txredxj

use a stainless brush for AL. the black stuff is probaly oxidation. clean with brush till it is raw and use a cleaner to wipe it off. if its really bad high freq it and then brush it till its clean then wipe it off

Jonnie Fraz

Ok ...is this good intercooler pipeing? I have had some issues welding cheep intercooler pipeing. It seems to have some sort of crappy coating on it that causes soot.

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240 GTR

yea, it should be...i bought it from mazworx a year or 2 ago.

i just used some old wire brush until it looked shiny. i also read about using a brush specifically for AL. i should try that...

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GSXRJJordan

Yes! All the cheap intercooler kits are anodized, ran into this problem when I mocked everything up and brought it to LuisGonz on the S14. He flap-wheeled the ends and cleaned up the inside as best he could, and was able to get some good beads with minimal oxidation (white crap around the bead).

He scolded me and told me next time to come to him for piping lol. Good stuff.

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azn_romeox

I'm not sure with your machine, but if you have the option try to setup the machine with more hertz. And a bit more penetration to stabilize the arc. This is, if your machine has the option.

Use 2% cerigated. Grey tip. Works with both dc and ac current.
You can use this sharp.
Clean weld material with alcohol, also clean filler rod with alcohol.
If your new to aluminum, start with a flat sheet and try to lay beads down. No point in trying to weld 2 pieces together. You have to be proficient at seeing when the weld area is ready to take filler in. You'll see that wet look, then dab dab dab.
I say when trying to move to welding two flat sheets together, start with modulating the amperage from -25% of where it should be. Look which metal surface the arc is affecting. Move torch until the arc is moving to both surfaces, then increase amperage till it gets wet and dip.
This will at least get you started.

-Ronald

ARMORY

i'm not a pro but i do weld allot of aluminum and like azn_romeox said try welding on flat plate for a while first cause butt joints on tubes is a whole different ball game once you get it to arc but the arc jumping around thing is normal till you get into puddling amperage range and even then its still kinda erratic the best thing for that is to use a super shard tungsten and turn the BAL on your machine up to 10 if you have that option that wild noise the welder makes is from the cleaning process that happens when the machine is set to A/C and as far as the amps go 90 is a OK i always go at AL in the 120-150 range depending on thickness cause the rest is all pedal control that black soot comes from contamination mainly contact from the rod to the tungsten so try your best to keep the tungsten from touching anything and I've never used alcohol to clean metal with but i'm sure it works fine I've always been told to acetone and in my opinion it does wonders. but either way aluminum is really tentative so just take your time. ohh and somebody said something about the white residue after you weld thats the rust inhibitor coasting that AL has being burned off by the machines cleaning process...

sorry if that doesn't sound correct to anybody else chime in please!

some examples but not the best pics sorry

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longfellow

It seems my guesstimates were pretty close.



The little silver box is where I need to cut out for the 90* coupler coming off the intercooler. It just clears the headlight.



14" intercooler pipes that clear A/C is awesome. Should be finished this weekend.

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ARMORY

^^ hey what made you go with stainless over aluminum ^^
just curious been jumping between the two for my project?

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ka-titties

your bay is going to look so damn clean Dan.

i'm doing stainless on my pipes also...

longfellow

Haha thanks, I cant wait too see how it looks come this weekend when its pretty much finished. Stainless is pretty sweet, I'm just going Mig them together. Stainless wire and tri-mix and they should be solid.

I used 18ga 304 stainless. Its just a lot of cut offs I got for free from a friend. I think I had to make one cut with the chop saw for the intake pipe, other than that I just used what was there. Plus I dont have a Tig so I can't really weld aluminum very well.

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S14_Kouki

That is a really clean bay.

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longfellow

Thanks, Its actually covered in pollen in the picture and looks gross. I'll clean it up this weekend.

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ka-titties

luckily my neighbor has a tig so i'll probably tig all mah stuff.

Jonnie Fraz

LOL...whats better than owning a TIG?...Having a neighbor who owns one.

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ka-titties

hell yeah! haha

longfellow

Its not better than owning one yourself, but it beats not having one at all.

I think I'm going to split one with my dad in the next year. Not being able to weld aluminum totally sucks.

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atutt

Not exactly fab work. But it is fab related... Finally got some pics of my bender... It's a fucking tank...

dato

^ That is so sick how much a setup run u like that?

atutt

The bender without dies is about $2000+
The dies are about $2000... before currency exchange, taxes, shipping, border fees/customs etc... You're looking at well over $5000.....

ka-titties

holy fucking shitballs

atutt

That stand is not an actual piece that JD2 sells. It's a custom made piece. The wall on everything is 1/4"...

gsracer

got a new toy today


diversion 165, i know its not the best out there but it will gladly serve my purposes plus i got a great deal on it.







First time tig welding wasnt to bad, any tips or places you guys can point me to actualy learn how to tig would be great.

machine welds great as expected..

Heres some practice stuff

aluminum





Stainless to mild steel

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duffman1278

Apparently we're all showing off our new tools so I might as well keep it going.

Got this mini lathe for free.

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STR8E180

some custom cnc machine work we have done in the past


this is a top feed fuel rail kit for S14 and S15 engines

designed so u can keep ur standard inlet manifold





billet gearbox adapter

Hashiriya415

How can you do dimple and die on a chassis? I know with a piece of metal it's easy you just put it in a press, but what about the chassis?

longfellow

Really fucking big clamp might work.

Or get a peice of 1/2" threaded rod, nuts and large washers. Put rod though middle and then tighten nuts with the biggest wrench you can find. You're basically making your own press clamp. Just an idea.

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atutt

You get a portable dimple die machine... Usually, they aren't very cheap.

PerilousActs

I think some of the dies are setup so that you can run a bolt through them and tighten that up once the die is in place.

ka-titties

hydraulics, yo.

longfellow

Welds aren't pretty, but thats what happens when you Mig Stainless. What ever, they'll get smoothed out then painted.

And yes that clears the headlights perfectly.

Another yes thats the A/C condenser in there as well

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