i know that it can be done with the proper wire, but do you need gas too or will the electric do fine itself?
MIG welding aluminum?
- Thread starter Whitty21
- Start date
icic, well i might make a diamond plate airbox sometime down the road, not now i guess 
not worth purchasing the gas and such, and i generally would like to learn but i dont have the money to invest in all the right equiptmen, all i got is a licoin mig, not sure on the power.... works good for steel though
not worth purchasing the gas and such, and i generally would like to learn but i dont have the money to invest in all the right equiptmen, all i got is a licoin mig, not sure on the power.... works good for steel though
i think my dad can stick weld, not sure how well or what, and my grandads old welder is somewhere.... hmmm
You need ARGON for aluminum, i ran out of argon when i was welding my bumper and it made a mess out of a fang
, than i got a new bottle and started to weld some more and it was empty and made a bigger mess so i got a new bottle with argon.. lol
, than i got a new bottle and started to weld some more and it was empty and made a bigger mess so i got a new bottle with argon.. lol
I have a mig welder in my shop and it will do alluminum with a special gun that pulls the wire , alluminum wire is so soft it just turns into a cluster fuk unless you have a spool gun or a gun with pulling wheels in the gun itself. Straight Argon is the ticket although there are cases where you can use a mixture of helium and argon for better penetration. The best way is TIG , and it aint as fast as mig but a seasoned tig welder can weld pretty darn quick. The only time i mig alluminum is if its thick. I prefer my tig for the best looking and stronger welds.
You don't need to run a spool gun but it is recommended if you have a machine that can handle it. If you have a machine from Lowes or Home Depot you can just replace the sleeve in the gun cable and replace the pulleys to round instead of the v groove which mess the soft wire up. Then use argon gas and you can be welding aluminum with a budget MIG.
I might have saved that episode of Extreme 4x4 on Aluminum Welding
I might have saved that episode of Extreme 4x4 on Aluminum Welding
I don't like the alum gun, when you start you have a cold weld and the weld gets better as the material heats up, unless you heat up the material before you start.. The old push gun can make a cluster fuk in the line.
My newer push & PULL gun is better, and has hot start and some outher stuff, but i did get a couple cluster fuk on the push weels on the machine, and my bud i work with got a cluster fuk in the gun on the pull wheels.
I like the tig torch because i can get the material to the temp i want with the pedal before i add the filler rod.......
If you have an Arc machine you can set that up for TIG welding, You'll have to have a copper plate to scratch start the arc and you wont have a foot control for heat. But it can be set up to work.
My 110 machine can do aluminum but requires argon either change the pullys or get a spool gun and you have to reverse the polarity of the machine by swapping the cables in the machine I may have to try it sometime !
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