Welding Aluminium With A Mig

[smithmiller]

Hi

I have a mig,is it possible to weld alum?

If not what da ya suggest without purchasing a tig.

Thanks

[VB-]

yes its possible.

get Alu wire, and a nylon liner, althought it isnt 100% necesary, just do it. then maybe get a bottle of alushield too.

[thrtytwo]

^what he said, makes a nice noise MIGing alu lol

[Craved]

smithmiller also created an account on a US based Z forum and asked the exact same question .....

[jonn]

^^^ Your point being?

[zebra]

I have a miller 185 mig,is it possible to weld alum?

I could be wrong...and quite often am, but it seems like a subtle ad

[funkymonkey]

lol smells like a spam bot (seeing as he has the brand name he mentioned in his nick), but oddly its on topic and in the right section. haha has me second guessing. My guess is its a way to get Google search results hits when someone searches for "welding aluminium with a mig".

but back on topic, I'm thinking of buying a MIG, but wanna be able to do aluminium welds too. do I have to get one that's capable of really low voltages as the aluminium I wanna weld is pretty thin?

[Craved]

Shan, same smell i got from it haha - the thing that gave it away most was the automated template used, that worked on the other thread in the US

Alloy welding requires more amps than mild steel, but as VB- stated nylon liner is best practice along with the correct gas shield- depending on the mig you get, you could get a spool gun for it that holds the roll on the gun to stop binding in the gun.

[260rsstagea]

how thick is the aluminium you are thinking of welding? and is it pipe of just flat plate? tig normally better for thinner and pipe applications whereas mig is better for probably 3mm thick and up

[funkymonkey]

i'd say 1mm to 1.5mm thickness max. basically piping, boxes, shields and guides.

[r33_racer]

lol you wont be mig'n that too well in any hurry....you want a tig for that stuff mate!

[VB-]

so what are YOU doing on a US based Z forum craved? good tech/fab sections on there or anything?

can you still get those push-pull guns? havent really seen em around (bar the ancient ones floatin round the shop/at trade school)

[Craved]

yeah you can still get them, discussed it when i got my 3 phase MIG.

lol i've been on the US z forum for years, still waiting to get a 240z one day lol http://www.hybridz.org

[FelixTRX]

I can weld down to 1mm fillet and butt welds at work, but that is on WIA 450 industrial machines with a 'softarc' setting. But that setting my only be an Incat program.

At home, I have a WIA 175 which I weld mild and ally with. Coiled steel liner for steel, nylon for ally. Use .9mm or 1.0mm ally wire with Argon gas, no mixes, just Argon.

Did I mention my trade is Aluminium welder / fabricator?? *lol*

Cheers, Greg.

[PUDZ 32R]

as above!! use pure argon and nylon liner. the liners usually dont last that long tho

i welded heaps of alum with mig but nuthin under 4mm plate

i would say a mig weld that thin would sit on top of the metal more than a tig weld which tends to "sink in"

that was my experience. btw i was using .9 and it welded 4mm up just fine

was on a unimig 165.

[timsr33]

I can weld down to 1mm fillet and butt welds at work, but that is on WIA 450 industrial machines with a 'softarc' setting. But that setting my only be an Incat program.

At home, I have a WIA 175 which I weld mild and ally with. Coiled steel liner for steel, nylon for ally. Use .9mm or 1.0mm ally wire with Argon gas, no mixes, just Argon.

Did I mention my trade is Aluminium welder / fabricator?? *lol*

Cheers, Greg.

how do you go welding steel with pure argon ive never tryed it but from what ive herd it doesnt penetrate really good if it works well i would love to no as ive got a mig and i just bought a tig and really dont want to have 2 bottles

thanks tim

[Craved]

Tim,

you definately need argon for TIG welding alloy and stainless - pita have 2 bottles but you sorta need to

[timsr33]

yeah i thought you would didnt think argon would weld nice on mild steel

thanks craved

[FelixTRX]

Argon can be used to MIG steel, but ArgoShield (proper steel gas) is much better. And yes, need Argon for TIG, regardless of what you are TIG'ing.

[lcgtr]

How do you rate the Weldmatic 175 for home use?