Cleaner weld on Aluminum w helium mix than straight Argon?

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Some of my welds as of late have been almost of the verge of burning despite no changes in technique or machine settings. What I did notice was it happened as soon as I bought a new box of Harris rod. I forget the last company, but it was much more forgiving. Only really a problem when I have to turn the machine up in amperage. 80-100 on .125 tanks are just fine and shiny as normal. This weekend was pretty cold early so I left the argon flow the same, and just opened my helium. So flow went up overall. But I noticed that w the mix, the welds were nice and shiny like they should be on the thicker parts. The cast end tanks and the thicker fittings welded to the end tanks. The cleaning action seemed to be working much harder than on pure argon. Is it my imagination? Or should my flow maybe been higher when I was on pure argon w amps turned up? What's going on?! Lol
Reply:Not really cleaner, just hotter. Could be the junk is boiling out for the base material and you are getting better dilution of the rod into it.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:Have you tried a new argon bottle? 1 out of 4 bottles i get from AOC (now Praxair) is bad (imo). Im no expert, but its like they have started to allow a higher level of "contamination" than normal. Most of the time its so subtle that 99.99% wouldn't notice. It varies in how "bad" it is. Im used to a certain level of quality so if its off even just a little, i can tell.www.performancealuminumfabrication.com
Reply:Originally Posted by travisc454Have you tried a new argon bottle? 1 out of 4 bottles i get from AOC (now Praxair) is bad (imo). Im no expert, but its like they have started to allow a higher level of "contamination" than normal. Most of the time its so subtle that 99.99% wouldn't notice. It varies in how "bad" it is. Im used to a certain level of quality so if its off even just a little, i can tell.
Reply:Originally Posted by shovelonNot really cleaner, just hotter. Could be the junk is boiling out for the base material and you are getting better dilution of the rod into it.
Reply:I notice regular gas contamination at work, but for me, it usually runs in big batches.  I'll end up with ALL the bottles having contamination, rather than 1 is bad the rest are good.  I'm assuming that you are TIG welding, and you can do a seat of the pants check by making a single puddle on clean steel, leaving the torch in place, and watching for oxidation colors to form while the post flow is going.  If you get colors while post flow is on, chances are good you have a contaminated bottle.Miller Dynasty 200 DXMiller CP-300 with 30A feederHypertherm Powermax 900Oxy-fuel w/Harris torchesScotchman Glide-in bandsawMonarch 10EE latheEmi-Mec Autoturn latheDeckel FP2NC milling machinePro-Tools 105 Bender