First time alloy welding

[Pistonbroke]

I have never used a mig but wanted one for a while. My son designed a quad box for his gcse and after months of project work the teacher said it can't be made in school because they don't have the kit. Ordered an rtech 180 inverter with a spool gun last Wednesday afternoon,arrived 9am Thursday. Played on some scrap to get settings close and then first corner weld.

Grit our teeth and started on

No turning back now

Few extras and some movable dividers

Dog is impressed

 

[Farmer_Joe]

Is it a generic mig welder with Ali wire?
I tried a mig with Ali wire and special gas years ago and it was shite never tried since yours looks good.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Is it a generic mig welder with Ali wire?
I tried a mig with Ali wire and special gas years ago and it was shite never tried since yours looks good.

Normal MIG welder but came with a spool gun aswell so the roll of wire is on the torch. Only takes 0.5kg rolls but works well

 

[Farmer_Joe]

No gas?

I will have to investigate

 

[Pistonbroke]

No gas?

I will have to investigate

Still need argon

 

[Pistonbroke]

Same machine. Once got the settings right it worked really well

 

[Mur Huwcun]

Is it a generic mig welder with Ali wire?
I tried a mig with Ali wire and special gas years ago and it was shite never tried since yours looks good.

It has to be pure argon and it has to be new Aluminium. Old stuff just won’t weld even if cleaned up with grinder, impurities just come through

 

[jellybean]

Wow! if that had been my first attempt I would be very happy. Maybe I will get the gear and give it a go.

 

[Mc115reed]

Is it a generic mig welder with Ali wire?
I tried a mig with Ali wire and special gas years ago and it was shite never tried since yours looks good.

You need different liners in the torch for Ali wire that will be why...

 

[Pistonbroke]

You need different liners in the torch for Ali wire that will be why...

The spool gun works perfectly ( so far ). Otherwise the advice is Teflon liner, different feed rollers and a shortish torch. Pro spool guns are £500ish,this was £130 so probably made of chinesium,but it's got this done and it's 5m cables so might be useful.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Wow! if that had been my first attempt I would be very happy. Maybe I will get the gear and give it a go.

I haven't shown the first weld on scrap.Once set right it's is easy as squeezing silicone round your bathroom. Machine is a bit daft, there's no numbers on the dial for voltage or wire speed and the amps only show up while you're welding,so you can't see the screen yourself

 

[Hilly]

Damn good especially first shot , well done, I converted my mig few years ago for a job and it was not without teething trouble we shall say !

 

[Pistonbroke]

Damn good especially first shot , well done, I converted my mig few years ago for a job and it was not without teething trouble we shall say !

I'll bring it down to earth with photos of the first practice welds if I didn't throw the piece too far. Got it spot on for 3mm treadplate now but by all accounts,same settings for thinner stuff will blow through and for thicker,it will mound up. Might quit while I'm ahead

 

[tepapa]

Clean conditions for Ali welding are essential. You need to grind off the oxide layer, even on new stuff, with dedicated grinding disks, not ones you've used on steel. Use different welding gloves to normal to minimise contamination and hold the torch still after finishing the weld to allow the weld pool to cool with gas shielding. .And that is the extent of my knowledge on Ali welding .

 

[Mc115reed]

The spool gun works perfectly ( so far ). Otherwise the advice is Teflon liner, different feed rollers and a shortish torch. Pro spool guns are £500ish,this was £130 so probably made of chinesium,but it's got this done and it's 5m cables so might be useful.

Place I used too work bought a dedicated Ali set and it came with standard liners and rolls and it’s was a bloody nightmare then we figured out why and fitted Teflon liners and rollers and it was better but wire kept jumping then we realised our 20m torch was the issue and bought a really short one and all of a sudden we had an amazing bit of kit... saved a ridiculous amount of time and money over tig welding and nowhere near as much distortion either

 

[Pistonbroke]

Place I used too work bought a dedicated Ali set and it came with standard liners and rolls and it’s was a bloody nightmare then we figured out why and fitted Teflon liners and rollers and it was better but wire kept jumping then we realised our 20m torch was the issue and bought a really short one and all of a sudden we had an amazing bit of kit... saved a ridiculous amount of time and money over tig welding and nowhere near as much distortion either

I got the treadplate from Gamic trailers and their welders all have four feed rollers and less than five metre torches. Not sure they'll be offering me a job yet

 

[box]

Excellent result, well done.

Same machine. Once got the settings right it worked really well

I couldn't understand a word of that, I fired up the Youtube subtitles and that made it even worse

 

[Pistonbroke]

Excellent result, well done.


I couldn't understand a word of that, I fired up the Youtube subtitles and that made it even worse

Down to earth old fella. Does a fair job of explaining the machine and what adjustments are needed. YouTube very useful sometimes,aswell as funny tree falling vids

 

[Alchad]

Impressive result. I've got the same R-tech and have been fancying a go at ally, don't mind buying the spool gun but it's the extra cost of a cylinder of pure argon I thought you were supposed to need - did you use pure or the normal 5% CO2 stuff used for steel.?

 

[Mc115reed]

Impressive result. I've got the same R-tech and have been fancying a go at ally, don't mind buying the spool gun but it's the extra cost of a cylinder of pure argon I thought you were supposed to need - did you use pure or the normal 5% CO2 stuff used for steel.?

You need pure otherwise the weld will oxcydise