Welding Aluminum .... Sigh...

[RobertD]

Wow. Welding aluminum is amazingly hard.

I bought a Jon boat the other day, and needed to do some repair to the transom (where the engine mounts.)

Got me some 100% Argon filled up, got my aluminum wire, cleaned the area good, got my 220V MIG fired up...

UGLY. OH just pitifully ugly.

Basic problem was that it was jus too thin to weld without adding a lot of backer plate, and doing that would make it difficult to fit the wooden transom back into the area.

Anyhoo, anyone have any success on thin aluminum ever?

Yeah, welding aluminum is tough.

 

[toofarnorth]

I've had to weld up a stress crack in the fender on a ford explorer using a spool gun they are pretty thin aluminum. It came out okay but it wasn't easy I would have tried the TIG welder but I've heard that those can fry the electronics in the car even if you disconnect the battery, and I didn't feel like taking the fender off the car. I was surprised I needed so much wire speed to weld aluminum.

 

[frederic]

Mig welding aluminum requires that the gun be positive. This is consistant with steel mig welding but the opposite of flux-core welding, which typically has a negative gun.

100% argon is correct.

And the biggest issue I've run into is the aluminum welding wire flings all over the place inside the machine, kinks, and makes a snarly mess. If I can get the wire out of the machine through the gun, the welds are reasonably okay.

I replaced my Lincoln's gun and hose with a teflon-lined one and that alone reduced the snarls of wire in the machine significantly. I also found that used, worn rollers which work great with steel wire needs to be replaced with new ones. For the little bit of aluminum mig welding that I do, I always put on new rollers and when done with aluminum I leave them there for steel welding. I find getting the tension right is difficult. To little and it doesn't feed straight or at all, and too tight and the wire gets crimped and flattened then refuses to go through the hose and gun, even with the teflon liner.

This is what got me into the durafix, muggyweld, and alumalloy "soldering" rods. It's less hassle, works very well, and only requires mapp gas, and does really thin stuff quite well. I've soldered as thin as 22 ga aluminum no problem with the rods, with a little bit of overlap (lap joint). It does not butt weld very well.

 

[jorge0136]

My little experience with welding aluminum has been with using a tig welder. My tig welder is an extremely low quality model. It is actually a combo machine tig/arc welder. Anyhow, when I tried welding aluminum it worked spectacularly well. Granted this was on a bit thicker of metal. Probably 10 gauge. I still got a fair bead with a little practice. I practiced on steel first, more forgiving. Then moved to the more delicate things.

 

[kibble]

I believe I had already suggested it before but, if the area/wire has moisture on it you'll get ugly welds. Another thing is to make sure that the area is really nice and clean or you'll get a lot of carbon and oxidation on the weld.

 

[lemegacool]

the best is pulsed tig (ac) ... can do very thin!, with a mig... as frederic said: teflon or nylon liner, keep the whip straight (to avoid birdnesting in the rolls) , soft wire drive rolls, on thin alu i usually just go with little consecutive tacks... (( ( (( (( ( ( but the best is to use a spool gun or a push pull whip...

 

[RobertD]

yeah all was clean, just too thin for my skills and maybe my machine. The chart on the machine says 1/8 at "1" power level and full speed. THat's just thicker than what I was doing.

I did screw around with some thicker stuff and did complete some success welds. I guess to really do it right I could have bought 1/8" plate and just "replaced" the whole back end of the boat, but that would probably be a little pricey.

Either way at the end of the day I gave up and used super-duper-marine-sealant.

I only had birds nest issues when I would stick the wire (meaning I was too close to the material) and it would back up. Otherwise it fed pretty good.

Next time I go to the metal store I'm going to get a few sizes of aluminum drop and get more proficient!

 

[jr dragster T]

Aluminum must be very clean and polarity must be correct. This is my second time welding aluminum. I'd say I've gotten the hang of it now.

 

[lemegacool]

not too bad but thats not how its supposed to look lol try increasing the wire speed a little... you need to play a lot with your settings when welding alu to find the sweet spot

 

[freakboy]

LOL today i was so bored and attempted to weld with a durafix rod rofl and jumper cables and a battery from my mower ROFL it didnt work well ahaha.

 

[lemegacool]

LOL today i was so bored and attempted to weld with a durafix rod rofl and jumper cables and a battery from my mower ROFL it didnt work well ahaha.

... ... ... ... yeah... you do know durafix is a solder rod right? lmao!

 

[freakboy]

yeah i know lol.
i was just screwing around i also found out my starter motor works and works great **** that got the engine spinning lol.

 

[frederic]

Durafix and similar products do not work when you run high current electricty through them. You have to heat the work, then remove the flame and dab in the rod.

 

[jr dragster T]

not too bad but thats not how its supposed to look lol try increasing the wire speed a little... you need to play a lot with your settings when welding alu to find the sweet spot

It was perfect till I smashed the pool with a screwdriver.....

 

[Raywelder]

Our welder at work, has a spool gun for alu attached. It's really nice, and works well, I can weld most steel pretty well, and with the spool gun, it doesn't take very long for me to catch on and get it burning good. I found it surprisingly easy, lol,
Tigging alu, however, is a different story..

 

[lemegacool]

Our welder at work, has a spool gun for alu attached. It's really nice, and works well, I can weld most steel pretty well, and with the spool gun, it doesn't take very long for me to catch on and get it burning good. I found it surprisingly easy, lol,
Tigging alu, however, is a different story..

tigging alu is a real dream! lol i would take a tig welder way before a semi auto to weld alu...

 

[freakboy]

my freind mop told me if you wana use a tig just so u dont have to keep control of the pedal put the machine on a setting were it wont blow throught and then just hold the pedal down as far as it can go so your foot dont get heavy on it and then blow through.

 

[lemegacool]

my freind mop told me if you wana use a tig just so u dont have to keep control of the pedal put the machine on a setting were it wont blow throught and then just hold the pedal down as far as it can go so your foot dont get heavy on it and then blow through.

many tig machines haves a trigger hold or a setting witch allows you to set the amps at the panel and then use the pedal as an on/off switch...

i prefer putting a litle more amps then needed and then controlling it via the remote (pedal)

 

[bigfootrules31]

use steel, thats a mans metal

 

[jr dragster T]

This takes some practise....