TIG welding 5052 Aluminum Dog feeder project.

TIG welding 5052 aluminum for a Dog Feeder Project.

Before we dive into welding techniques, If you watched the video already, you saw Brad using a TIG Finger® to glide along those corner joints. 

Why not add a TIG Finger® bundle to your cart right now? just click here

If you have welded much aluminum, you know just how uncomfortable it can be propping with bare gloves.

But slide a TIG Finger® on and you can focus on making the weld instead of the blisters you are getting on your knuckles.

Why not add a TIG Finger® bundle to your cart right now? just click here

I got a few more questions on Brad Goodmans “pulsing with the foot pedal” and I think this video might shed some light on it.

The main thread of the questions seemed to be...

“what’s the benefit of pulsing the pedal vs constant amperage?”

First of all, I think we all know that its not 100% necessary to pulse with the pedal.

We see lots of great looking aluminum welds that were done without pumping the pedal.

Pulsing with the pedal is not necessarily a better TIG welding technique ….it’s just another option to achieve a certain result.

Brads customers want a certain look on the products he sells.  

This video of Brad putting together one of his dog feeders shows how Brad gets a fairly large bead with complete penetration on outside corner joints by pulsing with the pedal.

The material is 5052 aluminum  .090” thick.

Brad set the amperage to around 180 amps because whenever you are pulsing…whether with the pedal or using pulse settings on the machine, you need more amperage for the peak portion than you do when welding with a constant even amperage.

You might notice in the video that Brad is not backing off the foot pedal a whole lot on the low amp side.

I would estimate, that if pulse settings were used, a background current of 60-70% would closely resemble what Brad does with the foot pedal amperage control.

The benefit of pulsing manually instead of with pulse settings is the adjustments you can make on the fly.

When Brad welds around corners, he pulses current only when he is ready for it and that gives him more control for the parts he makes like this dog feeder.