Welding aluminum

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
I need to get setup to weld alumimum, mainly brackets out of 1/8 to 1/4" flat stock.

Should I get a spoolgun for my Miller 210, or get setup for TIG? Won't do it that often, so the better quality of TIG'ing may not be worth the extra money it will cost. ($600+ vs $1400+).

Will the spoolgun (3545) do good enough in this application? What are the downsides?
 
Personally, I don't like the spool gun. I have a really hard time getting it to weld like I really want. Maybe its just me, but I can't seem to get it quite right.

I really like the TIG aluminum. I have both the TIG and spool gun here and ALWAYS pick up the TIG. It tends to be a much nicer looking weld and IMO, is much stronger, especially when welding 2 drastically different thicknesses of aluminum.

I'd go with the TIG as it is easier to control and adjust. It may be more $$$, but IMO, is well worth it.
 
Depends on how much money and time you're willing to spend on what you're doing. Do you have any TIG experience at all?

Fwiw, you can get a readywelder spoolgun that you can use with your mig machine or on the trail for about the same price (maybe less) as that miller gun.
 
Before I blew any real money, I'd get a teflon liner and the proper tip and rollers for the wire you plan on running. If you can't find a teflon liner, try the standard liner (again, the correct one for the wire,) and just keep the cable as straight as possible. The 210 has a pretty good drive system, and should be able to handle aluminum if set up well. I wouldn't consider this a permanent application, but it will at least let you know if your welder is going to do the job. I don't think it's going to have the ass for 1/4" aluminum, though. Maybe, but it's questionable. Your average $1200 TIG setup is going to have trouble with that thickness, depending on the weld. You're looking at at least 170A to get decent penetration. The common rule of thumb for aluminum is 1 amp per thou thickness, though I typically don't follow that too closely. Don't forget to rent a bottle of argon.
 
how many brackets are you making? if thats all you doing, heck, have them made. if your going to be working with aluminum enough to buy a set up, i agree with rock city rob- get a tig, or at least a tig gun to plug into a stick welder. prferably a real tig with the foot or finger control. dont get a spool gun . my $0.2
 
I like catfishblues answer. That way you can see how damn hard welding aluminum is without spending much. TIG works way better but nothing is easy with aluminum. Any chance of making them from good old steel?
 
Thanks for all the responses. Yes, steel is a good option...but a couple of things I have in mind I think alum. would work better due to weight/rustproof/etc.

I talked to a friend tonight, I'm gonna get on his TIG setup this weekend and try it out.
 
i like my miller spoolgun on my 210 as long as the weld is straight and easy to get to.

off subject here, but anyone know if i can use my miller spoolgun on the trail like the readywelder?
 
Unless your prepared to spend alot go with the spoolgun for non critical welds. I own a sycrowave 180 and it strugges on anything past 3/16. The 210 mig will do fine if properly set up and your not looking for X-ray results. We have 2 such units and sycrowaves all the way up to 300 amps. We also have 2 new Dynasty inverter welders and they are technical Cadilacs, you can manipulate frequencies up to 275 HZ and pulses in the same number range at the same time. You can make the weld pools act as if you were welding DC stainless, and they also have dual voltage inputs. Since they are inverters they are about half the size of a sync and draw a third of the amperage Not so cheap though!
 
x2 on the amount of use.

Tig'n steel is nice also, so if your doin enuff of both small steel and aluminum, Tig investment worth while.

If one time shot..make the pieces and get yer buddy to tig it!

:rolleyes:
 
rollota said:
off subject here, but anyone know if i can use my miller spoolgun on the trail like the readywelder?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. If it were possible then they would be a compitition for me( as I am a Ready Welder Dealer) and I have not heard or read anything about being able to.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Unless your prepared to spend alot go with the spoolgun for non critical welds. I own a sycrowave 180 and it strugges on anything past 3/16. The 210 mig will do fine if properly set up and your not looking for X-ray results. We have 2 such units and sycrowaves all the way up to 300 amps. We also have 2 new Dynasty inverter welders and they are technical Cadilacs, you can manipulate frequencies up to 275 HZ and pulses in the same number range at the same time. You can make the weld pools act as if you were welding DC stainless, and they also have dual voltage inputs. Since they are inverters they are about half the size of a sync and draw a third of the amperage Not so cheap though!
Click to expand...

Can I live in your shop? :D
 
I wasn't to clear on the we and I part. I own the snyc 180. The we would be the daytime job. "Me" help the "we" make the bills so I blurred the line alittle, sorry. Firetrucks are my daytime gig, they seem to be built out of damn near any type of material except maybe tool steel. The galvanil units suck the worst though.
 
[ The galvanil units suck the worst though.[/QUOTE]
bet yeah drink alot of milk. When I welded gal. pipe all day they would bring me a couple of glasses of milk throughout the day.
 
God I love welding galv! Especially cheap crap castings with pits hidden just below the surface that open up to reveal a little pocket of casting sand and zinc that blows up and spits hot metal everywhere when you weld over them! :p
 
At one time (previous life) I welded on a bunch of galv pipe (made some light duty drying racks for a process) for a few weeks... just kept a fan blowing hard enough to blow the fumes out the door, but not hard enough pooch the puddle...

What's milk supposed to do for you? :confused:

So as not to be a complete derail of the original question... buy a nice new shiny TIG rig w/ all the options! That way when your tired of tripping on it a few years, you can make me a great deal! :lol:
 
Milk helps ease the symptoms of "Welder's Flu" associated with welding galvavnized steel. Anytime you're feeling ill from being in the smoke column too much, milk can help. Least it does for me. Unfortunately, it's not a cure. The heavy metals in the smoke are still doing damage. Wear a respirator and use a fume extractor or good ventilation. By the end of the day, you shouldn't need a glass of milk.
 
I had "welders fume fever" per the hospital once, after welding a bunch of galvanized. Hit about 3 hours after I finished, sick for 4 days. You just have to let it flush out of your blood.

Don't think I'd try to push the alum thru your mig cable, it'll birds nest and piss you off, maybe 35 and bigger wire might work?

I've never had access to a spool gun much, I just tigged alum, I was under the impression spool guns were the way to go.
 
Milk isn't gonna do anything for you that E-lax wouldn't. Except that it tastes good.

IMO, avoid heavy metals. And if you don't - well, lucky there's some great research on organ regeneration these days.
 
catfishblues said:
Really, a push-pull setup is the way to go. More convenient than a spool. However, I don't think they have one for the 210, plus they're expensive.
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Hmmm, that reminds me...I got an old Cobramatic I wirefeed unit, no power supply though. It's push-pull. Wonder what it'd take to run it? I've been hanging on to it for horsetrading...haven't thought to mess with it.
 
WE, meaning at work have got a couple of other machines that are strictly alum. mig. instead of dual purpose 210's and they use a miller python gun, its like an oversized mig gun with a drive roller inside, sweet. It would be cool if it were offered in place of a 210 spool but I don't think the welder will support it since you can control amperage and wire feed depending on how the unit is configured. The 210 spool would still be excelent for light fab. Ours only seem to hicup and give fits when the small spools get low on wire? I can't seem to figure out why though. We readily weld up to 1/4 in one pass and down to 11 ga. With preheat you can get proformance past 1/4 plate but nothing extrodinary. The 210 also has a gun on demand, kind of plug and play. Pick one and go for it. No wires or cables to swap back and forth.
 
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