mig weld aluminium with IFL i-tech 170

[ned]

hi all,

i have a need to weld aluminum. I never learned to tig weld, however im open to all possibilities, as i need to find a solution.
I think tig might be the more efficient way of doing it..

sorry there are gonna be a few questions in this thread.
can someone explain to me why the welder I bought is unsuitable for tig welding aluminium please?

http://www.weldequip.com/ifl-170-mig.htm

I bought a spare euro torch a few weeks back, second hand, for 20 euros. a bargain i think. So far as i can gather the next thing to do is buy a teflon liner.

I think i need oversized tips. this is the wire that is available to me, 1.2mm seems huge? -

http://www.wholesaleweldingsupplies.ie/index.php?route=product/category&path=37_96

probably ill hit ebay UK for a better selection. the above doesnt look great for choice.
Initially i want to weld 4mm channel, fairly heavy stuff, but later i will be welding maybe 1mm stuff.

The main question for now i guess is, what size wire and tips might I be looking at?
I'm using 0.6mm mild steel wire on thin and heavy stuff at the mo and I'm quite happy with it.

Thanks for reading! if anyone has any tips or advice, I'd love to hear, it seems to be do-able without a spool gun, but if its not ill buy a spool gun

okay i just looked at the prices of spool guns i wont be doing that

 

[shed or dead]

Hi,

can someone explain to me why the welder I bought is unsuitable for tig welding aluminium please?

Your TIG is DC only. TIG welding of Aluminium is more approachable with an AC TIG set as one polarity is used to clean the oxide layer, whilst the other polarity creates the weld pool, as the polarities alternate. DC TIGing of Ally is technically possible, but not in most scenarios, and certainly not on thin material.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/welding-aluminium-with-a-dc-tig.659/

What do you need to weld? I've had reasonable results using MIG on Ally 0.9mm sheet. It's all down to practicing setting up power and wire speed, and practicing on the material thickness you intend to weld. Sppol guns can be had for around 120.00 for an occasional hobby item but personally I don't like how far they project from my hand. use a short lead, and keep it as straight as possible e.g support it over a table and don't allow it to kink. Some prefer a teflon liner but I've been OK without. I have my steel liner ground down to the profile of the feed roller to prevent the soft Ally wire from kinking.

Have a watch of this chap

You will require pure Argon as a shielding gas on Ally.

 

[BrokenBiker]

i have used dc tig for aluminium but it was no where near as good as with am ac machine