aly/stainless welding?

[pete23]

hi, sorry if its in the rong section.

are there any folk on here that have taught themselves to weld aly and stainless?
if so how did you get on? and what welder did you start out with??

i was going to go on a college corses, one day a week for a year, but ive spoke to the lecturer and all was good until he told me, the goverment had stopped funding corses.
so its gone up from a nice price (that i was willing to pay) to a price i realy cant afford at this moment in time!!

so was jusy wondering how easy/hard to teach myself.

thanks.

 

[tigler]

Stainless is easy'ish with TIG, Ali is a bitch !! I taught myself to weld SS with TIG, wouldn't want to try it with anything else and I wouldn't consider myself anywhere near expert, I can do non critical stuff but anything structural or life dependant I wouldn't do it. Ali is just voodoo !! I have practiced gone mad but still can't do it, thats with a proper TIG set, not a hobby TIG.

 

[shenion]

Stainless is not difficult other than needing to prevent exposure to air. May need back purging and don't get it too hot.

Aluminum can be done with MIG, but it is a royal pain to get the settings and technique right. Really only used in a production environment where you you spend the time to get the setting right and do the same thing over and over.

Aluminum TIG is a bit tricky. You will need an AC TIG. Steel is easier as it the weld pool is easier to see and control. Best to practice on steel first. A footpedal makes Al TIG easier to get going.

I learned TIG by myself. Welds do not look like the professional stack of dimes but are adequate. It takes a lot of practice and there are many resources online.

I have an old Airco Heliwelder TIG beast. Weighs about 340kg. It is an old transformer TIG similar to the Miller Dialarcs (was made by Miller and also sold as the Miller 330 A/BP). The old transformer beasts work and are reliable. They do require a lot of current. Mine specs a 175 amp breaker. I use it on a 50A breaker as I am not building battleships (goes up to 475 amps out). Works fine up to about 220A. If you can find a used AC/DC TIG they are great to learn on.

A new AC/DC TIG will set you back at least £1k.

 

[pete23]

thanks chaps.