Thread: what tig features are essential for aluminium?

agreed about practice practice practice, i try get as much tourch time as i can and just lay bead after bead after bead, i went through a E2 bottle in 3 weekends.

here is a fillet i done


All i do is hit it with plenty of heat, pointing the arc down wards, dab some filler in to to start the weld and join up to the 2 pieces like a tack then i just simply start adding filler and move along as i go.

One thing i like about the inverter is the frequency control, the 50HZ of my cig transtig just seemed slow and hazy, but now 100hz+ its alot more crisp and quicker.

I'm hopeless at fillets and lap joints. I found with the lap joints the higher frequencies really helped.
I was using the HF as a crutch to start but now I'm going back to lower frequencies for butt joints; 100hz and below, higher amps 75 for 1.6mm aluminium and I find I'm laying much more visually appealing beads. lower frequencies also seem better for poor fitments. 1mm gap and low amps just to melt the edges and you can lay a bead over the gap.

I finally got the wp-9 torch head from china. it was good quality. I haven't yet test fitted it as I'd have to cut through some heat shrink and don't have the size to patch it back
together at the moment.

the cable is my biggest issue. it just drags me out of position on the fillet welds of 1" pipe to larger 3" pipe I have been trying. in the end I think it is easiest to buy a CK superflex torch and cable set-up and a 12.9 dinse connector probably from arc-zone that sell them on ebay.

On the subject of nice flexiable tourches, this is what i done for my BOC machine

I got a spare cig weld tourch i had laying around that has a flexiable head, took the vinyle plastic cover of the tourch lead, suprisigly underneath was a really flexiable power lead with inbuilt gas hose, so i coverd it with a cowboy jacket (denim type material) wich i purchased from 6shop river on ebay. now the weight difference and fleixablilty difference now is HUGE, it hardly feels like im even holding a tourch.



the gas outlet on the front panel of the BOC machine is difference to a CIG machine.

Boc on the left, CIG on the right.


So i went down to my local BOC store and got them to look into getting a fitting for me, took a while but they finaly got them in,
the BOC part # is 500.0082 1/4in nut&barb female for anyone who wishes to do the same


I done this in order so i can still keep the BOC tourch still intact incase if i still want to use it as i also now have the foot pedal for the smooth arc.

this should helps a few of you guys who wish to change the tourch, hope to hear more input and feed back

cheers
Mondo

When I first learnt to weld ali, it was on an old pie warmer with a high freqency switch, an inverter was attatched to weld stainless. To increase current, just push in another button. The whole unit had only 2 switches, one for the HF and one for off/on. I used this type of machine for over 20 years. They could be run on 240 or 3phase.
I prefer the KISS principle. Would buy another one of these tommorrow.
As a side note dirty ali (ie, salt corroded ali boats) can be preped with vinegar for repairs.
Kryn

Originally Posted by RVK 355

On the subject of nice flexiable tourches, this is what i done for my BOC machine

I got a spare cig weld tourch i had laying around that has a flexiable head, took the vinyle plastic cover of the tourch lead, suprisigly underneath was a really flexiable power lead with inbuilt gas hose, so i coverd it with a cowboy jacket (denim type material) wich i purchased from 6shop river on ebay. now the weight difference and fleixablilty difference now is HUGE, it hardly feels like im even holding a tourch.


the gas outlet on the front panel of the BOC machine is difference to a CIG machine.

Boc on the left, CIG on the right.

So i went down to my local BOC store and got them to look into getting a fitting for me, took a while but they finaly got them in,
the BOC part # is 500.0082 1/4in nut&barb female for anyone who wishes to do the same

I done this in order so i can still keep the BOC tourch still intact incase if i still want to use it as i also now have the foot pedal for the smooth arc.

this should helps a few of you guys who wish to change the tourch, hope to hear more input and feed back

cheers
Mondo

thanks for the info. the cig torch look nice and flexible.

I enquired about the ck worldwide superflex hoses at boc and their main torch line (torch heads and hoses) are the ck worldwide brand. however they don't import the superflex hoses and wont do a special order on one till next year due to some internal order policy. looks like I'll have to order online.

what foot peddle did you get? was it the part number from the manual and can you give me an idea of the cost?

Originally Posted by landslide

thanks for the info. the cig torch look nice and flexible.

I enquired about the ck worldwide superflex hoses at boc and their main torch line (torch heads and hoses) are the ck worldwide brand. however they don't import the superflex hoses and wont do a special order on one till next year due to some internal order policy. looks like I'll have to order online.

what foot peddle did you get? was it the part number from the manual and can you give me an idea of the cost?

Yep foot pedal with the part number from the book, i was pleasantly suprised when i enquired about the foot pedal price, only $380, they mite have a few in stock as when i enquired they had 22 on order.

Originally Posted by RVK 355

I have only just recently up graded my machine, i did have a CIG transtig 150 AC DC tig with a foot pedal, transformer machine which served me very well for the past 5 years that i have owned it, it was a square wave 50 HZ pretty basic machine but it got the job done for me.

Over the past year i have been doin alot more alloy welding and i was starting to push the old CIG towards its limits or should i say my 15AMP out let limits and there was a few jobs where i needed some extra current. so i decided it was time to up grade to a newer more effiecent inverter.

Now i looked at all the ebay tigs, everlast, Token tools, CIG now have a more afordable 200 amp inverter tig for $1600 wich i did consider on purchasing, i was almost goin to buy a miller 200DX dynasty as i have used them in the past at trade school, but then i spotted the BOC smooth arc elite 230 tig on ebay for $3100, thats $1100 cheap then in the BOC stores.

so i purchased the smooth arc elite and all i can say is im happy i did, i actually used the full 230amps of current the other nite to weld a cylinder head up, the machine never tripped out the circut breaker wich my older CIG used to do all the time trying to weld at 150AMPs.

I will admit this machine has alot more settings and features some which i will probably never use, but for the price and warranty i couldnt go wrong.

I would like to add that this BOC tig is an absolute bargain getting it from the BOC ebay store at $3100 delivered.
This welder is made in Germany by EWM and is one of the best on the market. Somehow BOC's pricing on this welder is well below what it cost to buy in europe or the UK.

All the best.
Grant.