To weld square section aluminium tube 2mm thickness

[GregoireLeGros]

Hello. I am building a sailing rig for a canoe. I have chosen to use square section aluminium tube to make a frame to support a rudder and also a frame to hold a mast. I'm not experienced and have been told that TIG welding will be the easiest way to achieve my goal. With a budget of £250 what machine would suit my purpose ? I live in UK

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum:

My advice would probably be to use the £250 or less to pay an experienced welder to do the work for you.

I am afraid that: aluminium welding, no welding experience, a TIG set up and a £250 budget will equate to a bit of a miracle to have success.

If you are determined to continue then have a good read of the tutorials on this forum, check the price of machines with this link http://www.weldequip.com/ and check how much used welding sets go for on Ebay.

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

Well welcome to the forum.

But with a budget like yours you stand no chance.

There are lots of good welders on here with lots of experience sadly I'm not one of them.

But I will guess you will need to spend 5 to 6 times that amount and lots of practice so best to get someone to do the work unless you have a burning desire to be a welder

Ali TIG is the hardest form of welding to do and for someone with no experience will be a steep learning curve

Good luck

Bit too slow in replying

 

[zx9]

Hi welcome to the forum, as said above TIG welding thin aluminium is a quite difficult skil for a beginner to pick up, I can run an ugly weld on steel or stainless steel with aluminium I just start to get confident then it all goes to pot and I have just made some more scrap.
I don't think the others have said that you will also need an AC TIG set to weld aluminium which are expensive, starting around twice your budget for a no name / high risk purchase from EeeeBay.

 

[Richard.]

Acdc tig starting money from a box shifter in a far away land is £500 and tbh would probably be pretty useless for that. 2mm box for someone who's not got Alu tig experience is a long shot with good kit. You could always try and mig weld it which if your lucky might buy you a half suitable mig welder but you will still need argon gas (100%) and that is going to swallow a good lump of the budget, it's not as nice a process for your application either . IMO you should be looking at approaching this with nothing less than a grand in your pocket and buying something like the Rtech 160 acdc

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

IMO you should be looking at approaching this with nothing less than a grand in your pocket and buying something like the Rtech 160 acdc

Yeah but you've still got to get a mask gas consumables etc

Spending is never ending but good if you want to learn

 

[Richard.]

Yeah but you've still got to get a mask gas consumables etc

Spending is never ending but good if you want to learn

I'm more than aware of the costs involved in Tig welding. A grand or maybe just over that mark could just about get him started.

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

I'm more than aware of the costs involved in Tig welding. A grand or maybe just over that mark could just about get him started.

I know you are you just forgot to mention it

 

[Kent]

As others have said but also consider this Sailing Rig will also be under a fair bit of stain on a windy day will it not (I have seen masts shear before now along their un-welded sections. You need to take this to a pro, the nearest you might come is using stainless steel instead of ali with a £350 scratch start MMA / TIG inverter in DC but then you need to factor in the bottle, mask, gloves etc.
£250 should get someone with the kit to weld it for you though

 

[NTwoO]

An A grade machine with foot pedal does simplify aluminium welding, but then you're looking at 2 grand or more...

 

[Richard.]

An A grade 230v acdc Tig with pedal is gonna set you back a minimum of 3 grand and in most cases you'll be looking nearer 4 grand. Add a cooler and a wc torch and you'll be looking not far off the 5k mark for most of the high class inverters. A price tag like this makes it very unlikely for hobby welders to ever own one.

 

[Dee J]

I know this is a welding and metals site, but you could probably achieve comparable results with a carefully thought out wooden structure for much lower tooling costs. If you are determined to stick with aluminum then rivets bolts and glue can produce a credible structure.

 

[Paul G]

Something to bear in mind.

Aluminium box section is extruded, has an elongated grain structure, ( work hardened ) and therefore a high tensile strength.

The moment you weld it you anneal it in that area and make it soft.
You would not for instance ever weld a ladder if it got damaged. Not even for a million pounds.

Paul G

 

[Richard.]

Something to bear in mind.

Aluminium box section is extruded, has an elongated grain structure, ( work hardened ) and therefore a high tensile strength.

The moment you weld it you anneal it in that area and make it soft.
You would not for instance ever weld a ladder if it got damaged. Not even for a million pounds.

Paul G

This is where experience in design and structure would be needed to overcome that. No you certainly wouldn't repair a ladder or steps by welding.

 

[NTwoO]

An A grade 230v acdc Tig with pedal is gonna set you back a minimum of 3 grand and in most cases you'll be looking nearer 4 grand. Add a cooler and a wc torch and you'll be looking not far off the 5k mark for most of the high class inverters. A price tag like this makes it very unlikely for hobby welders to ever own one.

Well! The prices certainly went up! I purchased my Lorch HT 180 with foot pedal for 2400 about six years ago. It was an ex demo model. The unit itself was 1999. The basic H was cheaper, but I'm glad to have the extra features of the HT

 

[Richard.]

They certainly did. The handy Tig acdc 180 is around £2700 Retail Inc VAT on its own nowadays. Add a OEM pedal and I'm sure it's gonna bust the 3k mark. But as you know it's a leading industrial machine. I've used the 220T and found it to be brilliant. The price of them can only be understood when you use them as you will know been an owner of such a high qual unit.

 

[NTwoO]

Its the cornerstone of my garage. Last I built a trebuchet with my son from aluminium. What fun we had. The local football club also asked me to repair their aluminium goals. For a few bob the goals are better than new, ready for the next 10 years. Personally I find that if you have the pedal, then aluminium is simply a matter of learning to read the signals the material gives you. They are different from steel, but none the less, they are present. Also having a machine with tweakable freq and balance make for more parameters one can play with.