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MIG Welding Aluminum?

S

S.D.L.

Member
Most of the aluminum I have welded has been with with a TIG, but I"ve noticed more and more MIG"s coming as a combo with the sppol gun. How are the welds with the MIG spool gun and what is everybodies opinions on it? Pictures would be nice if possible.
 
Mig welding aluminum with a spool gun, or push pull gun has really come a long ways. If a guy was going to do a lot of it a machine with run in heat would be very nice. Other wise you have to adjust your travel speed accordingly, go slow at the start, and faster at the end of the weld. For thin aluminum a machine with pulse is also very nice.
I have a Lincoln Invertec V350-Pro with pulse, and the SG spool gun. One thing I like about that spool gun is the notched contact tips. When you get burn back these tips seem to survive longer.
With the pulse I have welded 16-GA with no problems. And up to 3/8-inch aluminum.
15568.jpg


15569.jpg


15570.jpg


15571.jpg


15572.jpg
 
This is my last aluminum job. I did this last fall. I mostly used my Miller Vintage mig with spool gun. I did use the tig on the front corners tho. I didn't take any pics to show the welds so these are the best I have.
a106151.jpg

a106152.jpg
 
I really like my spoolgun. Miller Sp-100 on a Miller 211. Really easy to pick up the process and use. Much quicker than TIG but not quite as neat. Very acceptable though. You really have to move with a MIG. I was trained on TIG by a Boeing aircraft welder so he was very fussy about apearance. He can do some PRETTY welds!
 
If your going to buy a welder for aluminum be careful what you buy. I started with a miler 200 which worked great, but then the salesman talked me into upgrading. I've had a miller 250, 250x, 251, and a couple others and eventually went to the vintage mentioned below. The ones with the computer controls and electronics will build up a static charge when you let off the trigger. It doesn't hurt to much on steel but it will stick the wire to the tip on aluminum. They actually weld ok once the weld is started but you will use 10 times more tips that with an old style welder with machanical contactors. For me the electronic welders would use about 1 tip per 1 lb roll of wire, the machanicals will run 10 or more rolls through a tip.
 
With aluminum you use a push technique and contact tips that are a size bigger than the wire because the aluminum wire expands from the heat. TIG is always the best on aluminum but MIG will still produce sound welds. They won't look as nice as good TIG welds but is a faster process.
 
I replace the floors in aluminum dump traliers 8 ft wide and up to 40 ft. long. I can weld one in in 2 days with a Mig. It would take 2 weeks with a TIG. Every welding process has it's place and TIG would definately not be suitable for this application.
 
Those tips look like they would help a lot on the
sticking problem. How much wire do you get through a
tip?
 
I haven't touched that spool gun in well over a year. I'm just a hobbyist, these are all toys to me. :wink:
 
LOL, wish I could afford toys like that. You should
use it and let me know how it works Or you can bring
it to my house I have a trailer to build when it
gets warm.
 
Well I'll get right on that. At around $5.00 a pound for aluminum wire I'll do some testing so you can save a few cents on contact tips.
 
I guess your not the only one with a tight budget in these difficult times. Guess it's lucky for me that I don't use a lot of tips then isn't it. ;)
 
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