you do when learning. I would reduce the post-flow duration to save a bit of gas. Whatever your problems are it isn't post-flow. I'd say you are correct with your diagnosis, just practice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Post Flow shall be reduced. I think it is 8 seconds at the moment. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Just now, RogerH said: Post Flow shall be reduced. I think it is 8 seconds at the moment. Roger That's loads, for what you are doing at the moment 3 seconds would be fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TriumphV8 Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 I found it helpfull to put a steel plate under the seam not to let it pop down and just from the beginning put the focus on connection of both sides of the seam by heating especially in that area. I used the green tungsten sticks that easily brake when sharpening again after used. Any ideas why not to use the golden? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 Hi Andreas, For Aluminium and its alloys I have been using the white electrodes. I think they are Zirconated. Probably from the planet Zircon. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adie TR3A Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 Hi Roger The R tech tig welders are great pieces of kit i have had one for some time now and have done all the body work repairs on my 3 with it. Obviously you are using AC and pure tungsten or zirconated electrodes sticking out about 5mm from the ceramic shield What gas are you using Are you balling the end of the electrode before welding ? Feeding the filler rod took me ages to get the hang of even now i have good and bad days. I found that the WP16 torch that came with the welder somewhat heavy when doing welding on the shell and changed it for a smaller lighter WP9 (R Tech or ebay) also changed the ceramic pots for glass Pyrex ones, eBay again(you can see through them when welding). Have you got an auto dimming welding mask? It's practice .. practice perhaps doing some welding on 1mm steel sheet would give you some practice Regards Adrian Salisbury Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steves_TR6 Posted January 3, 2021 Report Share Posted January 3, 2021 Roger, i saw this and thought of you..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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