Gonna weld Alum for 1st time...

[GeneStoner]

I have a HH180 with a Miller Spoolgun & SGA 100 that I am going to attempt to weld Aluminum with here real soon.

I will be welding 1/8th inch plate to 1/8th inch channel, and assuming I have the unit set up properly, what is the biggest problem(s) that I need to worry about?

[toolaholic]

haven't done much with my mm210, but here's my 2 cents
use a dedacated stainless brush and acetone.
use push direction and travel very fast. I'm sure more experianced folks are in the wings Tool

[tigman]

Make sure you are running 35cfh or more, I have never used acetone and have production welded aluminum for 10 yrs, if the material is new I don't even wire brush it, but this is my preference and opinion only.

Like was mentioned by toolaholic push your puddle don't pull it. You will be set at max or close to max amperage and depending on your wire choice close to max wire speed. Have fun.

[toolaholic]

I'm usually repairing something that's broken ,when it comes to allum.

an oily dump truck P. T. O. comes to mind:rolleyes:

[Sundown]

I use more stickout than with steel wire, about 1/2" to 3/4" works for me. Also I don't start with the wire sitting on the workpeice, just a bit off should help with burnbacks. The hardest part for me was getting away from cold starts, this is what works for me.

[tigman]

I'm usually repairing something that's broken ,when it comes to allum.

an oily dump truck P. T. O. comes to mind:rolleyes:

Toolaholic I have a tendency to think new material as I have worked with it for so long, sorry I should have thought repair work too. I do wire brush and buff when doing repair work sorry for the short sightness. Scott

[Clay Walters]

On my HH175 I set the Argon at 20, tap 4, wirespeed 85 +/- on 1/8" thick material using 4043 .030 and a .035 tip. Never used a spoolgun so cannot say if that will impact your settings or not. I have a relatively hot outlet (239v) which I suspect is why my wirespeed works out a little less than the recommended start point in the manual.

I degrease with denatured alcohol and then follow with a stainless wire brushing immediately before striking the arc. Speedup a tad once the pool is established.

Regards,

Clay

[billie-1]

stay out of the fumes

[Thomo]

Hi GeneStoner

Im from Australia so all our measurements are in metric .I often weld similar size things .For 3mm (1/8) Ive found 1.0mm wire the go ...too much burn back with 0.9 and a better bead than 1.2. The best piece of advice I ever got was when Mig in Aluminium was "Hot and fast" I rarely wire brush prior to welding but usually linish stock with a scotch brite belt.Best of luck.

Brett

[blueynielsen]

Hi there,
Spray transferr is the key rather than a short arc.......

CLEAN everything like your going to spraypaint your grand-dads old Ford and run the argon at around 15-20Lpm.

Then just do a few runs to start off on some scrap, the way I beat a cold start is to start welding about 1" along from the start of the run slide back Quickly to where I need to start the run and always angle the gun in the direction of travel but too much so.

Bluey.

[Treb5]

Hello Gene

Was wondering how those alum welds turned out with the spoolgun. I have a need to do some alum welding on my alum boat and was thinking of buying a spoolgun. Seeing your results and hearing your opinion would help me decide.

Please post some pics. Also, anyone having pics of alum mig welding done with or without the spoolgun with a MM175 or smaller machine please post some pics.

Thanks
John