What does it mean when your filler rod balls up to turds?

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I was making a square aluminum box to practice corner joints and such. The 4 sides went together rather well. Today I cut the ends and went to weld them up. Thickness is .025 so I set my welder for a max of 32amps. 1/16th ceriated, 15cfh, 4043 1/16th filler and wire brushed the ends of the metal which worked fine for the ends yesterday. The aluminum turned black in some spots, kept burning holes in others and the filler rod kept balling up to a turd. Needless to say I have to start from scratch which is good practice but I was hoping this was going to turn out well.Torchmate 2x2 CNC with Flashcut CNC controlsHypertherm Powermax45 Esab ET220i Razorweld 195 MigRazorweld 200ac/dc TigTormach 770, Tormach xstechRazorweld, Vipercut/Vipermig, SSC Foot Pedal Dealer
Reply:How about the air inside the box is getting hot and expanding which means it is flowing into the arc and surrounding area?
Reply:Did you really mean .025? If so, no big surprise you had issues. Last time I checked you were still having issues with 1/8" steel let alone the 1/16" alum you tried to do. Now you are jumping to about 24ga and trying to do outside corners as well!  1/16" filler is 2.5x the size of your material. Maybe mig wire instead?.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:You will get  a "turd ball" on the filler rod when you are trying to add at to cold of a temp at your base metal, maybe your puddle is nonexistent or barely and not hot enough... not melting all the way and it just balls up.  Keep the filler rod out of the heat zone and only dip in when you want to put a little fill in the puddle otherwise it can get to hot and also ball up.  Hope that makes since and have fun learning.
Reply:Originally Posted by fran...k.How about the air inside the box is getting hot and expanding which means it is flowing into the arc and surrounding area?
Reply:Sometimes the heat zone is to big to get the filler to the puddle before it melts off. Instead of reaching for another filler I normally try to cram the filler in fast to get it in the puddle before it melts off. There are lots of different tricks for this kind of thing one of which includes cutting up the filler.
Reply:Although I don't have much experience with aluminum that thin, I will throw my two pennies at you anyway... When welding aluminum you need to look for the base material to "keyhole" and then without hesitation, add your filler. The second you hesitate, your filler will ball up. You must also keep your filler out of the arc and it's heat meaning if your torch angle is incorrect, that heat is now going elsewhere... Maybe, to the tip of your filler rod. On that note, remember that your filler and base material may be different grades of aluminum, thus possessing different properties, including melting points. These are just some small things that i try to keep in mind. Most importantly... Have fun and keep that hood down... It's all about practice.Good luck,Marc
Reply:Oh yeah, practice just fusing the metals together without any filler.  Then start practicing adding filler.  If it is that thin may not need much for structural strength anyway.DSW's comment about using mig wire is that you have to match the diameter of filler to metal being welded.  I believe he was saying your filler was too big which would require to much heat for the metal you where welding to.  That is why your base metal would melt away and your filler would only ball up.  Your filller is requiring more heat to melt than base and is hard to make it happen.Not only smaller filler , but also smaller tungsten and collet may help.What size is your aluminum... .025??