Welding Aluminum

has anyone here done any aluminum welding? What type of MIG setup would you recommend for 3/16 plate or less.

Specific model and brand would be appreciated.

My little MIG setup says it can handle 1/8 but I have not yet tried it. I still need to get a Argon tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

at the LEAST you wil need to get a special liner but I recomend a spool gun. The biggest issue with welding AL with a MIG IMHO is getting the wire to feed well. Because the AL wire is so soft with out the special liner you tend ot have lots and lots of issues with it jamming up and bunching up in the liner.

I am sure you already know you need to run rure argon but I am goign to say it anyway.

 

I have a spool gun at work for aluminum. It works pretty good. It's a Miller, but I don't remember the model.
Someday when I'm rich I'll buy a spool gun and a tig welder.

 

I weld aluminum with my crappy Chicago Electric all the time. 1/4" plate at that, and I get good (not necessarily pretty) welds. I use argon, and haven't had any trouble with the original liner. More trouble with tip size, but you can always replace the tip or drill it out slightly. Just need to keep the machine cool, and plugged into a 20 amp or better outlet. Best advice I can give is to cut up some scraps and practice on them. Then practice some more. It seems that the aluminum welds "faster", as in, you need to move a bit quicker to avoid that "bird poop" look, but that could be my crappy machine....

 

I have a spool gun for my Miller 250. As mentioned by prev posters Aluminum has to be REALLY clean for good results. This includes the parts and the welder. You usually need a special liner if your going to "push" the wire through a standard mig gun. Problem is as already mentioned since the wire is soft you tend to get lots of rats nest and jams. A short a cable as possible helps to avoid problems. I have heard of "push pull" set up where the wire is pushed by the welder and pulled by the gun. The most popular way of MIG welding is by spool gun since it only has to push the wire a few inches avoidning the rats nests problem. As you seem to already know you need to run Argon. so unless you are using a argo co mix now you will need a new regualtor.