Al Tig

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okay.. the welders at work are having troubles with porosity while welding vertical up on AL. they are trying to get certified and failed the first time. i'm not sure what settings they are using. the first few inches (less than three) are looking beautiful, as are the vertical down and flat. their thoughts are that the smoke being generated in the vertical up posistion is causing contamination. is there anyway to get rid of the smoke, or have it not cause contamination without having to stop every few inches and clean thenext area? they are trying to do 3 passes on a 20 inch joint. stopping every 2-3 inches is jsut not feasable. although the tester said they won't get docked for stopping and re-starting during the test, it jsut is not efficient to ahve to do this.any idea woudl be greatly appreciated.later,Andy
Reply:Sometimes when going vertical up, people have the tendency to pull the nozzle away from the piece and they lose the sheilding from the gas. Hope That helps.Nothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.
Reply:first thoughts,...  there should not be any smoke produced when using TIG! somethings very wrong if there isporosity in Al is usually the result of inadequate cleaning. hydrogen is soluble in liquid Al but not solid- leaves the Al during solidification but gets trapped, resulting in porosity. dirt, grease (hyrdocarbons) and/or moisture are the the usual sources (hence brushing with a stainless brush to remove the oxide film which is porous and can absorb dirt, moisture etc). the filler can also be a source of contamination if old/badly stored- wipe with scotchbrite to remove oxide filmas for the smoke, contaminating the tungsten (tungsten touched work, filler touched arc/tungsten) will vaporise some Al and leave a sooty deposit on the metal- is this what they mean? trying to continue with a contamined tungsten won't help- need to stop and clean the tungsten and work
Reply:oops, just re-read the origonal post and realised the problem is only vertical up- obviously not lack of cleanliness. sorryif the filler/torch angles are wrong, the filler may be melting from the heat while outside of the shieldLast edited by hotrodder; 10-12-2007 at 07:23 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by hotrodderif the filler/torch angles are wrong, the filler may be melting from the heat while outside of the shield
Reply:what about a couple of pics?Then we'll figure it out.. ...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:i'll see what i can do on Monday. the shop is closed this weekend, plus it's a 45 minute drive for me. i'll TRY  to remember by camera.Later,Andy
Reply:scratch the TIG portion. come to find out, the guys are trying to MIG the Al. they are pushing about 40-45 of 100% Argon and are getting smoke that rises and contaminates the weld. remember... they are doing a vertical up weld test. i don't have any pictures (sorry). the main problem they are having is as the smoke rises, it leaves a layer of a black sooty deposit in their path and this is causing them to either have to stop and clean the joint, then re-start with a cold bead, or they get excessive porosity in the weld itself due to contamination. any ideas on how to avoid this? it jsut isn't practical to have to stop every couple inches to clean the weld on a 14 & 20 inch test plate. any thing you guys could suggest would be greatly appreciated. i thought about using a fan to blow the smoke away, but that would probably blow the argon away from the arc.thanks!Andy
Reply:It doesn't sound like your getting a good metal transfer in the arc. Are you running pulse or not. I've done alot of Al with mig and you need to run your eletrical stickout relitivly further than with steel mig. You need to give the filler enough room to spray in. You'll know if your doing it right otherwise you'll get excessive smoke, spatter, and a crackling noise. What type of machines are you using and what filler. Maybe i can reccamend some settings.
Reply:sorry for the questions guys... come to find out, they think it's a problem with the gun itself. they are thinking that there is a leak in the hose somewhere and it is allowing air to get into the Argon flow line. they also found out that the guy that marks all the wire in the supply room, mis-marked the spools, (douschebag ) causing the wire material to be different than what is required. so again, i appologize for asking all the stupid questions, but thanks for all the responses.Later,Andy
Reply:they also found out that the guy that marks all the wire in the supply room, mis-marked the spools, (douschebag )[/QUOTE] LMFAO Last edited by Doug247; 10-16-2007 at 03:44 PM.Reason: oops my mistake please fixNothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.
Reply:Originally Posted by aczeller they also found out that the guy that marks all the wire in the supply room, mis-marked the spools, (douschebag )