Welding Aluminum

[TurboStreetCar]

Hey Guys, Thinking of buying a spool gun for my Lincoln HD180. I recently got the shielding gas for it and it lays down some Sweet welds with steel.

I want to try welding aluminum but i dont know if its worth it. Anyone Mig weld Aluminum before? I dont really care about how it looks, i just am looking to know if it will work and make a strong weld.

If i can get good enough at it i want to weld my intercooler piping and maybe even make my own FFIM.

I figure itll come in handy as some parts are better off bieng aluminum over steel.

So whos got experience with MIG welding aluminum? Also how much will the weld suffer if i use the same shielding gas 75% argon 25%Co2 mix for aluminum that im using for steel?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[IJ.]

Used to do this before I had a TIG, straight Argon a Pull gun and a Teflon liner are essential.

 

[iMike_G.]

i have when i was taking my welding class for school.. it was fun but it takes a couple of hours to get it right and your going to have to mess with the volts. and wire feed. but other then that it is pretty easy. and when welding with a mig with aluminum it really isnt pretty a lot of splatter ect. so you should invest in getting a tig welder. and the difference in steel and aluminum is you cant see your weld puddle like you can with steel.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Definitely dont have the coin for a TIG welder. The Spool gun is about 200 bucks shipped. How much of a problem would i have using the shielding gas i have?

 

[funky_monkey58]

Definitely dont have the coin for a TIG welder. The Spool gun is about 200 bucks shipped. How much of a problem would i have using the shielding gas i have?

Won't work at all man.
To get a good strong mig weld out of aluminum you need to have clean aluminum and 100% argon, and your settings have to be just right. I spent hours figuring out what settings to use with the mig on aluminum to get good strong penetration. One thing that really helps is to clean the aluminum with an acid based cleaner before welding.

---------- Post added at 02:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 AM ----------

This was done with the spool gun.

But I have countless hours of practice in to get to this point.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Nice, those welds look pretty good. I have no problem welding scrap aluminum together for a few days/weeks to get the hang of it. I have MANY things i would like to make from aluminum. Do i need difference regulators for 100% argon as opposed to the blend that i have now?

I think im going to buy this spool gun within the next few weeks and see what i can manage.

How do you identify the aluminum to know what aluminum wire to use?

Trying to find information about this is proving difficult. Most of the stuff i find is so basic its like what i already have in the owners manual of my welder.

Thanks to everyone for the help,
Dan

 

[iMike_G.]

well there is really only one type of aluminum wire. but it comes in different sizes depending on the thickness of the aluminum your going to be welding.

 

[shaeff]

Depending on what gauge you're trying to weld, you might need more than 180A. That is, unless you're welding thin stuff. I've been looking into the possibility of grabbing a spool gun for my HH210, and most of what I've read about it is with aluminum you need a shit ton of heat. For anything 1/4 or more, you'll likely need 200A+.

Only use a CLEAN stainless steel wire brush to clean aluminum, or the acid funky was talking about.

 

[Supracentral]

One warning: Welding aluminum produces a lot of ozone and nitric oxides. Both are very bad for your eyes, lungs, etc... Some of the nitrogen oxides can cause fluid build up in the lungs.

Be sure you've got a very well ventilated area if your welding aluminum.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Thanks for the information everyone. I will be doing all of the welding outside my garage in my driveway so ventilation shouldn't be a problem Mike.

Shaeff: The thickest metal i would weld would probably be the intake manifold material. Im not sure how think that stuff is. Someone posted a link that had some good raw materials but i dont remember the thickness off hand. I have also herd if you preheat the metal it will weld better when its thick.

 

[IJ.]

Thanks for the information everyone. I will be doing all of the welding outside my garage in my driveway so ventilation shouldn't be a problem Mike.

Shaeff: The thickest metal i would weld would probably be the intake manifold material. Im not sure how think that stuff is. Someone posted a link that had some good raw materials but i dont remember the thickness off hand. I have also herd if you preheat the metal it will weld better when its thick.

Double edged sword this one..... You run the risk of the shield gas being blown away from the weld zone and ending up with crap welds..

 

[NashMan]

Double edged sword this one..... You run the risk of the shield gas being blown away from the weld zone and ending up with crap welds..

indeed but i just wore a mask when i did this for 2 years

eye are good to go your wareing mask most of the time



funny part is when i started my old job the guy that been doing ti for year never knew hahahaha

then the next day he wore a mask all the time to this day

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Double edged sword this one..... You run the risk of the shield gas being blown away from the weld zone and ending up with crap welds..

Usually the wind isnt too bad around here when im working on my car. I know aluminum is different but welding steel comes out really nice.

Second or so bead i ran using the new welder and shielding gas. Got a little more practice in me now.

 

[NashMan]

^ not to beat the bush but i don't see much heat there ?


all so wiht aumoin you push in stead of pull and have to whip it and go faster then you do with steel or you blow though

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Its relatively thick pipe, just a blow off valve port so i wasnt trying to kill it.

22GA Sheet steel on the top/bottom of the catch can i made, Doesnt leak! The pipe handles the heat much better i guess.

Its not the best welds in the world but im still learning and having fun making my own stuff.

Im gonna order the spool gun next week sometime, hopefully itll work out good. Im not too concerned with how it will look as long as it works. When i have an extra 1-2 grand laying around ill step up to a TIG.

 

[shaeff]

Thanks for the information everyone. I will be doing all of the welding outside my garage in my driveway so ventilation shouldn't be a problem Mike.

Shaeff: The thickest metal i would weld would probably be the intake manifold material. Im not sure how think that stuff is. Someone posted a link that had some good raw materials but i dont remember the thickness off hand. I have also herd if you preheat the metal it will weld better when its thick.

I'm unsure of how thick the IM material is, however, you are correct that pre-heating will allow you to get better penetration on thicker metals. That goes for pretty much anything. If you find that site, post it back up. I'd be interested to poke around. (I have a crap ton of scrap steel already, but always looking for more crap to have laying around. LOL)

Double edged sword this one..... You run the risk of the shield gas being blown away from the weld zone and ending up with crap welds..

Yeah, whenever I'm welding outside (most of the time) I crank up the shielding gas a bit, and try to make wind screens around my work area that still allow the fumes to vent. Without increasing the shielding gas pressure, I was getting porous welds that looked like fried birdshit. LOL.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

http://www.rossmachineracing.com/

Not cheap enough to call scrap. But nice materials.

IM materials? Still a novice so I don't quite know the terms yet. If you mean the wire it's either .030 or .035 inch depending on what you buy. At least for the spool gun I'm looking at.

 

[shaeff]

Sorry, I was just abbreviating Intake Manifold.

 

[IJ.]

Sorry, I was just abbreviating Intake Manifold.

Damn!

I'd guessed "Imbecile Moron" and thought that was a bit harsh :runaway:

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Ohh haha. I get it now.

Anyone else with aluminum MIG experience?