On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 12:57:25 -0500, Brent Philion
wrote:



Perhaps i should ask it this way how close is it to tig without the
pedal control? I know i needed a Lot of practice to do Al in tig when i
was learning but i saw the same conditions I think.

Quite similar, as long as you can see the puddle. I see other
posters saying they don' need no fancy goggles. It's true, it can be
done. I and countless others were gas-welding aluminum before the
fancy TM2000 filter was invented. A mentor of mine could gas-weld TV
dinner trays and peel-off milk bottle caps ( some milk still came in
glass bottles then) together in the '60's with no eyewear at all.

I can do much better work with eyewear that blocks flux flare
without otherwise impairing visibility. YMMV.

As another poster noted, you control heat by backing off with the
flame, moving the flame and adjusting the flame. Matter of fact,
breaking that "back off" habit was the hardest part of learning to
TIG weld for me. Keep the tung in close, use the footpedal to
manage the heat. Man, that was a learning curve! Took me months
to break gas habits when using TIG.

You may have the opposite learning curve: learn to control heat with
torch position because there ain't no footpedal. I suspect that
won't take you long to learn if you can weld aluminum with TIG. You
already know what an aluminum puddle looks like (if you can see it)
and you know how to manage a puddle. A lot of what you learned with
TIG will be applicable if you can see the puddle. Some guys can weld
without being able to see the puddle. I've seen it done: some guys
in Colorado could TIG up traffic controller cabinets (the outhouses
you see on intersection corners) by scoping the shot, closing their
eyes and going for it. The welds they made were pretty damned good!
These were guys whose declared address turned out to be a KOA
Kampground or a Colorado address that computed to somewhere in
Argentina. Worked by the day, paid cash by the day, footloose and
fancy free.

Most of us pedestrians can weld better if we can see the puddle.

If we were located conveniently, I bet I'd have you welding aluminum
well with gas in 30 minutes if you already can do it with AC TIG.