TIG Aluminum Travel Speed & Feeding the Filler Rod

For manual TIG welding of aluminum, a decent travel speed is around 7 inches per minute.

If you place a cheap scale next to an aluminum bead and add rod  once per second every 1/8" travel speed will be around 7.5 inches per minute.

This is not a bad place to start.  

I have found that working on consistency first is key...Then pick up travel speed when things feel more natural.

There are all kinds of situations where travel speed is not really a factor like repairing aluminum castings.

But if you are welding parts for a living, travel speed can be the difference in making a profit and not.

I was fortunate to have a moonlighting job back in the early 2000's where I welded tons of aluminum concrete cutting saw bodies.

These parts were half round shrouds with a hole indexed for a hydraulic motor so we made a hub that centered up the part, chucked them up in a turntable and welded.

I learned that slower was not necessarily better when it came to the stacked dime look but I also learned to feed filler wire better.

Aluminum production jobs will do that for you.

My filler rod hand had to get faster to keep up.