I need to tig weld a aluminium corner so 2 peices of aluminium come together at a right angle.the aluminium is thin around the thickness of a quarter or less. so about 16th of a inch.When ever i try to weld it the metal pulls away and i cant add any filler rod. its cleaned very well. i have the amp set at 80 on ACany help??
I was able to weld aluminum the very first time I tried uing a MIG welder....lots easier to learn than TIG In my humble opinion since the filler is feed out at a steay rate.
With 1/16'' aluminum make sure your fit up is tight, with no cracks at all and then make a tack every few inchs along the joint just using the arc. Aluminum is tricky stuff because it does not get fluid and weld good until it is almost at its melting point, which means you have to be on the ball and watch the puddle and surrounding metal closely before it melts. Try tacking with no filler, just fit them up tight and fuse your tacks in with the arc, you should beable to do that. Im guessing your using high frequency AC tig because your pretty much wasting your time otherwise, so try turning your amps down and playing with the high frequency controls(aka your foot peddle or thumb switch) so you don't melt the aluminum. 80 amps seems hot to me, Ive melted 3/16'' aluminum at 130 amps using a miller syncowave 200, and ive also welded pop cans at 5-25 amps so depending on how good your machine is I would probably start at 60 amps and use the controls to regulate my amperage from there. Remember to keep your pure tungsten electrode close to the material and get your arc as concentrated as possible, and as soon as your filler rod starts melting into the work piece your ready to move, I constant feed the filler rod in and go as fast as i can because aluminum transfers heat fast, once your start point is hot the rest hits your critical weld temperature right after.
