MIG on Al, or TIG purchase?

[andyboy66]

Hi

I’ve recently bought a Murex 201 that I'm just in the process of getting setting up for mild steel (it's main use)

However - I also have a need to do some Aluminium welding; specifically – 5251-H22 (NS4) 2.0mm thick.

Will the Murex do this if running 1.0mm Al’ wire, with correct (1.0mm) feed roller, feed tube, outlet tube a Teflon torch liner, oversize (1.2mm) tip, shielding with pure Argon?

Or am I wasting my time / money even trying to get the MIG set up in this configuration? – Anyone have experience of trying this or advice please?


If I have to buy a dedicated TIG set up to do this, and want to keep my costs down, what is the minimum spec’ machine I should look for? – Will a DC TIG do it, or will I have to go to AC/DC, HF start and all that good stuff?

Again - any pointers / recommendations would be very welcome.

I'm new to TIG, so please be gentle!

 

[GrahamGKD]

Hi,
There is a section on aluminium MIG welding under the MIG welding tutorial.

I had ideas of doing aluminium with MIG when I bought my Portamig but I was advised against it (by Weldequip, I think) - I'm told it can be done but it is not very easy and not particularly successful. I did manage some aluminium projects years ago with an old SIP MIG machine and it did stick the metal together successfully but it wasn't easy or pretty! I believe a spool gun at the torch helps improve the process but I have no experience of these (someone else will be along shortly, no doubt).

For TIGing aluminium you need an AC TIG machine I'm afraid, probably not what you were hoping to hear.
I hope that helps,
Graham.

 

[malcolm]

Have a look through this section if you fancy giving it a try: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/metals.htm Those were done with a Clarke 155, so the Murex would likely be slightly easier.

Depends on the application really - how good the joint needs to be and whether it needs to be neat. Plain (rather than fancy synergic) MIG for thin aluminium is a complete pain, though you can make it less painful with a heatsink backer to take the heat away. If neatness and max strength, and the set up and learning are less of an issue than budget then it's worth a go. Otherwise an AC TIG will be much easier even if you haven't used TIG before.

 

[derekm]

Migging Ally is not difficult you can do it with a steel liner on a ancient clarke 165 e with 0,8 wire and weld down to 1.2mm ally
Remember It just isnt the same as steel at all!

1. clean clean work piece
2. straightish welding hose
3. push the gas flow along with the torch
4. fast enough feed to prevent burnback
5. slow enough feed not to stub the wire on the work
6. be prepared to untangle the wire from the rollers a few times.
7. move the torch in definite stroke with a bit of run in

simples !

but definitely less forgiving of sloppy preparation or technique than steel mig

advantages :
it

• s damn site faster than tig
• uses a lot lot less gas-
• it takes less learning than tig - you can go through few half size cylinders of argon just learning and practising TIG

diadvantages:

• it takes more learning than steel with mig you need to learn new moves - Think as though you are starting again from scratch and allow double the time it took you l to learn to do steel
• restarts of welds may not be gas tight.
• it wont do fiddly bits

I'm using my mig for the long runs and tig to fix up the botches and the leaks