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Another thing is tip profile, some use it sharp and others blunt? My problems have been relating to the arc wondering around everywhere and struggling to keep a pool. Havent tried blunt yet.

Comes down to whether you are using AC or DC and as stated previously depends on material.

Typically for steel and its variants (stainless etc.) use a 'sharp' tip, and for aluminium/magnesium, use a blunt tip. I've used a blunt tip for Titanium too with success.

For Aluminium, use a blunt tip (electrode thickness determined by wall thickness of panel/part etc.).

Don't use the same gas you use for stainless/steel MIG welding (which contains impurities such as CO2), but instead go for pure Argon for Al, stainless etc. Obviously depending on speed and penetration required.

Im only wondering about Aluminium as my mild and ss skills are already pretty good :D

Im using straight Argon for ally, mild and stainless. My filler rods are 5356. I can weld ally OK but would just like to avoid issues with contamination i had the other day, and to maybe weld a bit prettier. The ally i use ranges from 2000 to 5000, as well as donuts and madrels (dont know what grade these are).

My machine is a Unitig 200 single phase.

Sorry to half hijack Brad; i guess info/tips about how to go about achieving the results you do is of benefit to amateurs like me.

Vids on youtube about welding ally are pretty good, informing about balance and frequency, what they are and how they affect the weld; its just hard to relate it to my/another machines when the knob labels are different!

Im only wondering about Aluminium as my mild and ss skills are already pretty good :D

Im using straight Argon for ally, mild and stainless. My filler rods are 5356. I can weld ally OK but would just like to avoid issues with contamination i had the other day, and to maybe weld a bit prettier. The ally i use ranges from 2000 to 5000, as well as donuts and madrels (dont know what grade these are).

My machine is a Unitig 200 single phase.

Sorry to half hijack Brad; i guess info/tips about how to go about achieving the results you do is of benefit to amateurs like me.

Vids on youtube about welding ally are pretty good, informing about balance and frequency, what they are and how they affect the weld; its just hard to relate it to my/another machines when the knob labels are different!

There is your arc stability problem.

If you can get yourself a 3 phase welder. Instantly you will never go back to a single phase machine.

Dont be affraid to try sharp 1.6mm alloy tungstens either, if you can get the machine to preserve the grind during welding you'll be suprised how well a pointed tungsten will weld AC.

I use 5356 rods and a helium gas mix.

Ill never go back to using a pure argon after using helium.

Brad, you usee Varigon or something similar? Man, talk about Rollys Royce approach. I like it. I am no welder but even I notice the difference when welding with Varigon. You can get away with way less amps and welds so much nicer. We have to use it in the pharma industry as otherwise you cant achieve a no heat tint fusion weld.

...the second I know when I will be in Syd over Xmas I will call...

Brad, you usee Varigon or something similar? Man, talk about Rollys Royce approach. I like it. I am no welder but even I notice the difference when welding with Varigon. You can get away with way less amps and welds so much nicer. We have to use it in the pharma industry as otherwise you cant achieve a no heat tint fusion weld.

...the second I know when I will be in Syd over Xmas I will call...

Sure am.

Varigon is the linde gas name for their hybrid helium&hydrogen mixes.

I was using the BOC equivalent in a 20 something % mixture then moved to supagas which was a 27% mix.

I tried the He50 from linde and then settled on two bottles which I can mix my own with an external mixer and two regs.

Some stuff like sump pans I use up to 70% helium. Can weld a cast sump to 3mm plate with no problems at all.

Other things I'll drop the helium to 20% (rough flow estimations)

It was Ariel who put me onto helium a while back and when I really have to use argon for alloy now I cringe and just try to live with it.

My tips and tricks are spreading far and wide :)

Just scrolling thru, I noticed some talk about tungsten tips....if you have an inverter machine with hertz adjustment it is very easy to keep the tungsten ball to around 1-1.5mm which is ideal (well for me anyway), but then again it depends on the angle that you grind the tungsten at. All these little tricks all add up.

I decide to go against an inverter machine but with different settings, gas flow, tungsten sizes and cup sizes I can still maintain a very small ball on 2.4mm and 3.2mm tungstens.

The next step is try even smaller beads while maintaining same level if penetration.

All I can say is that for me, practice is the only way to start getting on top of it.

Here's a quicky that I knocked up this morning for a customers GTR.

Just a basic breather tank with a bottom vent to be mounted infront of the battery.

post-20349-0-94976100-1323299054_thumb.jpg

post-20349-0-12206800-1323299077_thumb.jpg

And a job ive been working on for a bit now which is finally completed.

post-20349-0-87127400-1323299113_thumb.jpg

post-20349-0-20734900-1323299138_thumb.jpg

post-20349-0-31948000-1323299191_thumb.jpg

Yeah the car had some dodgy arse shafts put in it.

Lambo wanted ridiculous money and they are a known weak point anyways.

The car is used constantly and does do circuit days so they had to be built better than the previous ones.

The inner porka CV is twice as wide as the lambo/Audi/VW original ones and the outer is identical to the original and 1/5th the price.

The cost to have these shafts made was less than one genuine shaft and 3rime stronger.

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