Customer Video #12 - 3 Tips for TIG Welding Aluminum

Hey Jody here, first off, thank you for being a weldmonger store customer.

I made this unlisted video especially for you.

So lets talk about some tips for tig welding aluminum.

Mainly, the benefits of using a tapered tip on aluminum.

There was a time where aluminum was TIG welded with a balled tip using pure tungsten. 

Back then, transformer design power sources were all we had.

Arc starts on those transformers were different than what we have today with inverter design TIG welders.

Today, inverter design TIG welders are more common and using a rounded tip with pure tungsten will usually yield poor arc starts. 

A tapered tip using a tungsten electrode like 2% lanthanated instead of pure tungsten will usually provide much crisper arc starts…especially  at lower amperages. 

A balled tip works fine at higher amperages or on transformer tig welding machines but a tapered tip has a lot of advantages when it comes to low amperage arc starts using an inverter tig welder as well as pinpointing the arc .  

Thin aluminum requires low amp starts and a tapered tip really helps with low amp arc starts. 

And a  good practice is to try to make tack welds a bit smaller than the final bead so that when you weld over the tack weld, the bead hides where the tack weld was. 

A tapered tungsten tip along with small diameter filler rod helps keep tack welds small.

Usually it is better to use filler metal when tack welding aluminum to avoid cracking  but on 3003  aluminum tread plate, sometimes you can use one of the treads for filler metal on tack welds to help keep the tacks small…provided the fit is tight with no gap.

 This really helps when you are working by yourself and and need to get that first tack weld using one hand to hold the part and the other to make the tack.

A tapered tip also helps when welding on an edge. 

Welding a bead on an edge will go better with a stable arc.  A tapered tip not only helps with precise arc starts but also helps with a stable arc at low to medium amperage ranges.  

How you taper the tungsten depends on the application as well as the amperage range used for a given electrode diameter. 

And dont forget that AC balance settings also come into play because more cleaning action can cause the tip to round more.

I usually sharpen my tungsten for aluminum just like I would for thick steel and then the tip usually rounds just a little bit.

And I usually use 2% lanthanated tungsten whick carries a lot of amperage.

Here is a banger of a video using the primeweld TIG325x