Aluminum Welding Test 1g .063" 6061 t6

see more tig welding aluminum videos or go to the main TIG welding page

After lots of requests, I have put together a DVD set on strictly TIG videos

Click here or on the image below to learn more about the
New TIG Welding DVD
Best of the Best TIG Welding Videos on a 4 disc set...

Disc 1 - Carbon Steel

Thunderbolt Scratch Start ...Set up for scratch start tig using a simple DC stick welder.

Welding Bookends  TIG welding socket welds for some industrial bookends

Lap Joints CRS 2F   .125" thick lap joints using carbon steel

Delta TIG  is a Job I did for a job shop that involved some small fixtures that were already located by pressed in pins. 

210EXT Tube on Lathe...positioner welds using a turntable along with my very first welding lathe made from an old bicycle.

TIG Weld vs TIG Braze  shows difference in strength between weld vs silicon bronze and aluminum bronze tig brazing

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Disc 2 - Stainless Steel

Stainless Sanitary Tubing...scratch start tig on sanitary stainless tube and purging tips.

Stainless Lap Joints  tips for tack welding and difference in standard collet bodies and gas lenses

Multipass on Shafts  welds in shaft journals and some walking the cup

Freehand vs Walk the Cup shows both techniques on a stainless steel shaft end.

Distortion on Square Tube  ...tips on distortion and  how to sequence welds to keep corners square

BB Box...building a stainless steel box using outside corner joints and importance of gas lens cups and chill bars for stainless steel
 
Disc 3 - Aluminum

Aluminum Laps..using a transformer tig welder...Lincoln 175 to weld lap joints and showing the difference when you mix a bit of helium with the argon.

Aluminum Pie Cuts...Roy Crumrine did a job for a local company where he welded up an intake tube made from aluminum pie cuts.

2F Tee - Lincoln 175..  a very simple tig welding machine used on a 2f horizontal tee joint.

Cast Aluminum...At JD Brewers shop doing a cast aluminum weld repair on an outboard jet pump.

Aluminum Cast Fittings...Roy Crumrine doing positioner welds and also tips for building a stand for a prop.

Expansion Tanks..Roy fitting and welding Aluminum expansion tanks

Outside and Inside Corners...Aluminum tig welding techniques
 
Disc 4 - Pipe

6G 6 Inch  Tig Root techniques for pipe

6G Part 2 - Hot Pass

6G 2 Inch 309   Tig welding root pass in 2" pipe using purge and 309 stainless rod.

Pipe Test Tips...tips for passing a 6g pipe welding test

Here are a few tips I have learned over the years for passing the 1g aluminum welding test using .063" 6061 t6 material.

#1 Remove all oils, inks, tape residue, etc with Acetone

A good acetone wipe to remove all oils and residue helps a lot.

Porosity is the main cause for failure on aluminum butt joints so eliminating all potential causes for porosity is  good step.

Aluminum more prone to porosity than carbon or stainless steels...and oils and residues are prime causes of porosity.

#2 File the edges to be welded.

I learned this one thru lots and lots of testing.

When I worked for a major Airline, I tested welders on all metals and sent the test welds to the NDT inspection department. There was an occasion where we had trouble getting aluminum tests welds to pas x- ray so we designed an experiment to identify the variables most likely to cause failure.

Filing the sheared edge of the aluminum welding test pieces made a bigger difference than most other things.

AWS D17.1 limitations  for linear porosity are more stringent than for scattered porosity so it makes sense that the contaminants found along the sheared edge of the plates might cause excessive linear porosity.

Use a new clean file dedicated to aluminum and when you think you have removed all the rough sheared surface....file a bit more just to make sure.

Trust me...it makes a huge difference on the test results.

#3 Use a new and clean fine bristle stainless wire cup brush

Scotch Brite discs, sanding discs and other abrasives can embed grit or smear polishing compounds into the aluminum and cause porosity.

But a clean stainless steel brush will not embed anything.

I recommend using a fine cup brush with an angle grinder.

After filing and wire brushing, another wipe down with acetone will remove any residue.

#4 Place in a fixture and make a tack weld on each end

There is no requirement to use a fixture for this test but it is advised.

Aluminum test plates will become saturated with heat to the point where everything acts differently.

Some type of fixture is very helpful.

The fixture used in the video was made in one work day out of carbon steel.

It has the capability for argon backing gas but I didn't use argon for this test weld.

While there are some situations where argon backing helps, it is possible to weld an x ray quality joint without argon backing gas.

#5 Settings used for this 1g Aluminum Welding Test on .063" 6061 t6

machine amperage was set to around 85..actual amperage used was 72 amps.

I used advanced square wave

AC frequency was set to 100 hz

AC balance was set to 30% cleaning

#5 cup using 14 cfh argon

3/32" (2.4mm) 2% lanthanated electrode

1/16" (1.6mm)  4043 filler metal