Aluminum Rod melts before reaching puddle

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I'm practicing Aluminum welding and I'm getting a handle on most things except this.About once every three dips the arc jumps from the workpiece to the filller, and the filler balls up, making it difficult to cleanly dip the filler into the pool. I've been trying to keep the filler very low, and dip at the very edge but this continues to be a problem. I'm not sure if it's an equipment/setting problem, or my lack of skill, but I wanted to ask here to find out what other peoples experiences have been.I'm using a Miller Syncrowave 200, set at 8 balance, welding .125 inch aluminum, with 3/32 pure tungsten and 4043 filler rod at about 150 amps, argon set at 17 cfh with a gas lens.Thanks in advance for all responses!
Reply:Torch Angle
Reply:I've checked this and it's really close to 90, although I'm going to double and triple check this. The tungsten end balls up and ends up being slightly larger than the rest of the rod. Would this be a problem?Thanks for the help
Reply:Use 3/32 filler rod at minimum.  Try 1/8"Con Fuse!Miller Dynasty 350Millermatic 350P-Spoolmatic 30AMiller Multimatic 200Hypertherm PowerMax 1000G3Miller Maxstar 200DX
Reply:Originally Posted by canyon289I'm practicing Aluminum welding and I'm getting a handle on most things except this.About once every three dips the arc jumps from the workpiece to the filller, and the filler balls up, making it difficult to cleanly dip the filler into the pool. I've been trying to keep the filler very low, and dip at the very edge but this continues to be a problem. I'm not sure if it's an equipment/setting problem, or my lack of skill, but I wanted to ask here to find out what other peoples experiences have been.I'm using a Miller Syncrowave 200, set at 8 balance, welding .125 inch aluminum, with 3/32 pure tungsten and 4043 filler rod at about 150 amps, argon set at 17 cfh with a gas lens.Thanks in advance for all responses!
Reply:If the arc jumps from the work piece to the filler then your electrode is too far away from the work piece.  One tungsten diameter gap.   Dip the filler in the front of the puddle and let it suck it back.   DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.