On Mar 21, 2004, at 11:21 PM, shiples@comcast.net wrote:
>
> At 10:52 PM 3/21/2004 -0500, BSHolden@aol.com wrote:
>
>> The master of lists writes:
>>
>> > Am I just being silly thinking such a low output box could weld on
>> aluminum
>> > panels in the 0.050 - 0.100 inch range?
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>> -------------------------------------
>> It has been my experience that power is a factor secondary to
>> materials
>> (wire, gas and wire liners) to cleanliness of the material to be
>> welded and
>> technique.
>>
>> I am sure that your welder could handle aluminum given proper operator
>> experience and equipment prep (hint; replacement of wire liner and
>> the use of proper
>> gas...argon I think).
>>
>> So far as technique: Be prepared to practice.
> I've heard that it is very difficult to get aluminum wire to feed
> even with the special liners.
> The only person I saw use a Mig to weld aluminum
> paid about 2K for a Miller with a spool gun.
It's possible to weld aluminum with a compact mig. 85 amps might be a
bit low powered. You do need some special equipment. A teflon liner
for the feed, proper rollers on the feed mechanism (U shaped, V shaped
ones can damage the wire which makes it harder to feed. ), special
contact tips (Al wire expands more when it gets hot, so the holes need
to be slightly bigger). You'll probably want a straight cylindrical
gas nozzle on the gun, and not a necked down one, because you need
higher flow rates of the shielding gas. Pure argon is the gas usually
used for shielding, but sometimes a small amount of He is added (it's
got higher heat transfer properties.)
You also need to do much greater and much more careful surface
preparation. It's mandatory to degrease the surface (acetone is
usually used) and then clean with a stainless steel brush, which is
used for nothing other than cleaning aluminum immediately (within a
minute or so) before welding.
Special technique is also required. Don't expect to weld anything
other than flat on a bench, you need to push the weld and the speed of
travel increases as you're welding. Practice, practice, practice.
It's possible to weld aluminum with a torch. If you have one, and know
how to weld with it, it's probably a better choice than a wimpy mig.
You'll need special fluxes and rods, and ideally different googles.
Daivd
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