Various Tig Welding Aluminum Questions

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Im having difficulty cleaning aluminum, both the piece to be welded, and the filler rod.I have tried using red scotch bright pads, and stainless steel brush. I follow up cleaning with Denatured Alcohol, and acetone.1.  When cleaning should I only go in one direction?1a. How do you clean your filler rods?1b. How long can I let aluminum sit before I have to re-clean it?2. When I weld with 5356 filler, my restarts are terrible, I have a green ozone effect around everything, and the filler rod balls up like solder.  4043 is much better.why is 5356 such a PITA?3. I am currently designing a fuel tank for my shifter kart, and I would like to keep the aluminum nice looking without huge cleaning stroke from the scotebrite or SS brush.  My instructor told me you can set up the machine(Miller 200dx dynasty) so you can barely see the cleaning from the A/C? How do I set this up?4. When tacking together my coupons for a 90 degree outside corner joint, one side tacks together perfect, but when I flip it to the other side, it doesn't tack, instead both pieces of metal melt and curl on the edge opening a huge jap?Thank you fellas.
Reply:The only time I have issues with starts and restarts is when I dont wait long enough for the puddle to form. If you try to melt the filler with the arc, it balls up as you are describing. Is this your first time with AL?Also, a stainless brush and Acetone should be all you need for cleaning.As far as the coupon goes, I can only think you are not using enough amps on your starts. The first tack gets the AL heat soaked, and the second tack isnt a high enough amp level to get the puddle to flow quickly. It heats up, then reaches the melting point and the whole end falls apart.Rule of thumb, two to three seconds to get a puddle started, if its much longer the part gets too heat soaked and your welds become out of control.
Reply:List all of your settings. You can dial it in pretty good. If you are not sure default is pretty good for sheet metal.I use 2% red tungsten or 2% lanthanayed on my 200dx. Sharpen it to a point with a pencil like taper. It will ball back some on it's own. The ceriated they give you is not so good.Anyway 5356 filler is correct for any type of tank as it is stronger and has more ductility than 4043. The last thin you want is the sides to flex and snap the welds. Yes 5356 does not flow as easy, but you can use that go four benefit by moving faster with more heat. The green glow is the magnesium providing some exothermic reaction to the arc. It's the magnesium that gives strength to 5356.Oh, are you pinching the seam together with you fingers then tacking with a high burst of arc? Try freq of 200 at 60% balance and see if that helps. Also keep your gas flow low for tacks as the gas surge may mess you up.The autogenous tacks should be instantaneous.Again posting you parameters will help a lot. Gas flow, cup size, tungsten type and size. Ac  settings too.Last edited by shovelon; 12-10-2014 at 08:27 AM.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:what machine. tungsten will ball up its getting hot so its pretty normal when you don't have setting adjusted properly. balled up tungsten is not a problem it will still weld fine. Although I prefer sharp tungsten with small mm size ball at the end for more precision. You need more freq less,cleaning, and ep/en setting set for this though which a lot of machines don't have.take a picture of your alum. we will let you know if it needs cleaning. unless its got oil on it or visually looks dirty its fine, Ive almost never cleaned alum in my life and I have never though of cleaning filler rod lol. Its all about practice, alum can be frustrating, keep the joints tight and arc up hot, taper the arc on both alum pieces and then once you see it wet then dipthat dynasty should have all settings, I use dynasty 350100% of my time I set freq at 150-250en at 300ep at 100-150cleaning at 80%Last edited by taizer; 12-10-2014 at 10:53 AM.
Reply:More info:Miller dynasty 200dxred tungsten 3/32"5356 fillercoupon is about .125 or soclean with red scotchbrite pads or ss brush wipe with either D. Alcohol or Acetone.Clean filler rod the samewelder settings are in the picno pulse yet. I think the aluminum is 40xx or 50xx
Reply:Not bad. You should not have to clean your filler. I never do it unless it got contaminated by accident, so I don't really get that. As far as cleaning the parts, yes some scotchbrite then acetone.Are you using the default settings in the memory? It will let you do a pretty good job, except I like to turn the freq down to 100 from 120htz. That's it.So yes, 5356 is a bit dirtier, but it is way better in performance. 4943 is a close second, and 4043 is crap IMO.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:ok first of all those pieces of alum are clean as can be and by cleaning with scotbrite you are not doing anything at all except contaminating it, second while red will weld fine Id try a grey tunsten, imo red has too many problems with alum always cracking or bending. Dont clean it with anything let the high freq do its work and weld it. go with 80c and more freq and run it nice and hot and you will get full penetration and pass bend test, thats what im assuming your doing.
Reply:Looking at the coupon.on.the left it looks like its getting overheated by the time you get that far down it. I would suggest faster travel speed, or trying to taper off the power if possible.
Reply:Thanks for the tips guys. I think i will try some gray tungsten and see what happens. In the picture above that was probably week 4 in the semester. I have never done any welding before. I am trying to soak up as much info as I can.  I think one thing that has helped me alot is to keep to filler rod within the gas envelope. So it doesn't suck in contaminates.
Reply:Originally Posted by taizerok first of all those pieces of alum are clean as can be and by cleaning with scotbrite you are not doing anything at all except contaminating it, second while red will weld fine Id try a grey tunsten, imo red has too many problems with alum always cracking or bending. Dont clean it with anything let the high freq do its work and weld it. go with 80c and more freq and run it nice and hot and you will get full penetration and pass bend test, thats what im assuming your doing.
Reply:The only reason I was told not to use Red on A/C is because it can't handle the DCEP swing. Never heard it always causes cracks.
Reply:Originally Posted by turismolover22The only reason I was told not to use Red on A/C is because it can't handle the DCEP swing. Never heard it always causes cracks.
Reply:I am all opposite of everything mentioned here.Was using a squarewave 175 and now a syncrowave 250I've always used to use pure tung because thats "the right way" but have tried and now use red for everything.With aluminum like pictured I do no cleaning what so ever.I ALWAYS use 4043 filler for pretty much everything.No issues ever. I very much dislike welding with 5356 filler. I only use it when absolutely necessary.12v battery, jumper cables, and a 6013.I only have a facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/VPT/244788508917829
Reply:yeah i meant tungsten electrode cracking but im picky when welding alum thats why I said imo. Every welder will weld differently and honestly the only thing you can do is practice. Im at the point where i make changed on the fly, machine settings and whatnot depending on situation im in. Im constantly changing settings, I mean with a dynasty its almost too many settings you are always trying to perfect it. I hate balling the tungsten like most guys do. I like to keep it pretty much pointed if I can
Reply:Originally Posted by FastsofaIm having difficulty cleaning aluminum, both the piece to be welded, and the filler rod.I have tried using red scotch bright pads, and stainless steel brush. I follow up cleaning with Denatured Alcohol, and acetone.1.  When cleaning should I only go in one direction?1a. How do you clean your filler rods?1b. How long can I let aluminum sit before I have to re-clean it?2. When I weld with 5356 filler, my restarts are terrible, I have a green ozone effect around everything, and the filler rod balls up like solder.  4043 is much better.why is 5356 such a PITA?3. I am currently designing a fuel tank for my shifter kart, and I would like to keep the aluminum nice looking without huge cleaning stroke from the scotebrite or SS brush.  My instructor told me you can set up the machine(Miller 200dx dynasty) so you can barely see the cleaning from the A/C? How do I set this up?4. When tacking together my coupons for a 90 degree outside corner joint, one side tacks together perfect, but when I flip it to the other side, it doesn't tack, instead both pieces of metal melt and curl on the edge opening a huge jap?Thank you fellas.