Newbie - few questions, welding alloy

[WIDEMR]

Hey all, sorry for the newbie questions.

Just woundering what welder to buy, i have had some welding experence but years and years ago

Just woundering what to buy, its just for very occational use, but to weld alloy, 1.2mm sheet and 3mm tube.

accationaly some 1.5-3mm steel maybe

Most likely im just looking for somthing to be able to tack weld these strong enough to stay in shape then get somone to tig weld it all up for a stong nice looking weld.

With alot of practice i guess ill be wanting to be able to do all the welds, not just tack it.

Because its only occational stuff im thinking gasless mig with flux wire (and a cheapie 2 amperage setting one ), cant justify renting or buying gas bottles, rather just tack it up and get somone else to weld it.


what other options do i have?


Thanks for any info and help, and hi

 

[wyn]

I don't think gasless will do the job. It would need to be Pure argon gas with a mig for aluminium. You would probably find that using mig on aluminium very tricky and frustrating to get it set up to work. The ideal thing would be AC tig, but then that starts getting expensive, maybe £400 GBP for an "entry level" inverter.

If you're getting some one to weld it could you take the parts and set thm in position there. You could try maybe riveting it to hold it then when it gets welded remove the rivets and weld the holes up.

This might not have been much help in you coming to a descision hope you sort something.

Someone else will be along to give their ideas i expect. and welcome to the forum.

 

[WIDEMR]

Yeah one of my first plans is a strut cross brace for my car, twin tube from tower to tower and cross to the firewall in a X shape (re mounted engine) ect in 3mm alloy round tube, simple yet complex, realy need to cut and make all at home and tack weld then take down to a place to tig weld up.

will a gasless mig be ok for tacking 3mm and 1.2 mm alloy?

 

[wyn]

From what i understand there isn't a gasless aluminium welding wire for "hobby" use.

I may be wrong though. It might exist in industrial situations?

The problem is TIG or MIG you will need gas.

 

[greyshirtguy]

Welding (tacking) aluminium is quite dissimilar to welding steel...
It has certain properties (such as an oxide skin with a much higher melting point) which make it quite a deal more "special" and difficult than welding steel(s).

In short, gassless wire is not an option (even if one exists in some special industrial setting - it won't likely fit your budget of "cheapie two setting")

I suspect there is no cheap option for welding/tacking aluminium.

The most common option is AC TIG with Argon shielding GAS (No DC won't work and AC-TIG's are $$$$)
The next most common option is MIG with Argon shielding GAS. (A bit cheaper and not as nice as TIG). See Aluminium Welding
Apparently it can be done with a gas torch and the right techniques/flux/etc - This guy seems to love it... His Home page