Is there any tips out there on aluminium welding

[bilbo]

I'm after as many tips as i can get on aluminium. Welding.I thinkmig is a positive earth but not to sure as i can't get any info on my machine its a amag 185 turbo mig. I have no troubles welding steel just thought i'd try something new and differant . Any help will be handy Cheers

 

[madkayaker]

Double wire speed and move like the clappers

 

[Luke]

Its worth doing a search, there are a few posts about.

As above, but also.
Teflon liner
straight torch, no bends etc
new tip
plenty of prep
be prepared to change welding speed as the metal heats up.

 

[shenion]

Torch positive for aluminum.

0.9mm 4043 wire is much easier to feed. 0.8mm needs to be fed real fast (as at 9.5 on dial on my 130EN.)

5356 is stiffer and easier to feed. It also won't be deformed by the rollers as much. It aslo feeds just a bit faster than steel while.


Use a bit long torch/work length. Teflon liner helps. Use next size up tip (i.e 0.9mm tip on 0.8mm aluminum wire.)

Overall torch travel and wire speed will be about twice what you are used to.

 

[weldmeister]

dont know anything about your set but for AL but its a bit of a pain to get the right set up you are best off with a push pull small spool wire feed on the torch unit (Al wire is very bendy and is almost impossible to push up the torch so it needs to be pulled as well) hence the small 2.5 kg spool hand unit you will also need to change your gas (been a while since i did much Al so not sure what its called now)
get a tig set much easier

 

[R Kraft]

The aluminum needs to be clean as you can get it.
You have to use about the same number of amps as you would use with steel, at about twice the wire feed rate.
Not fun , it will be right or very wrong, not much middle ground.

 

[superls]

ive been using 1.2mm wire, as above really, teflon liner, straight torch, i slacken my rollers right off, to the point i can stop the wire with my fingers and it doesnt kink up, i had to make a new roller too, but thats cos my wire is 1.2mm.

i found my mig settings for ally were almost the same are for steel, but this may be due to my thicker wire?

its 'different' to welding steel but not opposite ends of the spectrum

 

[shenion]

i.. cos my wire is 1.2mm.

i found my mig settings for ally were almost the same are for steel, but this may be due to my thicker wire?

Yes, When I used 0.9mm wire the wire speed was a bit more than 0.8mm steel wire, maybe 25%. Not 2x as the 0.8mm was.

Oh, not mentioned before, you need to use pure argon or argon/helium mix gas.

 

[carbon]

I suppose one important question would be how thick aluminium are you thinking about welding. I occasionally weld 6mm aluminium plate and find that approx 225 - 250 amps are needed with 1.2mm wire to achieve good results.

 

[malcolm]

Like what they said. There's some info on setting up and welding alu on here: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/metals.htm Very much observations from a DIY perspective, but it worked.

 

[bilbo]

Cheers peeps it sounds like a challenge Its worth a try tho I've got a few bike frames to play on . Time to strip the welder .

 

[madkayaker]

if there motorbike frames best to get an expert at it as they could be exotic blends and welding could take all the strength out of it

 

[mike os]

I would want to tig that......

 

[Wozzaaah]

.....I would want someone else to tig that.
Seriously Bilbo, don't take chances with bike frames, you're talking putting your life on the line.