Hello, all,
I got myself roped into a project making up frames for panels to
protect stained glass windows when a church sanctuary is used for a
gym during the school week. We went and got $800 worth of 6063
rectangular extrusion from the metal yard, and I'm having an
incredibly tough time TIG welding this stuff. The main problem is
the weld PUDDLES (TWO!) don't want to fuse, and I end up with the two
pieces melting away from each other. (I did do a very respectable
(for a newbie) weld on 2 pieces of 5052 1/16" without filler. I
used a 1/16" Zr electrode, otherwise very similar setup, prep and
technique.)
I don't have a lot of material to spare while fooling around,
either, we bought them out of an odd size, 1 x 1 7/8 x 1/8" wall.
(That's 1 x 1.875" outside dimension.)
I just got in some 3/32 Zirconiated tungstens, a gas lens set for that
size, and some 3/64" 5356 MIG wire for filler. I got a pretty good
fit-up of the edges after a whole bunch of fooling around with my 4x6
hor-vert bandsaw. I tried to weld this with without grinding a vee to
fill, maybe that is part of the problem, although my TIG book suggests
that is possible up to 1/8". I have a Lincoln Square-Wave TIG 300 that
as far as I know is working perfectly. I have a Weld-Craft
water-cooled torch with a Miller cooler. I know that MIG wire is
not the perfect thing for TIG, but I'm not even sure I need filler wire.
(I also have some 4043 filler, and will try that next.)
What Argon flowrate should I use with a #6 or #7 cup and gas lens?
Welder settings are 150 A max, AC, continuous HF. What wave balance
would be good for a Zirconiated tungsten?
Does anyone have any advice on what to do, common newbie pitfalls,
etc? Obviously I can't sup****t the back of the weld inside the
tube. Is preheat needed? I have a Bernzomatic propane torch and an
Oxy-Propylene set (essentially generic Oxy-MAPP) but have no
idea how much pre-heat to use. I did try welding a couple pieces
of tiny scrap, and that went a LITTLE better, I did actually get fusion
along part of the seam. That sort of sup****ts the idea it needs
preheat. I KNOW I'm in way over my head, here.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Jon
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