With regard to my aluminum welding issues.   We have majorly improved the process and skills to the point the customer (Government) was blown away.

A good hunk of the information to fix the issues came from here....and some from the 3 CWI's, 2 SCWI's and Senior Weld Engineer I brought in to review the problems.

Steel grinding dust was a major culprit.  Skill sets were another.  Fill being stored on a rack on the shop floor...rather than in a cabinet....etc....

All the welders are getting a review class from the local welding school, new booths for aluminum welding with stainless tables, no grinding anything within 100 yards of the weld area, three welders being trained to B5.2 Inspection standards to see the work before I do. Much better cleaning methods and the proper materials and a few other things.   Our reject rate for all welding went from over 50% to a little over 5%.

And because of what you folks have added to my knowledge base, I came off sounding like I know what I'm talking about.. (thanks Lawrence and Brent).   All the CWI's told me I should really think about becoming a CWI.   (Excuse me while I make the lab door a bit larger to get my head thru... )