Thread: Welding Aluminium

sounds like you need to increase the wire speed

Hello,
You didn't say what welder you have, if you are getting black on the weld you are pulling the gun you should be pushing forward at about 70 degrees. if you are getting a big build up TO much wire if burning back to the tip not enough wire the best way is to put on setting 80% one hand on the wire speed control the other holding the mig gun put your helmut on pull the trigger looking at the weld then turn the speed control until the wire at the tip looks like it does't move you will hear the cracking noise. With alloy you do have to move quite quickly. How this helps a bit, it is hard to explain if you are in perth i can show you.
Ian

Ah ha, I am pulling. Let me go try pushing.

Thanks!

I use 1.0 mm wire in a 1.2 conduit and tip for aluminium.

With ally it's important to use a clean wire brush (brand new) to remove the oxide layer (looks like a white-ish build up or powder) around the area to be welded, as said earlier Ally needs to be welded hotter to get the penetration and you need to push the gun faster to control the molten pool.

If you find yourself having wire feed issues, pull the inner liner out of the gun and pour some shellite down the centre to clean it ( a sauce bottle works well), then blow it out with you compressor.

The secret to ally is cleanliness, if you have to cut it use a saw not a grinder, it you have to bevel edges use an electric planer and remember do not use a cutting liquid or oil.

have fun and enjoy

play with your welder to your heart's content and practice/practice/practice... especially on little projects to get the hang of it. there are a heap of "welder world" youtube videos on technique etc. well worth the effort to watch if you are new to the art...

BTW I have tried in vain to find MIG, TIG and stick welding courses for DIY in the Brisbane area... TAFE do not seem interested. There's an oxy welding course at Ithaca TAFE opp. the Broncos club in Red Hill but no others...

If you are intent on getting something very useful into the D3 in a reasonably short space of time, I'd suggest two of the metal 3 drawer pedestals from Office works and mount them side by side Prime Steel Pedestal Graphite at $159.00 in Mobile Pedestals

good thing to go the aluminium route....for the life of me, I don't understand why drawers need to weigh 100+ kg, cost 4 figures and support a tradie squatting 1 metre over the end of the tailgate

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

I use 1.0 mm wire in a 1.2 conduit and tip for aluminium.

The reason being that the al wire expands with heating and binds in the nipple. You need to keep up the volts and feed when welding al with mig. Tig is better for most al jobs.


An earlier post mentions mig welding outdoors in breeze. DON'T!!!!! Mig is essentially an indoors still air process if you seek high quality welds. My old tech. college teacher emphasised this at every opportunity. I can still hear him and his "the beat of a butterfly's wing will disturb the gas shield." forty+ years later.

I learnt to weld aluminium in a fire truck body fabrication business. They mainly used MIG for ally sizes 6mm and up. Basically it's wind up the amps, wind up the wire speed and get into it. At the start I could make weld fillets that looked good, but would fall off at a touch. It takes quite a bit of practice to make a good strong weld. Oh, and absolute cleanliness, as mentioned.

Most of the work I did there was fabricating hand rails, where I used TIG. Their TIG welder was brilliant because amp control was by foot pedal so you could finely adjust during a weld run to prevent melt downs. Start high, end low. Wish I had that machine, it was fantastic. 6 months of this, then I left and haven't welded aluminium in the next 25 years. Must start again, I liked ally welding.