welding alum. with a mig

[surpip]

anyone do this?
the smaller wire feed welders have the cap. to weld alum. just wondering if anyone has actually done this or not.

 

[mrk5]

I don't personally, but we do it all the time here at the shop. Virtually all of out signs are aluminum and we weld them together with a mig welder. We have it set up with a separate gun and bottle. Straight Argon gas and the gun has a wire spool right on it.

I know it takes new people some getting use to, but they seem to pick it up pretty quick.

I wouldn't call ours a small welder. It is setup to run either the alum or steel. Just have to flip a switch and open the right bottle.

 

[rdn2blazer]

yes, i have welded alum. with a mig. i have layed down some bitchen to some really crappy welds. its hard to get a consistant weld each time you weld alum. its not like steel where you just flick it on and go at it. i have only done this with our Lincoln 175 plus mig at work. we have the kit to do alum for it. i did find that i had to wick the volt almost max and the wire feed has to be almost maxed too for it to weld with what i would say is good penatration. those welds looked alot better then the ones where the volts were less.

i weld aluminum fixtures up from time to time here at work. i usually use steel but there are times where steel is too heave so we use alum. your alum needs to be real clean, stainless steel wire brushed. if its dirty it will spit and sputter something awful.

 

[JK5]

The smaller welders work better due to the length of the cable/torch assembly. The shorter the better. Long wire runs cause clogging.

The best set-up is a big welder with a spool gun.

 

[mrk5]

The smaller welders work better due to the length of the cable/torch assembly. The shorter the better. Long wire runs cause clogging.

The best set-up is a big welder with a spool gun.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. That's the way ours is setup.

 

[rdn2blazer]

The smaller welders work better due to the length of the cable/torch assembly. The shorter the better. Long wire runs cause clogging.

The best set-up is a big welder with a spool gun.

yup, you need the power you get from a big machine, and its best to pull the wire rather then push it.

 

[goldwing2000]

It's a pain in the ass to MIG aluminum. Just TIG it.

 

[surpip]

oh of course let me run right out and buy a 1500 dollar tig machine so i can weld up the 10 projects i will need it for



thanks for all the other helpful replies
was just wondering cause all the small home depot/lowes machines say you can weld alum. with them, just wonderin if it was worth a crap or not to get the stuff you would need to do it
its for the dash in my car so it needs to look good
probally take it to a shop to have it done
thanks

 

[rdn2blazer]

oh of course let me run right out and buy a 1500 dollar tig machine so i can weld up the 10 projects i will need it for



thanks for all the other helpful replies
was just wondering cause all the small home depot/lowes machines say you can weld alum. with them, just wonderin if it was worth a crap or not to get the stuff you would need to do it
its for the dash in my car so it needs to look good
probally take it to a shop to have it done
thanks

if you want a really clean job thats what i would do. welding alum. with a mig spatters like hell, so you might not want the surounding area to get damaged from spatter. good luck with your project.

 

[sled_dog]

1500? thats a cheap tig that is capable of aluminum welding haha

 

[Dallin]

keep the wire to the gun as straight as possible. Also turn down the tension on the drive rollers. Both of these help the wire to slip instead of birds nest. I've had good luck welding Al with a Millermatic 251 without a spool gun.

 

[speedyvision917]

It's a pain in the ass to MIG aluminum. Just TIG it.

TIG welding is soo much fun! By far my fav. type of welding


As far as welding aluminum with a mig, ive done it twice and it there was alot of splatter, and the gun broke twice (not when i used it)

 

[camiswelding]

dale....

one word,,, can you say

powermig350


I use pulse on pulse... tig like welds from a mig....

now the bad news

its 5 grand