Mike Murphy

Posted

Oct 18 at 06:35 PM

I'm doing some 1/8" 5052 & 6061 aluminum but welds and they are cracking at the beginning of the weld. I've been able to minimize the cracking, but not eliminate it. I know the cracking is caused by heat/cooling cycle, but I could use any help I can get to eliminate this problem. 

Sep 25 at 01:18 PM

Like you in the very distant past I made a lot of these welds. I never had an issue with making the fillet full size, bringing the weld to the edge of the socket. You just have to be careful not to over heat the material. I found the biggest issue for most inspectors was the amount of expansion space at the bottom of the pipe in the socket. This space was usually defined by the design engineer or by applicable code. Lacking any definition a good rule of thumb is about an 1/8”.