Welding Aluminium with a MIG

[leehamescort]

G'day,

I am told its possible but how practical is it?
What thickness aluminium are they capable of?
Is a 200amp MIG capable big enough?
Is it worth the expense of setting up?

What experieance have people had?
It appears most aluminium is welded with a Tig...but they are so damn expensive!!

I am wanting to weld things like alloy bashplates, chequerplate, etc.

Thanks for any help.

Leeham

[sudso]

200A will weld alu up to the thickness material ok that you are talking about.

Just make sure you use radius shaped in the wire grooves (half moon) wire feed rollers and a plastic teflon liner in your gun lead.
It'll weld ok with argon gas but Alushield is better.

Everything (material, wire, etc.) must be clinically clean!!!

Use abrasives and tools dedicated only for Alu to avoid contamination.
There are abrasives (eg: grinding and cutting disc's that are iron free) especially for alu.

cheers, sudso

[KiwiBacon]

That's what the alloy boatbuilders use. Do we have any of them here?

[taspatrol]

just make sure you get a good liner or you will struggle and dont have your wheels to tight or it can bird nest realy easy and make sure there are no contaminates like cutting fluid or it will look poo

[Mouse]

Anyone doing production welding of aluminium will be using a pulse MIG. A normal mig will be ok for short runs but the heat input needs to ramp down as you go or you will melt through. Thats why TIG welding is far superior to MIG as the amps can be controlled as you weld.

[bazooked]

ya really need a push pull hand piece but they are rather exy, do what the others have said with rollers and liners, also run the next size up tip for ur wire.

[sudso]

Syncropulse migs are beautiful to use, welding any metal.

But bloody expensive!

[leehamescort]

Thanks for the info guys, so it is worth spending the money setting this up then.

cheers
Leeham