SportAir TIG course in Oshkosh September 16-17

[Chris In Milwaukee]

If any of you guys are local(ish) to Oshkosh, EAA is offering a two-day TIG course on 9/16-17 that I'll be attending. If you've ever seen the EAA TIG videos, or watch TIG Time on YouTube, you'll recognize Mr. TIG as the instructor of the course. I'm looking forward to learning a thing or two from the pros. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

~Chris

[Qboiler]

Chris, interesting courses. Do you know if fuel tanks are the only TIG welding items on the bear hawk?

I am also looking at the oxy accetalene course in Indianapolis

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Chris, interesting courses. Do you know if fuel tanks are the only TIG welding items on the bear hawk?

I am also looking at the oxy accetalene course in Indianapolis

You can weld the fuel tanks with O/A if you are so inclined. Just takes a different touch than when welding steel. Kent White at TinManTech has a video that describes the process.

https://www.tinmantech.com/products/dvds/welding-videos/aluminum-gas-welding-2-1-the-difficult.php

This one and its companion video are great resources.

Chris

[aachanis]

When I was at Oshkosh a few years ago I did the gas welding workshop (the 2 hour version during the show). During that, the instructor showed a couple guys and myself Oxy-Hydrogen welding for aluminum. I found it actually easier than TIG or Oxy-Acetylene on steel, running a beautiful bead quite easily (it was my third bead ever after TIG & Oxy-Acetylene). I don't know if that would work on the tanks, but it would be worth investigating if you want to stick with gas.

[S Lathrop]

I thought about using Oxy-Hydrogen welding for my fuel tanks. I decided against it only because I have not gas welded for many years. Years ago I built fuel tanks and oil tanks using Oxy-Acetylene on aluminum.

I think that gas welding and especially Oxy-Hydrogen would be the best welding system to do the tanks. Because of the much better shape of the welding bead, especially on the inside, and the fact that the aluminum is annealed over a larger area adjacent to the weld, I think cracking along the weld is a lot less likely.

I did change how the welded joints are done from lap joints to butt joints. I had to make a holding fixture for the tank and a forming block for the end caps but the welding process was much easier. I made the joints by forming a 45 degree flange, 3/8 inch long on all the edges to be welded. When the tank is done, all the welded joints are in the middle of a 3/4 wide "bevel" instead of a 90 degree joint.

The only rivets I had to weld were for the 2 baffles. There I used 3/16 soft solid rivets.

I will get to see how well this works.