Thanks. I haven't TIG welded in 18 years, and I am finding my knowledge and skills have gone away. It used to be so easy. I welded wrought and cast Al, Ti, stainless, 0.020" sheet metal, etc. with ease. Now I can't even run a stable bead on mild steel. Part of that may be my deteriorated eyesight, though. These videos are proving to be a big help anyway. BTW - That part looks like a rifle receiver......like an AR platform....

I normally weld brand new 6061 for manifolds and recently had the pleasure of welding an aluminum 6061 AN bung into a used LSX valve cover. I witnessed everything you had going on in this video and thanks to you putting it out i was able to stay calm and take my time to put out a better product. Cant thank you enough for the time you spend sharing your work. Thanks Jody!

Man you bring a warm love, and lightness to welding. Seriously.

I've been welding for 24 years, and you have some really great videos. You explain exactly what i have learned in these years. Keep up the great videos. It will definantly help the younger generation.

Thanks for keepin it real Jody, now I feel better. I just finished aluminum welding a crack closed in an old food processer flange someone dropped on the floor. I went through (exactly the same thing ) you just showed. I have a CK Worldwide MT-200 joined with a Miller 2.0 liquid cooler. Just bought a Gas lens kit for it and used it for the first time, very happy with the combo.

I did my first ever attempt at a cast aluminum repair earlier this week. It was successful first attempt. I did not see this video prior to my attempt. In my case, I had to deal with a previous MiG repair that didn't hold. I did a 3/8" circumference build up, 1" tall with 1/8" 2% thoriated tungsten. That's all I have to work with. I actually very impressed with my end results. The customer was ecstatic with my results and will be bringing many, many more cast aluminum motorcycle engine parts to fix for him. I thank you for sharing your knowledge with us all.

I appreciate you showing this. I'm new to TIG and worked on a cracked cast aluminum handle from a 1" impact wrench. I ended up balling the tungsten horribly, 50% ac balance, 20 cfh, spent a lot of time just trying to burn the impurities out. But it's stuck back together and it looked just like yours as I was welding it. Thanks for showing us the crap jobs too!

When I started welding aluminum it was Briggs & Stratton aluminum engine blocks. I thought I would lose my mind before I ever got it to weld clean enough to suit me. I am glad you were honest enough to show what cast aluminum welds like. Makes me feel better. Many people think all aluminum welds the same. If they only knew.

Jody, i've got to thank you for your videos, mainly this one, ive only stick welded once and I currently work in an aluminium foundry and have been eager to try and weld some of their castings in need of repair, well after much pestering of my plant manager he let me weld some scrap with the instruction of the guy who normally does the repairs, thanks to your videos within half an hour I was doing pretty good on then even thin castings I apreciate the time you take to make these videos

This another great job, man. First of all let me thank you for all those intructional videos you make. And for this particular one, because I´ve been watching hundreds of aluminum tig welding videos and everybody seems to be welding in a different league than me. What I mean by that is that I deal daily with cast aluminum parts from cars and motorbikes and always wonder how the hell you all can get such a nice looking welding in your videos while I just can only concentrate in saving the part, regardless the slight differences in techniques which may also exist. So it´s nice to see someone showing the real world of repairing aluminum parts which I´m used to. Thanks again and greetings from Spain.

Under the given circumstances, I think you did an excellent job. Anyone that knows anything about Aluminum welding knows the hurdles you faced from the outset, SO BE PROUD, DAMMIT! I've read a few helpful suggestions below as well, so I have to give a big thank you everyone involved!

Just tried to weld a cast aluminum small engine block. Yikes! new to welding and first time with cast aluminum, spent an hour trying to get a good puddle. Gave up, decided to have a beer and see what others have come across. Found this video, had the same issues as you. Glad to see it wasn't me or the welder. I'm welding a crack on the inside of the crankcase so it was soaked in oil for years. What a mess. I ground a fillet and filled as best as I could. Looked like crap after some cleaning but it seems strong. Thank you for the awesome videos, they keep me motivated to keep improving my skills.

not gonna lie your a really great welder, im currently 16 yrs old turnin 17 in july, and im in Advanced Welding & Fabrication at my high school well at a career tech academy high school, im the youngest person in my class, im a sophomore and everyelse is either a junior or a senior and im plannin on making it far in the welding industry, jus wanted to say i look up to your videos

"Hey I didn't put the pores in that metal, sooo...." Classic quote! Great video man and thanks for showing us the dog-days and not just the cake-work, it's what keeps me coming back here.

Hi Jody, I was tig welding a cast alu guard to an old lathe the other day and the result was looking just like when you started in this video - horrible stuff. And old time welder then told me to take my torch and run over the weld area bringing it just to melting point then move on. Brush it off and repeat 2 or 3 times. The idea is to boil the crap out of the pores. It worked wonders. After that I could put down a really good weld considering the material. I love your videos!! Also have a 200DX

Jody; I like your honesty. Not all jobs are textbook. Some of the worst ones I ever had were aluminum boat repairs. You clean the metal like it was Miss America, and when you lit up, you thought you just ignited gunpowder! When I was learning to tig weld aluminum, an old guy told me that cleanliness was next to godliness. How true.

Thanks Jody, It's good to see someone give a "worts and all" presentation. I welded up a part for a friend's ride on mower, and it was soo full of crap that I had a lot of trouble, but eventually won. I had to grind a lot of garbage off the outside to make it look something reasonable, but that's life.

I'm glad it's not just me, thanks for showing the reality of welding cast aluminum. I've welded lots of cast aluminum race car parts in the past, with no issue, but a friend of a friend needed a cast aluminum part welded that was dropped and snapped off. And this this is miserable it has about 10 different angles and very tight I might add. I told the guy a price based on my previous experiences and I'm now at about a $1 an hour lol.. Lesson learned. Thanks for all your videos, they've helped me a lot!

Loved the vid Jody. I work with petroleum tanks and pipes etc. and I can absolutely relate! Sheet metal is definitely gravy work. It doesn't have to be pretty to work well. Thanks!

@allessence Good info. I use almost those same settings to tig weld brass...except lower pulse rate of around 39pps. It helps on the outgassing.

I always watch a few minutes of these videos as a warm up before doing a critical weld, It gets my brain dialed up for the task and it really works.

that is real world welding bud. I can totally respect that. real world jobs can be pretty troublesome. and people are so quick to blame the operator. but that's just how it goes sometimes. thank you very much for all your videos. on the clock all I do is mig weld but off the clock I love tig welding and I've learned everything from watching you and countless others on KZfaq. super greatfull.

Thanks for the vid ! I was asked to repair a part broken off a ruger 44 carbine receiver and passed... told the fellow I had no clue what quality of pot metal it might be. Your vid confirms I made the right decision! I could not have done near as well as you did...

Good info, good tips and I love the fact you show all the crap you can encounter. Could never understand why some people hide all that stuff, maybe to make them look a bit better I suppose. I have never tried to TIG weld but after looking at some videos I now have a better understanding of the process and what I may encounter. Keep the vids coming, you're doing great.

Thanks for doing this video. Im currently a welding student in Nova Scotia and this like this help a lot. I know know that i could encounter this sort of thing and know that theres a good chance its not somthing im doing. Thanks, keep up the great videos

@TransAmDrifter alladin 3 in 1 rod. low amperage on AC with lots of cleaning. When it starts flowing good, stop because its about to cave in.

Jody, Always appreciate seeing the "bad and ugly" that goes with the "good." We see a lot of the "good," but learn a lot more from the "bad and ugly," which happens to be real life.

I had a part in the turbine shop that was cast alum. and it sucked bad,but your video shined some light on machine settings.I use a Dynasty 200 and the tips are very helpful.....keep 'em coming.

as always with Jody another great vid on a nasty job. Having spent my life as a m/cycle mechanic and always pretty well all welding especially way back as an apprentice we only ever had oxy acetylene and a few masters would be capable of impressive ali welding but not many. My attempts wayback then resulted in 3 piles of molten ali just as i thoughjt i had it so that was it. Have always been proficient at mild steel building expansion chambers etc and then when building speedway s/car frames from scratch using seamless tubing and brazed with steelbraze rods and an in line liquid fluxer i mastered that but still scared of ali. All changed 10yrs back when i purchased a Henrob oxy/acet pistol welder and my first attempt was totally successful on thin sheet ali so i decided to get adventurous and move to worsr and wrse quality castings with if i say so myself stunning results. I know i am off topic here Jody but watchin the amazing rescue u did on that crap i kept thinkin all thru it i wish u had one and don't know if u ever seen or used one but they are made for all these crap castings right down to pot metal. Love your work and learnin heaps for my late in life foray into wonderful world of tig. Keep them coming sir.

This is a good video thanks for sharing. How are you recording the actual welds? very clear focus, well done. I have tried multiple times to video my welds with little to no luck up close like that. especially during stop and start like you do in this video.

And I forgot to thank you for uploading your video for us. They are very well done and have helped me quite a lot.

thanks for this video, Ive got some cast stuff to do pretty quick this was a big help, don't think Ive ever tried any cast stuff yet.

I have a cast aluminium repair to do today on a hydraulic railway sleeper pin puller so im glad you made this clip. Theres nothing worse than welding crappy aluminium let alone cast. This info will help out for sure

Thanks for the vid bud very helpful, I did a alloy cast sump a few weeks ago and was a pain in the but, in the end it did come up quite good and the customer was very happy

You really put out quality video, my choice is also the Dynasty 200 DX, had a Syncrowave prior to the Dynasty. The inverter cards don't last long (a few years), but the quality and ability to adjust is well worth it.Great example.

Really Great Info !!! I'm just now getting back into welding after 30yrs. Man,things sure have changed, well except from bad metal ! lol From the back when department..... Does anyone still do the plasma spray metal deposition on stuff like this anymore ? The equipment cost was astronomical back then !! You kinda jogged my memory when you mentioned the welding lathe ! I see theres a lot to learn again, your a good teacher for sure, Thanks !

Just ran across your vid. Been doing cast aluminum (automotive transmission cases) for about 10 years now, Yup...sometimes you get stuff that welds pretty good ...then. I clean (bevel) everything with a carbide 1/4" round end 4 flute endmill, acetone, even "dust" both sides of the HAZ a little with the carbide, this helps. I think there may be zinc in those castings that causes some of what appears like cigarette ash to float out. The bubbles at the bead boundary ...the more you weld the more you get, like you said, keep heat as low as possible.

Thank you for showing this welding job, warts and all, this will help people who are not so experienced by showing them it,s the metal and not them regards Doc Cox.

Thanks so much for the honesty about how tricky it can be. I'm relatively new to tig welding aluminium so not always that confident. I have been recently welding several cast aluminium inlet plenums which has been very trying, generally blaming myself for the poor result. I'm sure my skill set is a bit below par but maybe also down to oil and petrol soaked 40 year old aluminium.

Hi Jody, thank you for a very informative and real life video, makes me feel more confident attacking my engine casings now, regards Doc Cox.

Excellent video, thanks for showing some real world welds!!

Absolutely superb, really naffs me off when it goes so porous and I’m beginner great to see it overcome though and the technique. thanks

@MrAluminox, I want to echo @RonRichmonsRPG's thank you! I just watched the video and was going to ask the same question until I saw that it had been asked already. You really supplied a great understandable answer. Jody, another great video! So far I haven't had the pleasure but have some old cast Al pieces that I am going to try this on. Keep up the wonderful work.

Hi: Thanks for the videos. I was thinking about buying one of the Chinese's tig welders as they are quite abit cheaper then the ones available in the states. I was wondering if you have used one of these and what your thoughts were and maybe you might know someone with one and you could use one to do a review either showing why or why not to buy one. Thanks for your time and again, thanks for the videos. Don

Thanks for your honesty. I learned just what I needed to know.👍

That alum is like the one in the exhaust system on outboard motor. I have weld some of those with a 5356 rod, is a alum carbon mixture. If you clean the surface and the sides with the black paint work better for welding. This alum-carbon mixture is design for high tempeture parts, that's why need over 1000 F to melt down. I enjoy youre videos, Thank you for knowledge.

Great video! I thought I was doing something wrong.. I could not set the welder for a good weld on cast aluminum and I also was not proud of the result but after watching the videos I found that I`m not alone.. Cast aluminum welding really suck! Thanks for the great video.

Hi Jody, I recently busted one of my air powered grease guns. It fell from it's perch onto the floor and the neck broke straight off. seems like it was made with a Alum/mag alloy between 0.045-0.065 thickness. I had to mess with settings on the D350 and ended up with 48% cleaning and ran 60pulses per second with 120HZ. The weld came out plenty strong but I know exaclty what you taking about in the video. Oh it was real ugly too.. :) Good topic.. Thanks Jennifer

On some castings particularly engine castings would it help to gas it out in an oven at 300 degrees to help get imbedded oil’s and contaminants out to the surface

great video. liked how you keep it real.

looks forward to your welding videos i have picked up many good welding tips keep up the good work

@MrAluminox Once gas welded the top in a piston at the side of the road in Kenya, backed it with steel and packed it with sand.Got away with it , engine was running for 3 months when I left .Only ever welded aluminium with TIG on AC, 4043 or 4047 TIG rod for cast.Watched angejel post on DC, not something I would have thought of but that's why it's never to late to learn. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks now we know it's not always just me when welding cast aluminum. Great videos!

Thank you Jody. Like Ed, I too thought I was doing something wrong. I started to get very discouraged and was ready to hang it up. Then, I thought, hey let's check out a vid on KZfaq to see if anyone else had this problem. Even knowing that this is just the way that cast aluminum welds, it's still very difficult and requires a lot of patience and practice.

Thanks for keepin it real. I prefer reality when I am trying to learn something.

As always, good presentation.

Well done Jody .You tell it true as it is.Thank you. Metalworker.

Great video.. I had the pleasure of welding some cast aluminum today.. at the very least it was treacherous.. this video really helped me out though. Thanks man

Thank you so much for this vid. Been battling carbs/intakes/blocks ect all crappy castings an been getting exactly same results as you. I’ve chopped it up to well I’ll muscle thru. But all the recliner chair pros have sent me in so many wrong directions an I been believing it’s really been I’m just no good. Clean sheet aluminum is butter so I should known they all were just blowing smoke up my ars

Your video was great. I had to fix a hole punched in the side of my suzuki motorcycle engine casing and I have never tried anything like that before. The video helped a great deal. I do have one side question, how did you get your video of the arc and puddle so clear? 99% of all the video's I see the arc completely washes out the image. I tried one myself with the same bad effect.

I also wanna add, aluminum fluted burr bits are your friend. I also use a freshly sharpened 1/8” drill bit to Hogg out porosity pin holes. I then clean with a hot solvent. I also like to bead blast the part if possible. Heating with a oxy torch helps a lot with extra thick castings especially if your machine is only rated for thinner material and it will also help burn off any oils or dirt embedded in the material. The idea is, you wanna burn out the contamination by deep penetration( that just sounds wrong!lol) but as Jodi said, be careful!!! Aluminum just soaks up heat until it just collapses into a puddle of failure. My goal is to try and get as close to bare clean metal as possible by removing any oxidation and pin holes that harbor porosity. Hope this helps.

another great video Jody. i have another request to as of you. i just got hired as a welder with a company that does stainless air ducts and they weld stainless using a MIG. i took the company's test and past it, but i'm so used to TIG-ing stainless and having nice rainbows, but when you MIG stainless it looks like all the chromium is cooked out. do you have any tips or videos on this? thanks

I hate welding cast aluminum, it's always a crap shoot as to how it's going to turn out. Glad to see your not hiding the less desirable stuff. Good Job!

thats the real word real deal there. repair work at its finest

Nicely done!

@sojournearth Yes, plasma sprayed coatings and flame sprayed coatings for repair/rebuild are common. A friends company here in the UK specialises in it.

Thanks for the real world video! Wouldn't 4047 be better for that tiny peace? Or anodizing is expected?

what is the distortion like in cast iron parts? have to weld a engine block on a critical point...

Hello! May I ask what is the difference between using pulse to control the work vs. controlling it with the pedal? Thank you!

Thank you for giving us an honest snapshot of a bad situation. We learn more from you this way. I'm pretty sure that part was from Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle receiver. I'd know it anywhere. :-)

Jody - have a similar issue (using a APH 201) ...... dont have any other equipement ...... what woul you suggest to try and make it work with the porous/dirty cast

Maybe I am a bit ignorant. On an old part of cast aluminum, would it help much to bake out the piece first? I have not done any. Usually, a cast motorcycle piece would be tossed, unless a road repair. Would be nice to know however.

is there is a way where I can test the argon if its ok or not Thank you

Thanks for video! Great to watching!

I like what you did with this one and I am sure that a little cleaning and filing and paint it will look ok

Ah, the pleasure of dodo metal! While your working on it, you sware its a piece of foreign crap, but you can find it in USA new made too! Even when its clean it still will bubble burst as it becomes molten. I believe the casting is so porous, the tiny pockets in the casting become gaseous then explode as the material becomes molten. The demo, Jody, was great, on how to manipulate, the bond. Sometimes that 4643 alloy rods helps on the stack ups...:)

this guy is the real deal i dont care what nobody says

It is said that filler rods with 5% silicone weld cast Alloy better and is often the case. Aluminium Mig wire is usually of the 5% Magnesium variety and sometimes is better than the silicone type especially if magnesium is evident in the casting. I once welded a Fantic trials bike engine case which was a Magnesium casting. The rods we bought for that in the UK was very expensive at around £5 - £8 each and only 500mm long. My Tig set is the R-Tech Tig251 and I find similar settings to you for this type of what I call near Dinky Toy Metal. Of course it isn't but it somehow reminds me of it. I did a Chinese Aluminium top from a table circular saw a few days ago and it was exactly as it is in your video. The tilt protractor part of the table had got broken off in a quick stop while in the back of a van and it hit something else in the back. I remember welding cast Alloy years ago without anywhere near the same amount of shite floating to the surface as it seems to with todays castings. Its all good experience when you boss it all the same. When I was young and asked questions I often got "Trade secret Lad" or "I went to collage for 6-7 years to learn that lad. Thanks to the internet we can share idea's and leave the miserable to themselves. A good video to the less experienced Jody. Good to see.

I would have like to see the final product , and what you had to do to get it finished! type of grinding , etc. maybe next time!

I thought I just sucked at cast aluminum. Thanks for the confidence boost.

I learn alot from you.

I’m so glad it’s not me, I had a cast aluminium air manifold I tig welded it didn’t start looking decent until I got some filler rod into it. 60hz 80amps I backed off the balance it’s pointless trying to have any cleaning action when there’s so much contamination it just ends up on your tungsten. Cast gets too hot very fast so worth while letting it cool after each run. Thanks for the video

Love this guy!

Have you ever done hardfacing on 7075 aluminum moulds?

What tungsten works best for aluminum using an inverter machine?

Salt water corrosion is a nightmare too. Thanks for sharing the fun jobs with us mortals....stay safe

Hi. What is the easiest grade of sheet aluminium for a complete beginner to learn aluminium welding with? I'm looking to practise with maybe 2mm to 4mm thick aluminium. Just wondered if one particular grade welds easier than the others, before I start on my trail of destruction. Thanks!

cordless footpedal ...wow! I'd love to have that, all the wires sometimes drives me mad. cordless watercooled torch would be awesome as well :-) Thanks for the interesting Video!

Would heating that part up in the oven have helped helped to "sweat out" some of the oils and contaminates? I've heard of that being done, but I have no idea if it would be of any benefit to cast parts. Seems like there's no way of getting around all the porosity-related problems.

Does the torch connect to the positive or negative?

Hey jody will I have this problem welding an aluminium oil sump of a car? What would be the best way to go about it chamfer it or just weld the crack?

i dont know much at all about tig welding aluminum but it seems that less heat like map torch and filler rod with the original piece would work. i don't know let ne know if thats a bad ideal.

I would try to stick weld it. I needed to weld a hole in a cast aluminum hub carrier for Sportsman ATV and stick welding came out great.

What exactly does adjusting the frequency on AC do?

Thanks for keeping it real

Wow that's real awesome considering what you had to work with. I am a newby at Welding. Would like to build my own Aluminum flatbed for my Dakota, and get practice beforehand. After I'd like to build a Modified pulling tractor chassis. Would like to find a good affordable starters TIG welder.

can you show the settings on AC tTelwin tig 222

You know,if I was doing this,I would figure I was screwing up the weld.Now i just learned why that was happening.Thanks again,Jody. Paisano

Great Video

How does an aircooled torch and water cooled torch make any diff?