Aluminium
- Thread starter dws
- Start date
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
There are two basic types of aluminium
Magnesium Alluminium allium alloys and
Silicon alluminium alloys
both require different treatments, so you must be aware of your material first.
Secondly I have never heard of welding aluminium with a standard arc welder, ( may be wrong)normally TIG is used
You can do it with MIG with the correct wire, and normally a spool feed in the gun head
You will also need a bottle of pure Argon
I have welded with arc and Mig for 40 years but have never been succesfull with Aluminium
Magnesium Alluminium allium alloys and
Silicon alluminium alloys
both require different treatments, so you must be aware of your material first.
Secondly I have never heard of welding aluminium with a standard arc welder, ( may be wrong)normally TIG is used
You can do it with MIG with the correct wire, and normally a spool feed in the gun head
You will also need a bottle of pure Argon
I have welded with arc and Mig for 40 years but have never been succesfull with Aluminium
Last edited:
banjo
Member
- Location
- Back of beyond
I weld loads of aluminium, and it takes a lot of practice to learn to do it well. I use a tig welder, argon gas is pretty expensive so it is costly to learn, but when you get the knack it's easy then, like most things. The biggest thing I found is wait for the puddle to form correctly before moving all the time. I have a tig 200 from everlast cost me £600, the newer machines are better but they are a lot dearer and when learning too many adjustments make learning harder. Mine has four nobs to adjust and proberbly only actually adjust two a few mill either way, as the foot pedal is your adjustment most of the time.
I tried the arc rods and had no joy, the rods were astronomical price and the result looks like sh!t, many older guys can do it very well though, truely brilliant welders.
mig seems the way to go if you have a lot to do and I have a mig that can do it, but the results weren't pretty enough for what I needed as I sell the products on flee bay. Sv seeker on u tube has a brilliant boat build on go and uses mig to weld aluminium and makes it look simple and shows his setup, but I couldn't get the same as my wire speed wouldn't go fast enough with my spool gun, so that's a work in progress.
Tig for me, but b prepared for stress when learning, drive through that and pretty lovely welds will shine back at you and make you smile.
I tried the arc rods and had no joy, the rods were astronomical price and the result looks like sh!t, many older guys can do it very well though, truely brilliant welders.
mig seems the way to go if you have a lot to do and I have a mig that can do it, but the results weren't pretty enough for what I needed as I sell the products on flee bay. Sv seeker on u tube has a brilliant boat build on go and uses mig to weld aluminium and makes it look simple and shows his setup, but I couldn't get the same as my wire speed wouldn't go fast enough with my spool gun, so that's a work in progress.
Tig for me, but b prepared for stress when learning, drive through that and pretty lovely welds will shine back at you and make you smile.
- Location
- Cirencester
I found Tig'ing alloy easier than thin steel tube when I started, agreed with Banjo, TIG is the way to go, once you get proficient you can weld all sorts, alloys, stainless etc etc. It's a lovely way to weld.