Taming the Helwelder Beast

[shenion]

I bet you're dead chuffed Shenion. Hat off to you. Good looking welds, and obviously a top line welder (after you'd sorted it!)

Well done!

Si

Thanks.

Top line? I'm just OK. When thing go great I look good. When it goes wrong I'm still a bit baffled.

Really, the best teacher for me was using that crappy MAPP/O2 setup. I finally got where I could do sloppy welds with it. All that time managing a weld pool that you could barely control really helped. Finally gave up on it and did brazing, so much easier. But again it is like soldering.

MIG was not difficult as you have better control and a far better heat source.

With the TIG, I can do much better. Have a way to go with thin stuff, corner welds. Will need to be real good before attacking one of those small engines. The castings can be pretty bad. I have seen some the metal is all crystallized by poor casting.

Yes, I am exstatic ( currently doing the gold miner happy dance).

Did another weld with a scraped-down 6011 rod. Almost as good, rod is a bit large.

Would like to try the brazing rods I have (Alumiweld). Could be useful on the stuff I don't want to distort. Real hard to use with gas as you have to work though the oxide layer (stir weld). Should no longer be a problem.

 

[malcolm]

Amazing to be getting decent welds on aluminium with TIG on the first day. Must help to have done gas before - I could run a reasonable looking weld without filler fairly quickly but it took me ages to get the hang of dipping the filler wire in. Looks like the beast is working well.

The foot pedal sounds like an interesting project.

 

[shenion]

Depends on the filler. I was smart and used 5356. I knew 4043 would melt before you got to the weld pool. Even the higher-temp 5356 would melt real fast.

I was using 3 strands of 0.030 5356 mig wire twisted together. (I have to use that stuff up.)

Yes, doing gas helped. Also looking at some of the gas welding on youtube reminded me of some tricks. I got a few blobs trying to dip the wire. Just like gas, moved torch around it and the blob flattened out. Many years of soldering/brazing helped.

It is like soldering pipes (done bunch of pluming), the solder will tend to flow toward the heat. That is one thing that surprised me about TIG. With MIG the weld pool was like goo, little flow (adding helium would help that). TIG is very fluid. I think vertical and overhead will be real tough with Al to do a flat weld.

I spent several hours trying to do MIG Al welding. Definitely helped get a feel for managing a weld pool in Al.

Footpedal is just a potentiometer and a MOSFET transistor. I could get fancy with amplifiers and resistor simulators to exactly match the factory one. This will drop the current a bit due to drop in transistor, but I have a long way to go up above what I will use. Will put the active part inside the beast. The footpedal will be the same as most other pedals.

I will post a thread on the footpedal. Just won an ebay auction for a footpedal control for Dremel-like tools, cost $9.99 + ship. I'll show pics of removing unneeded stuff and bring out the potentiometer. I will add a switch to turn off contactor on full close.

 

[Kip Kern]

Airco 300 Amp Monster

Shenion I have the exact same welder and am in need of an owners manual. Do you have one and can I get a copy? Will be more than happy to pay for your troubles.

 

[shenion]

I have a printed manual for a later (or earlier) model. I have some .pdf files with the parts list and a barely readable schematic.

The pdf's and schematic can be found here: Airco Files

The manual is 30 pages, will take me a while to scan or copy it. Is there anything specific you need out of it? I can scan a few pages if needed.

 

[Kip Kern]

Airco 300 Amp Heliwelder

Shenion, Thanks for the rapid response. I would like to have a handbook copy to understand the control panel better and also make any adjustments to my welder. It has been in continuous use since "72" and has performed excellent. A little old but a good welder. I have a copy of the parts manual for this machine and was able to get some moveable contacts from California, all else seems OK. I restore vintage off road motorcycles and this welder will enable me to build my own exhaust systems. I have 2 MIG's currently in use now so the TIG will come in handy for my thin material work. My email is captkip@comteck.com if needed for a personal contact info for the copy.

 

[shenion]

Ok, scanned in the manual It can be downloaded here: Airco Manual

Hope you have a high-speed connection as it is 52 megs

Hmm, first time I scanned it in it was 5mB as a pdf file. This time it is big. Looks like scanner screwed up on one page and did color so all is in color.

 

[Kip Kern]

Airco 300 Amp Heliwelder

Shenion, Thanks a bunch, will forward to a faster computer as our home machine is "dial up" Greatly appreciate the help.

 

[Kip Kern]

Airco 300 Amp Heliwelder

Shenion, Thanks a bunch, made 2 copies, one for me and one for a friend who has the same welder!