Playing with new(to me) R-tech

[Paulbarrett]

Had a play with the r-tech 210ext I picked up from Gavin_d on here.

Straight on some thick aluminium.

This is to replace my 161 r-tech.

Bear in mind I'm still teaching myself. So any tips will be great. Although I'm sure most of you guys feel like you are repeating yourself constantly ...

20mm to 6mm



4mm to 4mm


You can see obvs where a dipped the tip.

 

[Paulbarrett]

Messing with some dirty angle

 

[roofman]

wonderfull stuff...i just need an AC machine in my life iff only for the play factor

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Not too bad, you're obviously getting the idea, you just need o work on putting filler in at regular intervals. , maybe run some flat beads on a pad to get your eye in with the filler

 

[Richard.]

G

Messing with some dirty angle

Get some thinner Alu on the go and everything will seem a bit easier and flow a little better. That thick plate is beyond the unit limits. If you tried on 3-4 mm you'd get some great results. Your runs look cold and inconsistent. The plate is too thick and holding your speed back. Nice job though mate.

 

[AndersK]

Looking as a good start, you will find the tigfinger great for this since the heat spreads quickly on aluminum.

Padding bead after bead on a plate is a good advice that I use for practice myself too. Started on a 50x50x4 mm plate, now its more than 30 mm thick.
Extend the tungsten little extra and increase the arc length a bit so you can see the puddle better. The increased arc length will avoid the bead growing up to the tungsten. Get a good pace once you start moving and try to find a rhythm, will help with the consistency. Best thing with aluminum is that you can run slower than SS and still get it look nice and shiny.

 

[Paulbarrett]

I kinda felt i cracked it in the second pic, thinner bead felt good and comfortable, consustent filler feed too.

Was just a 20min quick play with some offcuts.

I'll be hopefully getting a few Hours in over the weekend too.

Of which I'll be doin some 2mm, as that's what I'll be mostly using soon, fabbing up fuel tank with baffles etc, quite a large tank too.

 

[Paulbarrett]

I know they are ugly, but I'm just pleased how clean they are considering how filthy the ally was. All that messing around with acetone etc is kinda pointless really if the machine isn't setup well.

Also to add it has a gas lense, which in well chuffed with, so much better and easier to use.

 

[Richard.]

They are not ugly at all.

 

[Rrunnach]

6 mm and over, I prefer a wee pre-heat on al/al, even when using a 300 amp machine.