Stack of dimes?

[ASKANDY]

#1 Butt welds

[ASKANDY]

#2 Butt weld

[ASKANDY]

#3 outside corner

[ASKANDY]

#4normal or common space outside corner

[ASKANDY]

tighter outside corner

[ASKANDY]

wide spacing

[ASKANDY]

fillet

[ASKANDY]

fillet2

[ASKANDY]

fillet common spacing

[ASKANDY]

fillet tight and wide

[Bob Sigmon]

Andy,

Those are great examples. I'll be printing those out as something to shoot for! What were the settings on your machine, etc?

Thanks for taking the time to do up these examples, they will be very helpful.

Bob Sigmon

[arcdawg]

nice job

andy thanks for posting that,

now my question is dont you want the STACK OF DIME TIGHT like the middle one on that t joint ?

well thats what i was always told, its much stronger when the RIPPLES are tighter.

when i attended the RED motorsports class they said that NASCAR likes them LOOSE (its more appealing to the eye )

but that was great, some SWEET BEADS !!!!!

BRIAN

[ASKANDY]

You are right Arcdawg. Typically you want at least 60-70% bead overlap. You need to cover the center crater fully and make sure that the toes do not indent too much. you are right in saying that alot of people like the looks of the wider bead and in some cases, the wider bead is fine as long as it's not structural. Things like Alum Valve covers, racing seats, oil pans and tanks, even radiators and oil coolers. I have a long road ahead of me in trying to get them to tighten up.

Machine settings were 140A (which I know I wasn't near that on the pedal), 77 Balance and 125 frequency for the outside corners and Butt welds and 115 for the fillet. Could have left it all at 120 freq.

Bob, no problem... I really didn't take that much time doing them...It took me longer to take the pics and download than the welding. One day I'll sit down and take my time and run some longer examples.

Hope these help. It's really a rhythm that you need to find. Start slow..dab..move..dab..move. Don't be afraid to move the torch further than you think might be needed. The puddle will follow the heat source and dab the filler at the edge of the puddle near the keyhole.

It's harder to explain than to do in person. I will grab my students hands from behind and give them the rhythm. I usually have a beginner putting down fair beads in about 20 minutes of practice.

I tell my people to just run bead after bead on flat areas not even on joints, until they get a rhythm.

Andy

[Wheels]

Andy

I think I can speek for everyone in thanking you for the time and effort you went through posting these pics for us. They give me a target to shot at. From looking at them I think I am dwelling too long before moving the torch after I have my puddle formed. I`ve always heard tig is a slow process and I guess I was taking it too far! Also I was unsure if I would get enough penetration if I traveled too fast.

[ASKANDY]

10-4 wheels

It's still a slow process, just move the torch a little more in between filler dabs. Also, don't worry about joining 2 pieces. Weld 2 beads on a piece and set it aside to cool. Grab another piece and do 2 more beads. You don't want to weld too much on each test part as the Alum sinks too much heat and will mess you up. Just work on filler placement then move to weldments later.

Looks good.

Andy