TIG Welding Waveforms Made Easy - How AC TIG Welding Aluminum Works

[@harrismagnum04]

music too loud bud

[@user-rw7xd7qy3j]

It's the worst. I can never hear what he's saying

[@melgross]

I would recommend closing the acetone can and maybe moving it elsewhere. I know it’s TIG, but I’ve seen TIG throw off crap too. I just DC copper and it’s great - without pulse. I also find all of these different waveforms to be a distraction. Do they make a difference? Well, sometimes, but just very minor. Once you add a computer to something you can have features that are unneeded. You can pickle the copper with dilute acid. Acetic works but is slow, sulfuric is better. Or just buy pickling solution. Then you can use the torch to bring the colors you want out. Came out real nice.

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks for that! Yeah not a great idea to leave it out and open.

[@boots7859]

For 99% of home gamers, all the extra features are just marketing wank. Both to keep up with the competition, and to justify their pricing. A really solid AC-DC Tig with some basic features should run about $150 and run for decades. IGBTs, FETs, microcontrollers, all are available from top name brand reliable manf's for minimal costs as these are all commodity mostly discrete parts. 25% of hobbiest Arduino Makers could code up freq, balance, pulse etc in a week or two, so its not exactly rocket science considering we're talking 1Mhz or less signaling.

[@melgross]

@@boots7859 your price I’d off by more than half.

[@mikecatlin-gw5qv]

This was a great video. I wonder how many welders skip past this thinking they know waves lol

[@trex4586]

Great video man I love learning more about the technical side of welding! And your art looks awesome!

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks man!

[@timothygoodsell1446]

Great info explained for beginners like me. I recently bought the everlast dv 200. That tree is beautiful. Between that cobra and this tree are so freaking awesome

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks that means a lot!

[@anicekevorking3753]

Dude, I can't wait! This is gonna help get me through a breakip

[@Welddotcom]

At the least you can take your mind off it for a bit

[@austinhargett5792]

Glad it helps!

[@rudyrivera7426]

Wow! Looks great! Music was good to me! Thanks for sharing

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks for the feedback ❤

[@ypaulbrown]

Rockin with Austin....great stuff.....

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks Paul ❤

[@DevilDogMuNky]

2:30 I think that's how we got our pure (green) tungsten to ball up on the giant Syncrowaves Miller machines in school, then we switched back over. It's been a long time, so I'm not sure, it might have been just switching from AC to DC to achieve it too.

[@ich1ban916]

Have you tried DC pulse on the copper?

[@austinhargett5792]

I haven’t! Just went back to what I know

[@DavidEllisthewelder]

I have used DCEP to ball tungsten for AC welding on aluminum.

[@DavidEllisthewelder]

Very low amperage over a copper paddle

[@marklugo6002]

There are a few inaccuracies. Mix TIG is wrongly described. Yes it is a Pulse, but it is a mixture of AC then DC-...If it were pure EP+ it would burn the tungsten up. It actually goes between AC and DC- during Peak and Base portions of the cycle, respectively. Balance typically should be 35% or less for AC. If you need to push it up that high, you may need to adjust your AC amperage, or select another wave form...of course, precleaning helps, but a palm sander is a bad way to clean since the material on pads like that is actually made from a form of Aluminum Oxide, the very thing you are trying to remove. You are just shooting yourself in the foot by grinding into the metal the very stuff you are trying to remove.

[@boots7859]

LOL, thats actually most likely correct for sandpaper. Never thought of that, hope I remember if I ever decide to weld Aluminum. Though to be fair, if you do sand it and it gets noticably brighter, you've probably removed most of it and it'll be fine for general use. If you're a pro though, good idea to spec different sandpaper.

[@robinmartin4352]

Good job

[@milsgarage]

Awesome work!

[@Welddotcom]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks 🙏🏼

[@johnmoriarty6158]

Very cool.

[@g.ryancronin7920]

I have a question. At 15:40 you spark an arc on the workpiece with an open can of acetone on the table. I recall lighting my lab notebook on fire when I left an open vessel of acetone on the bench with the Bunsen burner on. Are the holes in the table enough to vent the heavier than air acetone vapors? Thanks, RC

[@boots7859]

This was a great video, however when you went from the black board to the torch you seemed to totally confuse TF out of me. I understand electronics, waveforms and generally welding, so while not a pro I'm not exactly a newbie. Would have really made a lot more sense if you'd simply repeated the welds as you initially described them so newer folks could see what you described in theory as it happens in the real world. Would also be good to explain a bit more that TIG AC doesn't really have a DCEN/DCEP as its AC and Balance is used to modify whether the waveform spends more time in the Positive or Negative range. It 'can' be referred to as DCEN/DCEP to indicate as such, however its different than DC DCEN/DCEP where its contingent upon where your cables are plugged into the machine. They really should not call the Negative contact 'Ground' as its not Ground in DCEN nor AC, but Positive and Negative are 'wrong' as it refers to current flow historically as well so... Otherwise kudos for the tutorial.

[@comingtofull-ageinchrist6736]

Not sure why so many welders call the lead clamp a ground? It has current running through it. That’s what completes the circuit to what you’re welding so current can flow. There is no ground; just the lead and the stinger. Just an FYI

[@boots7859]

Its a misnomer that goes back, way back in time. You are connecting your clamp to a work piece, that is sitting on a metal table, which is sitting on ground, ie. Grounded to an electrician/tradesman. Is it a good ground? No, but it is technically 'grounded'. Hard to discern if that cable generally went back to the (-) or (+) terminal, ie DCEP/DCEN, but could/probably went to the (-), which makes the case for the common term 'Ground Clamp' make the most sense. More correctly, you have a Positive and a Negative terminal/cable in DC, and a Hot and Neutral in AC welding.

[@comingtofull-ageinchrist6736]

@@boots7859 has nothing to do with ground!!! It’s completing the circuit for current, which is not the function of a ground!!!

[@ElSombreroNegro]

DCEN is useful if your welding aluminum and don't have an AC capable machine. You're not going to get very much penetration, it's not going to be pretty, you'll spend more time sharpening tungsten than you do welding.. but it will get the job done.

[@notanymore9471]

We don’t preheat anymore unless absolutely necessary. It anneals the base metal.

[@austinhargett5792]

Right you don’t want to soften the aluminum. But is 200 degrees doing a lot to the physical makeup?

[@notanymore9471]

@@austinhargett5792 not too much, but anymore heat in addition to the welding will affect the heat treat over a larger area. As a general rule I don’t unless I just can’t get a puddle. I’ll usually go to 100% helium and DC before I’ll add preheat. But at the end of the day you do what you have to do to get the job done.

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks for the info though. I’ll keep that in mind when structural security matters

[@notanymore9471]

@@austinhargett5792 for sure, this is why inverters are great too because if you have the capability of adjusting the power in both EN/EP (a la aerowave/ dynasty) then you can adjust the current down on the EP side and have all or most of the energy on the EN side and run a sharp point and really get into it.

[@wargamingsupernoob]

I think we have a mistake when you explained 60Hz. You said it bounces back and forth 120 times a second, which isnt right. 60Hz is 60 times a second. 120Hz is 120 times a second.

[@briankennedy5578]

Drew wave wrong for balance

[@austinhargett5792]

Haha someone caught it! Yeah should be a longer wave not taller

[@elkvis]

What if your welding machine identifies as electrode non-binary?

[@austinhargett5792]

You don’t have a welding machine 😅

[@milsgarage]

*Sweeet*

[@austinhargett5792]

Thanks!

[@theTurnandburn5]

What a great video. This helps me a lot.

[@austinhargett5792]

Great!!!