Aluminium Filler Rod
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I need to get some aluminium filler rod to weld my intercooler tanks.

There appears to be several different grades available, 5356, 4043, 1050 etc.

I cannot find any guidance which to use. Any ideas?

EDIT: I'm using AC TIG.

Edited by Paul S on 11th Jun, 2008.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

I use 4043A
Not sure if the "A" is relevant !!!

Recommended by my "Pro" welder at work (at the time I bought my TIG) as a good general purpose aluminium TIG wire but with enough silicon to do castings (ie, alloy heads) if required.

Only suitable for proper AC TIG.

Rod.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Thanks Rod.

I have found some info and 4043 looks like a good starting point.

You should choose the filler rod based on the base metal, but when did you last buy a sheet of ally and actually know what grade it was!

Now need to sort out a tungsten. Zirconia maybe?

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

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Yes,

I thought that's why a general purpose filler wire would have some silicon.

Castings always have silicon (if my memory of metallurly is still OK) and as for plate (the sort of stuff we use...) who knows what !!!

Tungsten must be zirconiated for aluminium.

At welding school (years ago I actually did a course!!) they said just remember A to Z (the alphabet) or S, T (the relevant leters of the alphabet in order)...
Aluminium requires Zirconiated, Steel (inc Stainless) requires Thoriated.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Thanks again.

No I just need to develope the confidence to weld the end tanks on to my expensive intercooler core.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

My only advice there would be - practice first (kind of obvious) but on something similar (ie similar sized casting/plate).

The trick with aluminium is to have absolute cleanliness (much more important than with steel/stainless) and to have the AC settings right for the job in hand.

When you choose the AC square wave setting you are compromising between enough heat to weld (AC in one direction) and keeping the weld pool clean (AC in the other direction throwing the oxides off).

I also use 2.4mm tungstens with aluminium (rather than 1.6mm which is more normal for a "home" welder) and you might find your ceramic (shroud) may distort under the heat.

Enjoy !!!

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

I'm going to practice on some scrap, then build up the end tanks before welding to the core.

Also need to get the hang of the foot pedal. I've used the TIG on both the inlet and turbo manifolds in stainless, but not yet used it on Aluminium.

The intercooler end plates are only 1mm thick sheet. The end tanks wil be 2mm. Would you use the 2.4mm tungsten at that thickness or go down to 1.6mm?

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Whoaa...

No, not at 1mm or 2mm - I'd stick with the 1.6mm tungsten. I only suggested 2.4mm tungsten because I usually use 3mm sheet and castings are obviously a lot thicker than 3mm.

I would honestly say, for welding 1mm aluminium, LOTS of practice required.

It's a funny material compared to steels, once it melts, it will run away very fast.

I don't use a foot pedal (although my welder has the facility), I prefer to use the dual current setting mine has - double click the button on the torch to start/stop, single click it to jump between "weld" and "pause" currents, each set individually.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

i too hav not bothered with a foot pedal yet even with thin ally,

i set the down slope to about 4-5 secs, and pulse the button to give an ampage control.

Yes,

I used to use the slope out with the sets at work (rather than use the foot pedal they had installed!) but the restart could be a bit abrupt (depending how far it had sloped out) but my own set has this cute dual current setting that I really like (you set the weld current and pause current to whatever you like, independantly).

The other alternative - if your set is wired for foot pedal control, you can buy torches with a thumbwheel on them that plug into the foot control socket - one of my friends (who has exactly the same set as me) swears by it as all the control is still with your hand on the torch.

EDIT - at the risk of stating the obvious, also make sure your filler wire diameter is also compatible with what you are welding (as well as the tungsten). Generally both the same, ie, 1.6mm for filler wire if you're using 1.6mm tungstens for very thin material.

Edited by Rod S on 11th Jun, 2008.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

My TIG welder is the pulse type. So you can set the base and pulse current, pulse width and frequency.

This is supposedly good for welding thin sections.

I like the idea of the thumbwheel on the torch. I like to stand whilst I'm welding which makes a foot pedal a little tricky.

I can't find any thumbwheel torches on the net though.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Type "tig remote hand control" into google and you'll find some options on common sets.

The manufacturer of your specific set should be able to provide one though if the little socket the torch remote button plugs into accepts a foot control as that socket is really just for any form of remote control.

I haven't figured out for certain if the remote socket is an "industry standard" but I think it is.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???