My thought is that with dual shield you can do either if you keep the arc focused where you need it on the puddle.

With dual shield roots specifically, I make sure I am focusing the leading edge of the arc. Be very careful that you don’t ride the puddle at all. If you ride the puddle you can roll in slag right in front of the puddle and get a slag tunnel in there like this.

Jorge LLamas yes.

Depends on the filler. If it is bronze, nickel, or something $$$ then I save it until it’s almost completely gone. If it is 5356, er70 or something cheap and common, I throw it in the bin. If you’re into art, there are often times plenty of projects that can use those small scraps too.

Nice work

On cast aluminum, I tend to use 4943 filler, and move slowly at first to get a feel for how the cleaning action is working. I usually start with around 75% balance and lower hertz (60-70) and tune from there…not all cast is created equal…I favor 2% lanth for these repairs.

Sometimes I will first run a lower amp dry pass over the repair area just to see what the cleaning action wants to bring up. You can use the grains of the casting to help line you up and index the part, then tacl, then carbide burr out the weld area to get better weld prep in there.

Peening can be helpful after some cast repairs. Especially on things that get post weld machining.

Too much heat, gas flow and specifically coverage after the weld arc is shut off and the bead is still cooling, will make it worse.

Try using less considerably less amps and as you start to get faster you can sturt bumping amperage up. More amps means you have to travel much faster.

These clamps come in kits, in many different thread sizes.

Those are machinist toe clamps, step clamps, hold down clamps…they have several names. One was just longer than the others to allow me to have a long sliding action with it.

I love my aluminum fixture plate for small parts like this, very very handy. The aluminum really helps keep arc strikes down. I need to make myself a larger aluminum one.