Initial setting of Pulse and Balance

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I am going to try welding aluminium and was wondering what my initial settings for pulse and balance should be.   Thermal arc 185, 1/16 aluminum.  I figured I would try 100 amp setting(I have foot control), 65% balance, I was thinking pulse should be timed to how fast you dip filler.  Is this correct?  It is just a guess on my part.  What do others here set their machine at?  Instead of making it more confusing should I just try initially without pulse?  Am I in the ballpark for balance?  Clean aluminum sheet, newbie. (I have no problem at all with the machine welding steel.)Thermal Arc 185 TigHTP 200 MigCraftsman O/A1942 Bridgeport Mill12 Ton Hyd PressConsew Walking Foot
Reply:I go with 65 or 70% penetration, seems to work well for me. I think for small 1/16 pieces I used 80 or 90 amps max on the welder.Pulse, like you say time to your dips, or don't bother. Once you practice a bit you should find 1/16 is pretty easy to manage w/o any pulse at all. Good luck, don't feel bad if it looks like crap at first. Certainly took me a while to learn. For me this works well:1. wire brush (manually) pieces2. hold gun nearly vertical3. GUN IT! pump heat into the joint quickly4. wait for a shiny, very reflective looking surface to appear5. dip away and start moving along the jointand of course, 6. post pictures here and brag about your accomplishment - John
Reply:I agree with the post by RUNCHMAN.  If you are brand new to TIG and Aluminum remember that aluminum is never TOO clean. Aluminum conducts heat very rapidly so the heat needed to start will leave a hole at the end of the weld, you need to back off on the pedal. Learning to TIG would be easier if you started with a clean plate of aluminum and just make a row of little puddles. In fact make rows and rows of just puddles without the filler rod. After you have mastered the little puddle thing, start dipping the filler. Practice, practice, practice.  I love to weld aluminum, but after welding with stick and MIG for over 20 years, it took me some time to master TIG and look for the shiny aluminum and make little puddles. Before you know it, it will become automatic- your hands and your brain will just do it without thinking.Last edited by MJDamiani; 01-11-2007 at 10:31 PM.
Reply:And something might be wrong with me, because I'll frequently spend a half hour or so (like I just did now) just welding together aluminum scrap for 'fun'. Somehow I find it relaxing. My neighbor gave me a bunch of 1/16" sheet scrap as thanks for helping him with a project, so I'm welding bits together into a useless pseudo-sculpture. I wish I could come up with a REAL project for welding aluminum, any ideas???- John
Reply:Relaxing here too. Maybe it is the buzzing noise. I just made a bracelet rack for my wife out of aluminum last night. Came out good. I did this standing up and leaning over the work cause the 6" rods I had were sticking up and it was tough for me to sit down to do it. I have now been hired to make another one for the wife. I will post pics of this one. I have a Dyn 300DX and do not use pulse either on thin stuff. Rule of thumb is every .01 = 1 amp (a/c). So 1/16 = .0625. I would start at around 70amps or so.  T.J.www.tjsperformance.com
Reply:The idea of the balance is to control how much DC electrode positive is in the AC wave form and thus control the amount of arc cleaning versus the penetration achieved on the DC electrode negative portion of the cycle.You can see the frosted area around the AC aluminum weld that has been cleaned by the arc.A reason to limit the DCEP cleaning action is that it restricts the current capacity of the electrode so you can't crank up the heat as much, and at any given current, more DCEP results in less penetration as well.For some cosmetic purposes, you can adjust the width of this cleaned area so it is not a whole lot wider than the weld bead.