AC TIG Welding Settings and Videos - Simple Explanations

scroll down for videos on AC tig welding settings, videos, and also DC tig welding settings.

The first minute of this Video shows the most common Mistake made on AC tig welding aluminum fillet welds

AC and DC TIG Welding Settings

In my opinion, the primeweld 225 is one of the best choices in affordable tig welders.

The problem with most other really affordable tig welders is usually a really cheap foot pedal and TIG torch. Primeweld went to extra expense to include a genuine CK17 torch with superflex hose along with a very smooth SSC style foot pedal.

A high quality CK dinse adapter is also included so that you can easily swap out a tig torch or cable when the time comes.

Primeweld also has a responsive primeweld equipment users group on facebook and also has demonstrated great customer support

Watch some more primeweld videos and you will see what I mean.

7 Tips for AC TIG Welding Aluminum

the video above demonstrates 7 great tips for AC TIG welding of aluminum

AC TIG Welding Aluminum Lap Joint

Watch this video that shows tig welding .125" thick aluminum lap joints

The AC in "AC TIG welding" stands for Alternating Current.

What that means is the the current alternates between Electrode Negative and electrode positive.

The reason for using AC on aluminum is that it breaks up the aluminum oxide film.

Old tig welding machines did not have a setting to adjust the way the current alternates but most newer TIG machines have a feature called AC balance.

During the electrode positive part of the AC cycle, there is a phenomenon called cathodic etching that helps to break up the aluminum oxide layer.

This is also called "cleaning action" and the AC balance setting on newer TIG inverters lets you adjust the the cleaning action according to the condition of the aluminum, or other factors.

AC balance is a very useful setting but I personally find that once I dial in the sweet spot AC balance setting on a tig machine, I usually stay within a few percent. So if I set AC balance on 70% cleaning, I might go as low as 67% or has high as 73% but I rarely go outside this range.

The Video above on AC balance shows how to use this feature

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