Welding Aluminum using Tig and Mig

try this tig welding skill drill to learn to tig weld aluminum or to get better

The welding aluminum drill is a simple skill exercise that is a a very efficient way to get lots of practice.  All it takes is a piece of 11ga aluminum about 2" x 8" or a little bigger.

Run beads and try different techniques and pay attention to what works.

Use a tight arc, a long arc, use different torch angles and add filler metal at different rates.

pay close attention, swap hands often and use your non dominant hand, and dunk the aluminum in a bucket of water every 2 or 3 beads.

Tig welding this aluminum drill  will make you a better tig welder all around.

Positioning the piece for horizontal and vertical beads is also worth doing.

tig welding flat butt joint in 11ga aluminum

tig lap and tee on 11ga aluminum

2g horizontal butt on 11ga aluminum

vertical uphill joints

Top 10 mistakes - tig welding aluminum



If tig welding aluminum is making you cuss, you are doing something wrong.

3. Wrong size filler rod …too small a filler rod will result in the rod melting before it ever gets to the puddle. Too big a rod can actually block the shielding gas and will suck the heat right out of the puddle.

4. Cleaning aluminum with a carbon steel brush instead of using a stainless steel wire brush … every text book tells you to brush aluminum with a stainless steel brush dedicated for aluminum. The books are right on this one.


6. Too long an arc see number 5…you have got to find a sweet spot where your arc is close enough but not so close that you spend more time prepping electrodes than you do tig welding aluminum.




9. Using pure tungsten ….pure tungsten is is not that great. it balls up nicely but thats about all it has going for it. For years, textbooks have called for pure tungsten for tig welding aluminum. But pure tungsten often requires using a bigger electrode. And some inverter tig welders dont like pure tungsten at all.



11. Not using a tig finger

When you are about to pee in your pants because your fingers are so hot, its hard to make a good weld.

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