AC TIG Aluminum Noise?

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Is welding aluminum with AC TIG supposed to be noisy?I'm relatively new to welding, did some mild steel and stainless steel over the past few weeks.Now I'm trying to weld some 1/6" thick aluminum cleaned well, 1/16" 2% thoriated electrode sharpened to point, 60 amps, ArcMaster 185 welding machine, and it makes an awful lot of noise.I have no idea if this is normal.
Reply:Yeah its normal. Don't worry. Was that a typo? Did you mean 1/16"? Wait till you use more amps, it will get louder
Reply:Yes, sorry, 1/16" thick.Thanks for the immediate reply!I did a search for "aluminum noise", "aluminum noisy", "aluminum sound", "ac noise", "ac sound", "hf sound", "hf noise", and couldn't find anything.Then I searched for the same things on Google and couldn't find anything.Usually I can find something somewhere, but not in this case.Last edited by turboimpala; 08-05-2008 at 10:00 PM.
Reply:I am not familiar with your machine, can you adjust the frequency?
Reply:Originally Posted by BurnitI am not familiar with your machine, can you adjust the frequency?
Reply:Yes, AC tig is a good bit louder than DC tig.  As amperage increases it will get louder.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Actually the Arc Master 185 is relatively quiet on AC compared to other machines I've used.
Reply:Try 250 amps square wave balanced. Not only do ear plugs keep hot stuff out of your ears, they block sound as well.
Reply:Originally Posted by turboimpalaIs welding aluminum with AC TIG supposed to be noisy?I'm relatively new to welding, did some mild steel and stainless steel over the past few weeks.Now I'm trying to weld some 1/6" thick aluminum cleaned well, 1/16" 2% thoriated electrode sharpened to point, 60 amps, ArcMaster 185 welding machine, and it makes an awful lot of noise.I have no idea if this is normal.
Reply:if you think the tig machine make a racket, then try pulse welding on a mig machine at about 450 amps. the first time I used pulse mig I thought the machine was going to explode.
Reply:Originally Posted by Broccoli1Yes.But going from DC Tig - ahh silent, to AC Bzzzzzzzzz probably freaked him outI started on AC- aloominum first so I thought that was what Tig welding was going to sound like-Man on DC it sure is nice and quiet.I have the same machine.
Reply:The AC is noisy.Normal. But you should be using pure tungsten and form a ball on the end of the tungsten.AWS certified welding inspectorAWS certified welder
Reply:Originally Posted by Donald BranscomThe AC is noisy.Normal. But you should be using pure tungsten and form a ball on the end of the tungsten.
Reply:Yes, with inverter machines, you don't have to use AC and pure tungsten and "ball the end".  You can use 2% thoriated, blunt the tip after you sharpen the tungsten, and go to town.  The nice thing with the inverters is that you can use 2% with straight argon, and get a good weld going.  Or, switch to DCSP, and get rid of that AC buzz, but you will have to deal with the "scream" fron the high freq as you narrow the arc.....Mind you, it takes a great deal of practice to do thin section aluminum with DCSP as opposed to AC, but since you've got the machine, play with it.....I r 2 a perfessional