Aluminium welding

[Craigyboy_stirling]

Hi all.

I found you guys while searching on the net looking at welders and I notice there is a wealth of knowledge here and I was hoping that someone could help me with my dilemma of what to get for me to do some aluminum welding.

I was a full time might welder back in my late teens and I've also did robot welding and a little stick welding over the years just for my own repairs not as my full time job.

I'm looking to weld aluminium angle.....maybe tread plate sheets......box section and thick alloy plate up to maybe 10 or 15mm maybe even 20mm.

I would like to make a rear tool box for my truck and also a safety cage for one of my cherry pickers......it's a custom build and I have been unable to find anyone to do it for me so I'm going to do it myself all going well......that's the plan anyway.

I'm up for trying anything ......prefer the easiest and quickest way to be honest.....I wondered if plasma cutter etc would be any good to me as well ? Or am I better sticking to grinder for cuts etc?

Any help very much appreciated

 

[cumbriasteve]

Welcome to the forum , I am not an alloy welding guy so will leave the answers to those with more experience in that field.

I should imagine though if you did some cutting by grinder and then tried a plasma the grinder would never be used again.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Welcome aboard, Craig - as you say.....

there is a wealth of knowledge here

I can't believe how much I've learned since joining, and help from the lads too.

 

[Richard.]

Welding Alu plate 10-20 MM thick will need some serious power. You've got 2 options really
1) is a high powered 4-500 amp pulsed Mig. You don't need the pulse but it's a really nice thing on Alu and if appearance is very important along with added speed then it might be worth looking into a double pulsed featured power source.
The other way is tig. Again your gonna need 350-400 amps on tap but this process cannot come close to the speed of Mig. Imo it always looks nicer done with tig but it's not as productive.
For new units capable of welding Alu that thick your looking 7-12 grand depending on what you go for. Second hand might be worth a look as the 3ph ones don't shift as well so the prices are often a good deal.

 

[Craigyboy_stirling]

Wowsers! That's serious money.....

Maybe I should do some more digging to find someone to make the things I need.....shouldn't cost more than 3k I imagine......will have a nosey at welders too.

Thanks for the info guys much appreciated

 

[Wendelspanswick]

For a cheap solution have a look at aluminium arc, never tried it myself but there is a fair amount of information on the web.
All you would need is DC arc welder with a decent duty cycle and alumium arc rods, Lincoln do them.

http://hildstrom.com/projects/stickaluminum/

 

[Chris Stevens]

Wowsers! That's serious money.....

Maybe I should do some more digging to find someone to make the things I need.....shouldn't cost more than 3k I imagine......will have a nosey at welders too.

Thanks for the info guys much appreciated

If you have 3phase power, and old transformer TIG can often be found for less than £500. If you dont have 3 phase, then its going to be difficult impossible to weld thicker material. There is no real need to buy new, and a total investment of say £1000 inc safety gear can be covered with only a few jobs...............

 

[Richard.]

Wowsers! That's serious money.....

Maybe I should do some more digging to find someone to make the things I need.....shouldn't cost more than 3k I imagine......will have a nosey at welders too.

Thanks for the info guys much appreciated

Sorry to frighten you there mate. You don't need to spend that sort of cash. That's high end brand new double pulse money.
The guys are right you can get a 3 phase 400 amp Mig with separate feeder for under a grand second hand.

 

[F.J.]

Just be careful when it comes to making something for your cherry picker, especially the basket mate as H+S will come down hard on you if anything goes wrong. If your new to ally welding then i would consider getting someone else to do it. As its going to be an ally basket i take its a truck mount cherry picker you have? They are mostly all tig welded and as far as i can remember the thickest section is around 6-8mm although i could be wrong

 

[F.J.]

Sorry to frighten you there mate. You don't need to spend that sort of cash. That's high end brand new double pulse money.
The guys are right you can get a 3 phase 400 amp Mig with separate feeder for under a grand second hand.

I got an 18month old lincoln powertec 360 for a £1000, pulse and double pulse sets got on ebay for 2.5-3k

 

[Chris Stevens]

Wouldnt want to weld anything safety critical with MIG...........and to be honest its not work for a beginner no matter what gear they have.

 

[Richard.]

Lorrys are built daily with Alu on Mig and they are pretty safety critical. The process has proved it self.

 

[Chris Stevens]

I have noticed things like cherry picker cages, and other things along the same lines are all TIG welded. Seen some pretty rough MIG work on trucks, and not sure that would be acceptable on cherry picker cage?

 

[Richard.]

No I agree it's not a job for a new welder at all. But Mig in general is great on Alu and in good hands will perform serious strong joints.
In bad hands LOF is likely and well..............
The basket falls apart.

 

[blenkie1]

Lorrys are built daily with Alu on Mig and they are pretty safety critical. The process has proved it self.

Yes we made Ali decks for car transporters ( usually the one above the cab) using just an ewm mig. It's more than strong enough and faster.

 

[F.J.]

My lincoln was used for ally all the time until i bought it. I tried it out on some 6mm ally angle and it was as smooth as pudding. Some tipper bodies are ally and the mig welding looks beautiful on then