I wanted to practice on some .063 x 3" aluminum tube, so rather than cutting short pieces I decided to make pie cuts. After making 2 90's I went a step further and made a ram's head. Then a couple of saddle cuts into a cross, on to 3 more 90's of different radii. Then what the heck, put them all together. Man, did I learn a lot, like how to fill holes and the criticality of torch angle, and so much more.

It looks like I got the balance setting reversed. Mike Murphy

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.