|
Trucker
02-21-2002 18:45:52
|
|
Re: Welding Aluminum in reply to Chopper, 02-17-2002 09:46:29
|
|
| |
First you need a teflon liner for your welder.Its the thing the wire runs through to the tip.You can only use about a 10 ft long liner and cable assembly,so if yours is longer you might need to buy the whole thing.You have to have argon gas.Its tricky to weld aluminum.It has to be clean.I take a torch and heat it a little,then hit it with a stainless steel wire brush.You only use this brush on aluminum.If you use it on steel and go back to aluminum with it,it will contaminate the weld.Also you need a squirt bottle filled with the acid mix a truck wash uses on aluminum to get it real clean before you ever start to weld.Once you have it clean with the brush and acid weld it,it makes a good weld.If it doesnt,you have the wrong wire.I think there are about 4 kinds of wire.The stuff that is real soft is what works on most stuff.If you only need to weld a little aluminum you might consider using a torch.The people that sell you bottles can tell you about it probobly.I have seen a welding shop weld it with a torch but I dont know what the rod is they use,some kind of aluminum,cant remember if they used flux or not,but it held when they were done.Sort of like brazing rod.Its hard to keep the wire from birdnesting on a mig.The best thing I ever used was a spool gun.Might ask your supplier if he has a used one as a new one is about 450 dollars or more.It eliminates the birdnesting problem though,and its allways ready for aluminum when you need it,or you can weld steel with it.If you have a long cable and hose you can get to a lot of stuff you cant get to without a lot of trouble with a big mig.Used to use it to weld the floor inside trailers,had enough cable and hose to reach the front inside of a 48 ft refrigerator trailer.Worked good.Its hard to say how much you would have to spend,if you allready have a teflon liner you dont have to change that,if your gun is only at the longest 12 ft,you wouldnt have to buy that,you could turn in your empty co2 bottle for an argon one and use it on steel too,and you could buy some aluminum brazing rod for a torch if you have one,maybe a can of flux.If I only needed to weld a little aluminum and had a torch I would try that,If not another gun for the mig that had a teflon liner,maybe if you know a welding shop that has a Miller mig they might have an old one laying around you could talk them out of and buy a teflon liner for it and only use it for aluminum.Or buy a new one,or if you have the time to switch out the liner just a liner.I dont know about a Miller but you might need to buy some aluminum drive rollers,proboly will.All this costs,probobly 100 bucks if you are lucky.The brazing stuff is proboly cheaper if you have a torch,and if you can find a used spool gun for 200,it will be worth the extra for the least headaches.As far as setting the machine you need to experiment,the thicker the metal the more heat and wire speed you need untill it sounds like frying bacon,and isnt pushing too much wire.If you can weld steel you can weld aluminum,its just different.It absolutely has to be clean,whatever it takes,and you move kind of fast compared to steel,it melts easy and its easy to put too much weld on.Wire speed is more critical,thats another reason I like a spool gun with the wire speed right on it you can set it just right.
|
|
|
