Aluminum TIG beads

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I TIG aluminum since couple months where i work, i learned it in the shop not at school, i've been to school in Architectural Fab and drawings but not in welding so there's always couple info missing about welding!Last week i was doing a big aluminum job (i made a thread here about this job last week)and i learned a lot during this job about aluminum welding, my welds looks really well, about the fusion i understand how its work just need to be faster than steel because its melt faster, and my weld beads look equal and regular, where i have a probleme is when i ''meet'' a new type of joint or a shape that i never tried before.But during the last week while i was welding i tried so many different parameters and travel speed and feeding speed, and maybe 3 differents size of filler rods, when i was feeding with 3/32 filler rods, to be able to fill the joint i had to be really fast with the rod wich make really tight stacked beads, from my eyes that was looking good and the joint was perfectly filled, but to give you an idea in 1 inche of welds there was maybe arround 20 or 25 filler rods drops, so the welds looks good and beads where smaller and tight stacked!Now with the 1/8'' filler rods, with the same example of 1'' weld, i had to put almost 6 or 7 big drops beads, wich to my eyes looked really nice and perfect, the beads was longer than my second example, in 1 inche of welds i had maybe 7'' long perfect filler drops and the joint was filled with the same ''amount'' of material, but i had to travel slower and drops slower!My questions now (if everyone understand what im trying to say) is the result will be the same in both case ? 3/32 rods with faster feeding and stacked beads VS 1/8 rods with slower feeding and longer spaced beads ? Is there a ''Normal'' ''standard'' looking of a TIG beads ? Because to my eyes both look good and both joint looked filled as the same ! I have no pictures of my welds because i have an old phone.Last edited by LayoutMan; 12-16-2012 at 04:58 PM.Calculator > Bevel Square
Reply:30 to a maximum of 50% of the face width is what I shoot for. 50% absolutelty being maximum. Just be careful to get full pen to the root, and maintain sufficient throat thickness. And if the weld looks puss, all the better. I like big filler and get close to the 50% size.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:I asked a similar question about dip spacing. I like the sound of the 30-50% rule of thumb. Thanks, Terry!
Reply:Originally Posted by shovelon30 to a maximum of 50% of the face width is what I shoot for. 50% absolutelty being maximum. Just be careful to get full pen to the root, and maintain sufficient throat thickness. And if the weld looks puss, all the better. I like big filler and get close to the 50% size.
Reply:Originally Posted by zankI asked a similar question about dip spacing. I like the sound of the 30-50% rule of thumb. Thanks, Terry!
Reply:Originally Posted by soutthpawHad our first welding club meeting this afternoon and I shared you big filler tip with the members...  that was a huge help for me when u showed me that
Reply:Love it! How thick is that tubing?
Reply:Originally Posted by zankLove it! How thick is that tubing?