Welding Aluminum
- Thread starter kpilot
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steel 35
Well-known member
I say no; but you can try to stick weld it and thats very hard imo.Bondo
Well-known member
Nope, not in a million years,...
Full Throttle
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- Nov 8, 2011
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why not a oxy/acet torch?
astroracer
Well-known member
Usually MIG requires a spool gun because the wire feed is a LOT faster with aluminum. Try it... And post pics. I'd be real interested to see what it does...
Mark
You have to have gas with aluminum mig. It will look real bad without it. Doubt you could stick weld it with Aluminum rod either as the base material is too thin. If you have oxy-acetylene try some hts2000 flux-less rod (http://www.aluminumrepair.com/more_info.asp) or regular rod with flux and torch. Brazing rod and flux will work too...
SlappyWhite
Well-known member
You also want the spool gun so you do not contaminate your steel wire with aluminum and aluminum oxide after you switch back. You need to keep them seperate...
The aluminum wire also tends to bind more without the spool gun, too far to push it...sometimes.
The aluminum wire also tends to bind more without the spool gun, too far to push it...sometimes.
jimbbski
Well-known member
http://www.alumiweld.com/
I've used this product and some other brands that seemed to be the same. You only need a propane torch and the finished "braze" is quite strong. Starting with very clean aluminum you can get a strong joint. The material will oxidize to a slightly darker gray then aluminum over time but that's the only thing I can see as a down side to using this.
I've used this product and some other brands that seemed to be the same. You only need a propane torch and the finished "braze" is quite strong. Starting with very clean aluminum you can get a strong joint. The material will oxidize to a slightly darker gray then aluminum over time but that's the only thing I can see as a down side to using this.
Zeke
Well-known member
I tried it with argon and couldn't get anything but blackened bird droppings.
GMAW (aka MIG) or GTAW (aka TIG) on aluminum both use 100% argon. (GTAW pretty much uses 100% argon as the shielding gas for everything. See third paragraph for some exception.)
You do not use any sort of argon-CO2 or argon-O2 blend to weld aluminum.
(sometimes, some sort of argon-helium blend might be used for welding 'thicker' aluminum, as the ionization voltage of helium is higher than that of argon, so more voltage is used in the arc, which means more energy/heat in the weld. Which is sometimes needed for welding 'thick' aluminum.)
(second background info factoid: Originally, the GTAW process was was called "Heli-Arc", because it used pure helium. Then someone figured out that the much less expensive argon could be used as a shielding gas.)
And yes, unlike steel where almost any steel alloy is weldable (sometimes with certain pre/post heat treatments), there are certain common aluminum alloys (such as 7075) that are just unweldable (by fusion means, they are sometimes 'welded' via processes like friction-stir welding).
As to welding aluminum without shielding gas (either GMAW or GTAW), NOPE.
Unless you want to get either a spool gun (if your machine can use one) or you want to attempt to use the 'special' (plastic/Teflon) liner in a regular short-length MIG gun cable and get a cylinder of 100% argon and practice a bunch of aluminum welding on some scrap pieces the same alloy and thickness as your workpiece (all doable, maybe), then either have someone with the tools/skills weld it up for you or use some other process (sometimes aluminum can be brazed, sometimes the lower-temp fillers like alumi-weld can be used).
You do not use any sort of argon-CO2 or argon-O2 blend to weld aluminum.
(sometimes, some sort of argon-helium blend might be used for welding 'thicker' aluminum, as the ionization voltage of helium is higher than that of argon, so more voltage is used in the arc, which means more energy/heat in the weld. Which is sometimes needed for welding 'thick' aluminum.)
(second background info factoid: Originally, the GTAW process was was called "Heli-Arc", because it used pure helium. Then someone figured out that the much less expensive argon could be used as a shielding gas.)
And yes, unlike steel where almost any steel alloy is weldable (sometimes with certain pre/post heat treatments), there are certain common aluminum alloys (such as 7075) that are just unweldable (by fusion means, they are sometimes 'welded' via processes like friction-stir welding).
As to welding aluminum without shielding gas (either GMAW or GTAW), NOPE.
Unless you want to get either a spool gun (if your machine can use one) or you want to attempt to use the 'special' (plastic/Teflon) liner in a regular short-length MIG gun cable and get a cylinder of 100% argon and practice a bunch of aluminum welding on some scrap pieces the same alloy and thickness as your workpiece (all doable, maybe), then either have someone with the tools/skills weld it up for you or use some other process (sometimes aluminum can be brazed, sometimes the lower-temp fillers like alumi-weld can be used).
aka Larry
Well-known member
Aluminum wire is too soft to 'push' through the long gun lead on a MIG. You must have a spool gun and 100% argon to use MIG fot aluminum.
Just a couple quick notes for summary mig welding aluminum. Based on my experience, if you don't agree, that is fine.
-Not well suited to smaller machines, especially 110v machine. Feed issues and lack of raw welding power.
-You will need 100% argon shielding gas
-A through cleaning both mechanical and chemical of the base metal is needed to get a clean weld, even then soot can be an issue depending on the alloy.
-You do not have to have a spool gun to run aluminum wire, it is pretty easily ran on full size spools with a nonmetalic liner and a bit of care. The larger diameter spool feeds easier as it has a larger initial bend radius than the more common 1lb small spools intended for spool gun use. Where people get into problems is typically on the smaller machines, running 1lb spools, 4043 and a small diameter wire. It is just a recipe for much frustration. Unless someone is building a boat or doing a good bit of aluminum fab work. Mig aluminum doesn't really have a place in the home shop IMHO. The initial cost to get going is pretty high for most.
Just my 2¢, take it for what little it is worth.
-Not well suited to smaller machines, especially 110v machine. Feed issues and lack of raw welding power.
-You will need 100% argon shielding gas
-A through cleaning both mechanical and chemical of the base metal is needed to get a clean weld, even then soot can be an issue depending on the alloy.
-You do not have to have a spool gun to run aluminum wire, it is pretty easily ran on full size spools with a nonmetalic liner and a bit of care. The larger diameter spool feeds easier as it has a larger initial bend radius than the more common 1lb small spools intended for spool gun use. Where people get into problems is typically on the smaller machines, running 1lb spools, 4043 and a small diameter wire. It is just a recipe for much frustration. Unless someone is building a boat or doing a good bit of aluminum fab work. Mig aluminum doesn't really have a place in the home shop IMHO. The initial cost to get going is pretty high for most.
Just my 2¢, take it for what little it is worth.