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hey Jody here with welding tips and
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tricks' calm or TIG welding aluminum
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today and for this video we're doing a
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little tea joint here right in front of
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me on the bench not in any kind of fancy
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position and I'm using a very simple
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welder today because I want to save the
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all the settings like AC frequency and
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AC balance and amplitude and waveforms
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and all that's going to come in future
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videos that's a lot of stuff to talk
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about so today I just want to talk about
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a few things that make a lot of
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difference on on aluminum especially on
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a tea joint and trying to keep a
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decent-looking Filat weld you know it's
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basically same as it is on carbon steel
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its arc length and its torch angle and
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it's having the right amperage the only
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thing is on aluminum all that matters
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way more than it does on carbon steel
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it's a lot less forgiving if you're if
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you've welded aluminum already you know
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that you know if you accidentally flick
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the filler wire into the electrode or
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sputter a little bit makes a lot more
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difference things just go south really
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quick if you do that on aluminum whereas
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on steel you sputter maybe maybe oh
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maybe it makes a difference and maybe it
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doesn't maybe even just keep on going
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you know and so that's the thing about
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aluminum everything that makes a
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difference on steel or any other kind of
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welding makes more of a difference on
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aluminum so you really got to pay
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attention to these things and plus
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there's all kinds of other little
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nuances that come into play and I'll
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talk about them as we go alright so I'm
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using a simple welder today none none of
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the bells and whistles no AC frequency
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adjustment or any of that stuff no AC
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balance just basically polarity and
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amperage and that's about it the rest of
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the settings are kind of built in this
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is a lincoln TIG 175 square wave I'm
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using today then later on I'll do this
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same joint using a couple of inverter
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machines talking about frequency AC
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balance waveforms and the effects that
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they have but for today just some basic
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tips on making a nice bead on A to F
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fill it weld how to keep the beads small
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how to get that metal to flow into the
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corner things like that let's do it
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machines just don't get much more simple
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than this it's got a preset post flow
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timer and it's got a Auto AC balance
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which means that automatically adjusts
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AC balance as your welding according to
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the level of oxidation of the metal but
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that's really all there is to getting
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started with this today I'm going to be
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using this little number five quartz cup
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just basically maybe so it will help
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filming and help be able to see things a
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little bit better
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I don't usually use these these cups
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faxes it's really my first experience
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with them but it's a weld Tech Cup and
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it seemed to work okay for this video
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I'm using a tapered electrode attack
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with because lighting up at low amperage
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works a lot better with a with a tip
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like that than a blunt tip as I'm going
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to start a bead kind of mid joint here
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just to kind of get that out of the way
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and show how that works with the pointed
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blunt pointed tip what you really want
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to do is you want to puddle it and get
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rod in there and join it with a little
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rod as you can to start with you don't
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want to be getting a big huge bead
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started and then have to neck it down
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and I'll I'll I'll show that in detail a
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little bit later in this video
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let's get another view from behind now
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again this is about probably about a
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hundred and fifty-five amps but I'm not
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quite using full pedal for some of it as
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it heats up
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using 332nd that's two point four
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millimeter filler wire and electrode
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with somewhere around 13 to 15 CF H on
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the argon gas flow you see the cleaning
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action going is that auto AC balance
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works I pretty much used two % laughinn
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aided electrodes for everything I
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believe it's the best all-purpose
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electrode not necessarily the best for
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every individual application but the
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best all-purpose if you just want one if
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you just want to keep one electrode in
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your box usually what I do when I'm TIG
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welding the aluminum is I just put a
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blunt taper on the electrode and I just
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let it ball however it will ball and
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that usually works out pretty well with
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a blunt point on the electrode it lets
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me start nice and crisp at low amperage
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like if I'm on a very edge and then as I
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come in and need more heat it just balls
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however will ball and that works out
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fine usually but sometimes you get a
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little nodules or a little hook on the
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end and it miss shapes who knows why and
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then sometimes it works better when that
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happens sometimes it's better just to go
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ahead and ball it by putting the Machine
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on reverse polarity or if you've got an
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inverter or a machine that's got AC
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balance just crank it to max cleaning
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and ball the electrode intentionally and
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then it just stays that way it doesn't
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start very well at low amperage with
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with a rounded tip on and I say I thank
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ball when I say ball the electrode I
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don't put a ball ball I just round it
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and so let's take a look at that right
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now all you need to do to round the
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electrode is flip over to DC plus or DC
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positive DC reverse polarity and get a
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piece of copper or a piece of aluminum a
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thick block of aluminum or even clean
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steel works and just pump the pedal just
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enough and back off until you until you
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shape through the tip of the electrode
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the way you want it now I've gone a
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little bit fast where I really would
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like it for this one
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but it'll be okay
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sometimes what I affect a lot of times
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and I'm doing a t-joint like this I'll
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run a real tight arc when I'm flowing
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metal ahead so that I flow it down into
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the corner and then I will pull the
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electrode back a little bit while I add
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filler rod and that works for me there's
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lots of ways to do it I've seen plenty
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of people just go along nice and steady
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and dab dab dab and make it look just
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fine but just something I've kind of
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gravitated towards alright well that was
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with a rounded tip that joint right
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there was with the electrode with a
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rounded tip let's talk for a minute
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about crater cracks aluminum is
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different than steel in that it has a
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characteristic called hot shortness it's
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hot short all that means is it's brittle
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when it's hot instead of being more
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ductile like steel is you know you can
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heat steel up cherry-red and bend it all
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over the place and it won't crack it's
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more ductile when it gets hot aluminum
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is not aluminum is more likely to crack
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when you hit when you put heat on it so
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that's why you get crater cracks in
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aluminum sometimes when you end in the
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bead abruptly or small tax on aluminum
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oftentimes will crack because all that
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expanding around it and contracting
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along with the metal being hot short
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pulls it apart let's take a look at what
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to dude to prevent crater cracks when
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you stop a bead I'm going along just
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fine here and I'm gonna stop rather
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abruptly not going to taper off at all
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or add or add extra filler metal and if
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you look closely you can see a crack
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coming out of the center of that crater
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I'll point at it right there happens all
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the time now this you hear a different
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pitch here because I'm using an inverter
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for this shot actually I'm doing some
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work on the next video here you see me
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add a little extra filler as I taper off
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the amperage and that will prevent
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crater cracks most of the time
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getting started off on the right foot
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when you're starting a bead mid-run on a
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tee joint can be a problem you can at
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you can if you're not careful when
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you're learning you think I need to cram
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some rod in there to join these two
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pieces together and then you have a big
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bead where you've bridged a big place
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and then you're tunneling up a lack of
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fusion area underneath and you need to
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start off on the right foot
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so let's take a look at what that looks
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like right now again first we're gonna
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take a look at how not to start a bead
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I'm going to do a lot of stuff wrong
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here I've got a a rounded tip I'm
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holding a really long arc I've got the
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electrode extended out quite a ways too
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and that can be a problem and I'm adding
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rod before it's really ready to add rod
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and it's oxidising now I'm joined the
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two pieces but it's not flowing into the
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root of the joint
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I'm bridging a gap I'm getting lack of
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fusion now let's slow it down a little
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bit and watch how that arc wanders all
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around that rounded tip until I get it
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up to a certain amperage where it's
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coming off the very tip of the ball now
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and one let's walk through it again try
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to add Rob before it was ready and just
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oxidized and balled up the rod and then
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wad it in there and fell in there and
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creates a lot bigger beginning of the
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weld that I need and then it's hard to
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get it to shrink back down once you get
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it big like that and you get lack of
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fusion because you don't pinpoint the
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heat down into the root of the joint
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let's try it again a little bit better
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with a tapered electrode we'll light up
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here it's very stable arc get things
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puddling and then use the rod to join
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the pieces but not cram a bunch of rod
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in there and then just pause for a
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second let that let the heat build up a
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little bit and then move on let's watch
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that in slow motion not a lot of arc
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wandering going on there off this blunt
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tapered electrode just starts a lot
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better than a rounded electrode
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coming soon we'll talk about the same
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joint using inverter power sources at a
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higher frequency this is 250 Hertz while
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you're hearing a high-pitched sound
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right here but that will be in a video
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coming very shortly well that about
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wraps it up for this week's video those
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are just some basic tips using a basic
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welder for running a bead on an aluminum
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t joint and trying to keep that bead
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small and uniform there's a whole lot
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more to talk about so we'll just do that
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in coming weeks see you next time
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as always thanks for watching leave a
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comment or a question if you'd like to
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