aluminum arc welder

[JASONA70]

I found a way to weld aluminum using an arc welder, the welds might be very bad and look crappy but it holds together just as good as any other aluminum welding types. They make these rods for the arc welders that are compatible with welding at low temperatures. I'm going to order a pack of these rods and try it out this weekend on my old Lincoln arc welder.

http://www.zena.net/htdocs/welders/Rods/Aluminum.shtml

does anybody know anything about these rods? are they good or are they bad?

 

[HommerSimpson]

keep us posted... looks very interesting..

 

[tissimo]

what are you welding?

 

[figgie]

look like crap?

Porosity, contamination. Holds as good as the CORRECT Tig? Highly highly doubtful!

The first area of concern would be how are they avoiding the Aluminum oxide? More than likely it becomes part of the weld as there is no A/C to "clean" the oxide film during reverse current.

Get the RIGHT tool for the job or end up doing it again ad nauseum.

 

[annoyingrob]

I would rather use my TIG

 

[JASONA70]

I would rather use my TIG

i rather use a tig too :biglaugh: but i don't have the money to finance a tig atm.

 

[figgie]

i rather use a tig too :biglaugh: but i don't have the money to finance a tig atm.

well then pay someone to do it for you.

Aluminum oxide WILL make that weld a temp fix and not a permanent one like if it was TiG/GTAW welded.

 

[black89targa]

Make sure if you buy those you use the DC setting, which only some lincoln welders have (Mine doesn't).

And it will take a while to get used to. With those rods you cant pull a full on bead, you will either have to make a fast runner bead or cold weld.

Fast runner bead = Doing a fast paced bead (It will look like the bead is running)
Cold weld = Arcing multiple times over the area. Welding for about a second and letting it cool for a second to two seconds, then going back into the weld until it is complete. Some also call this the multiple spot weld.

 

[JASONA70]

well then pay someone to do it for you.

Aluminum oxide WILL make that weld a temp fix and not a permanent one like if it was TiG/GTAW welded.

I only plan on using this for ic brackets and ic pipes. Nothing serious like an engine block. I've taken serveral classes on arc welding and I think I can handle a little challenge, I just wanted to try this out, it seems very very interesting because au has always been strictly narrowed down to tig wleding and some mig. I do have a dc/ac arc welder, just wanted to feed the public with some information. I would guess this would be great for small diy projects. Ill update later on this week with pictures and etc.