Mighty Overlords of Welding.
I was practising welding Aluminium yesterday. I've got some 2 or 3mm thick coupons that I've cut up and I was welding them together and just running beads on them. Sadlly I've got two slight issues.
The first one, which isn't necessarily related to Alu, but my welding in general. It is however more prominent on Alu welding. I just don't seem to get the pool going well. I heat the metal up, and I get a shiny Alu surface. But then I've got issues. I don't seem to get the "first dip" going very well. I seem melt the filler rod before I get to the molten point. I end up with these huge half-molten drips on the filler rod, and I just don't seem to be able to get them into the pool very well.
Once I have made the first successful "dip" I seem to be able to run quite nice beads. I feed the filler rod into the front of the pool and all is well. But before I have that "rise" above the surface I don't seem to be able to dip the filler in very easily.
As I said, this isn't necessarily related to Alu as I seem to get that filler-blob on mild steel too.
Is there any trick to get the filler rod dipped well, especially for the first time in Alu?
The second issue is... *drumroll* the first time I star welding, after grinding the Tungsten, I get a black-mark around Alu. Very similar to when I touch down the tungsten into Alu. I even tried it especially yesterday. I held the Tungsten way above the Alu, and started the arc, just for a tiny time, and the result was a dark "halo" around where I had the tungsten. I think I also get this on mild steel, but obviously it's not as visible. I get sort of a "woosh" or a bit of "uneasy" arc around the tungsten the first time I start the arc. It goes away quite quickly once the arc (seems to) have burned "the **** off"?!
I grind the tungstens on my Axminster Disc Sander. I do use it for other stuff too, not only tungstens.
Is the tungsten just dirty from the grinding or is there some other issue?
Thanks!!
I was practising welding Aluminium yesterday. I've got some 2 or 3mm thick coupons that I've cut up and I was welding them together and just running beads on them. Sadlly I've got two slight issues.
The first one, which isn't necessarily related to Alu, but my welding in general. It is however more prominent on Alu welding. I just don't seem to get the pool going well. I heat the metal up, and I get a shiny Alu surface. But then I've got issues. I don't seem to get the "first dip" going very well. I seem melt the filler rod before I get to the molten point. I end up with these huge half-molten drips on the filler rod, and I just don't seem to be able to get them into the pool very well.
Once I have made the first successful "dip" I seem to be able to run quite nice beads. I feed the filler rod into the front of the pool and all is well. But before I have that "rise" above the surface I don't seem to be able to dip the filler in very easily.
As I said, this isn't necessarily related to Alu as I seem to get that filler-blob on mild steel too.
Is there any trick to get the filler rod dipped well, especially for the first time in Alu?
The second issue is... *drumroll* the first time I star welding, after grinding the Tungsten, I get a black-mark around Alu. Very similar to when I touch down the tungsten into Alu. I even tried it especially yesterday. I held the Tungsten way above the Alu, and started the arc, just for a tiny time, and the result was a dark "halo" around where I had the tungsten. I think I also get this on mild steel, but obviously it's not as visible. I get sort of a "woosh" or a bit of "uneasy" arc around the tungsten the first time I start the arc. It goes away quite quickly once the arc (seems to) have burned "the **** off"?!
I grind the tungstens on my Axminster Disc Sander. I do use it for other stuff too, not only tungstens.
Is the tungsten just dirty from the grinding or is there some other issue?
Thanks!!