tig alum webber bbq lid

admin

a friend came round with his webber grill lid as the wind caught it and snapped the hinge blocks off. they were made of some kind of aluminum. Sorry no camera yet so no pics.the alum. looked crappyI cleaned it up with a sanding flap disk and got down to the shiny metal.it looked about 1/8" thick so i dialed in 130A and turned the pulse off.I plugged in the pedal and set the cleaning to 40% as i use 20% most of the time, but this looked crappy and i couldnt get the flap wheel in eveywhere.It worked, but i didnt use hardly any of the pedal. (130A)i would reckon i welded it at @ 40-50Athat is close to what i set for beer cans which are no where near 1/8" thick.the 5356  1/16" rod seemed to take fine and did not crack at the time.Anyone got an explanation for this strange experience?G
Reply:1/8" seems kind of thick for an aluminum bar-b-q  lid.  I would have guessed around 1/16", which fits more with your estimate of the current you used to make the weld.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Does sound cold for aluminum, but I guess the bottom line is the final weld, if you got good fusion and adequate penetration, you did well.
Reply:If its a small piece the heat builds up in it really fast, thus the need for less amps.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:the first end i did i got a big hole half way through cause i didnt think that the pedal down would be that far away. then i filled it in and finished it with a light foot on the pedal.i got fusionthe second side i held off on the pedal and got a decent looking bead with fusion and no hole  blowing.maybe the material was less than 1/8" now i think back. i didnt measure it. that would make more sense, although with that much cleaning action i think the amps would be still be low even for that, but closer for sure.there was something funny about the way the puddle started also, like the base metal burning back rather than forming a puddle, had to introduce filler rod to stop the burnback and get a puddle.thought id found some strange (to me) type of aluminum. but there i go thinking againThanks for all the answers, and any more that come.G