Stack of dimes?

[Rocky D]

Rocky D,

Nice Ti butt weld. Is is atmospheric with trailing shield?

No. I only use a trailing cup on an automatic, like a Jetline. This was done in a Purge Chamber, or Inert Atmosphere Chamber. This is what they look like. Gas in continually fed in to obtain a positive pressure, and escapes out the top. This one I built....I don't know if there is a suplier for these, we always had to build them ourselves. There was about 10 of them in the plant where I worked.

[HAWK]

Rocky D,

Nice Ti butt weld. Is is atmospheric with trailing shield?

[HAWK]

Magnum21,

CCW is my preference. I mostly use a swirling motion only to create the puddle. I mentioned the deliberate C to exaggerate the stacked bead. Once the puddle is formed just add filler, move forward with the torch, add filler, move forward, etc. The stack will come with practice. The distance between stacks depends on how far you move the torch forward each time you add filler.

I am right handed and weld right to left or left to right as the job requires. Just get comfortable and practice.

[magnum21]

Hawk

when TIGing, i'm right handed and if i use your technique from right to left, what's it matter if i have torch go clockwise or counter-clockwise??

[Rocky D]

The initial question was in dealing with steel, however, since it has evolved to aluminum, I feel I need to add to something that was left out. Penetration. In aluminum as shown by Andy, it appeared that there was no penetration on the butt welds. To qualify myself, I have been a heliarc weldor and inspector for 38 years in aircraft. Anyway, with aluminum it's not so easy to acheive 100% penetration....guys tend to take off with it as soon as a puddle appears. The technique involved in getting the penetration is either lots of heat, in which drop through and holes appear seemingly out of nowhere. or pushing the rod through carefully so as not the have a piece of rod sticking through the backside.

In these pics I did some scrap diamond plate...you'll notice that the bead doesn't appear too high on the plate and the penetration on the bachside has a fitup line appearance through the center of the weld...this is normal...this weld would probably go through x-ray just fine. Without such penetration, the weld is extremely weak to a root bend. Hope this helps.

Also the "C" weave will not gain you anything except maybe keyholing. The motion that is commonly used is a back and forth motion in line with the weld direction. A stack of dimes is a natural occurance, more noticably in aluminum. I also throw in a stainless lap weld and a titanium butt.

[arcdawg]

dug this up

this is for the guy who wanted to see dimes !!

yer welcome

dawg

[illuzion]

Great welds Andy! I am shooting for what you refer to as "common spacing" nothing too exotic. I'm going to try to find some time next week to mess with it. My thing is, I usually end up with a continuious bead that looks like it came off a wire feed more so than that "stacked tig" effect. I think it has largely to do with my filler applicaiton as I seem to add more continuiously than to dab it in, and even after I add filler, I have a natural tendency to "work it" into the puddle with the torch before advancing, as opposed to just dabbing and advancing.
illuzion

[Wheels]

Thanks Andy
I think my photography could use some help also.

[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

[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]

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

[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

[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

[ASKANDY]

fillet tight and wide

[ASKANDY]

fillet common spacing