I recently had a go at TIG welding aluminium. This is regarded as pretty tricky for two reasons 1) The oxide on aluminium melts at a much higher temperature th

I recently had a go at TIG welding aluminium. This is regarded as pretty tricky for two reasons 1) The oxide on aluminium melts at a much higher temperature than the aluminium. A specialist AC welder helps 'clean' the surface. 2) Aluminium is a very good thermal conductor. Enough heat to start welding is far too much once you are a little way down your weld and your pool of molten metal will get ever larger until you burn through. One hand is controlling the torch, one hand is holding the filler. Therefore it is common to use a foot pedal to control the current. More to start, and backing off once you are running. It works pretty well once you get it all coordinated, but is daunting to start off with.