skotl
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I use either 1mm or 1.2mm depending on the job.How thick is the wire with those spool guns ?
It is for thicker Alu rather than thin. 3mm is about the thinnest you want to do and even that is a pain as you really need to be in spray transfer to do a decent weld.Can you get enough heat in there to weld tipper bodies with confidence or is it Just designed for thin ally plate ?
My other question is when you use AC you get a cleaning action on the ally, appart from surface prep there can't be any cleaning action is there ? Do you allow for a certain amount of contamination when using spool guns ?
Seen this in a few threads mostly, I think, about MIGing aluminium.
Why would you need a spool gun, like this one, rather than just bunging a spool of alu wire in the welder?
Is it to save having to swap liners / torches between mild steel and alu?
I started off using a standard torch many moons ago and it was ok but you had to have the right rollers and liner and if you didn't keep the torch lead as straight as possible then the wire would stop feeding. If the wire feed rollers were not set just right you would get a birds nest back in the machine/wire feed unit. If it was set right then you wouldn't get the birds nest but usually got the wire melting in the tip.
Spool guns usually come with 8 or 10m cables so they are excellent for moving around large structures, I mainly do Alu on fishing boats and the spool gun is great for that as it gives me an 8m radius to work from the welder.
I have an SGS360 from TecArc which I use with the Esab L401 welder.Wow I did not know that Mr Hood, I was under the incorrect assumption that it was tiny wire on those small spools..... So out of interest what spool gun do you use and at what sort of amps do you run it at ?
good morning gents.
I have spent much time and thus funds on doing alli, with puls migs and push pull guns. There is no doubt that the spool gun has it's uses, however for larger jobs and the variation in material thicknesses the spool gun is not the answer. If you are serious then an up market setup mig with all the bells and whistles is the answer. The new toys have the processes to accommodate thickness, position and material composition. I have a mig setup with a push gun and have no trouble with feed, but the gun is specifically setup for alli. I have another setup with a water cooled push pull gun for thicker and longer runs, and have now got a Fronius 320 with push pull. This new machine makes the others look stupid in operation and adjustment. The only problem and I have two, 1 is only the faulty operator unit and 2 is the stupid, ridiculous, absolutely insane cost
The cleaning isn't there with a mig nor is it needed.I think it is the spray transfer that provides the cleaning. I usually just wire brush the oxide off or use a flap disc on the grinder
They certainly smear your hands tissues around in short order if you touch them inadvertentlyAbrasives such as flap discs are about the worst thing you can do.
They don't clean the oxide layer off they smear it around. Doing this will give you contamination in your weld.
Yes the soot is various oxides transferred across the arc but it's exaggerated with contamination and lack of shielding too. You don't just get it with Alu you can get soot with steel on Mig and Tig just as easily by way of not removing mill scale and keeping a long arc/stick out.I thought the sooting was caused by the magnesium vaporising within the spray and creating mag oxide? That was always my understanding and why it is nearly always present when using a high mag content alloy such as 5356.
I often do repairs that are corroded badly with the salt water. Often there have been bits cracked for years before they get that bad that they decide to get them repaired, it can be a real PITA. Also often has been painted over many times and trying to get the paint out can be a nightmare. Splatter and spurt the weld in, grind out, rinse and repeat many times until eventually you have some metal to get a decent weld on, by that time my skin is usually full of burnt holes