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Aluminum Welding Spool gun or Tig??

Tiha

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
711
Messages
1,049
Loc
Central Iowa
So I bought this trailer. Damaged of course, because I am cheap. Looking at fixing later this fall or when I get time. Roof is patched and holding with EPDM tape for now.

My plan is to cut it where the red lines are, where it is still straight.

Then jack or stretch it to straighten the roof and side skins. (then properly patch the roof)

Not at all confident the aluminum tubing will end up being anywhere where it was if I try to straighten, so I am just going to cut it loose and start over.

That is aluminum box tubing.
Since I cannot weld the top or outside without major work I was going to use angle, 2 pieces so I can stick the first piece in and weld on the inside. Second piece will form the box and I can weld the outside.

This is a structural piece but not that important as the angle I use will probably be heavier than the box tubing in there.

Normally I just have my welder buddy do this because I am not setup for aluminum at home, and he would be happy to do it.

But I am thinking it is time I get some kind of setup for small aluminum projects.

Thought tig might be the best but worried about access in this particular job. The tubing/angle is only 1.5" So tight spot.

Spool guns I think would make the most sense.

But the spool gun might be less useful in the future as opposed to buying a tig machine?

What say IBB? Anyone do non professional aluminum welding at home?

I know how to use all the different machines, just never bought one for home. I have a stick welder, miller mig, and a acetylene torch setup. Thinking just a cheap used wire machine to run the spool gun, or tig machine. Do not want to swap my miller back and forth.

Thanks,

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Try feeding aluminum mig wire through your normal gun not a new spool gun, and of course use pure argon not c25. My mm215 can feed aluminum without rats nesting to shit as long as I keep the whip decently straight. Have done it for a couple minor aluminum welds and worked fine.
 
SomeGuy said:
Try feeding aluminum mig wire through your normal gun not a new spool gun, and of course use pure argon not c25. My mm215 can feed aluminum without rats nesting to shit as long as I keep the whip decently straight. Have done it for a couple minor aluminum welds and worked fine.
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Thought about trying that. My lead is only like 8ft long. It seems shorter than what most people have and I was thinking when I bought it the guy told me I should be able to do that.

Maybe it would be worth a shot.
 
I have a spool gun for a Hobart Ironman 230 that I bought but used once......
 
Steve300xcw said:
FWIW I keep both a spool gun and a mig hooked up at all times. Just open up whatever bottle you need, hit the trigger, adjust the settings and go. Works pretty slick
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Yup, big millermatic 212 for steel and my old Lincoln 140c for aluminum. Works tits for what I do. It'd build that trailer easily.
 
I have a spool gun for a Miller 211 that I bought but used once......
 
SomeGuy said:
Try feeding aluminum mig wire through your normal gun not a new spool gun, and of course use pure argon not c25. My mm215 can feed aluminum without rats nesting to shit as long as I keep the whip decently straight. Have done it for a couple minor aluminum welds and worked fine.
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subybaja said:
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Teflon liner, that's right. I remember when I bought he said that was the key to doing aluminum without the spool gun.

My liner is about shot anyway, maybe I setup my short one for aluminum and buy a new longer lead for steel. hmmm.

Otherwise I am kind of getting the impression I will not use the spool gun like I think I will. LOL
 
I can never remember what my miller is. I bought it in 1993. Or 1992. LOL But it has been an awesome machine. The only thing I have ever done is a new liner maybe 15-20years ago.
 
Tiha said:
I can never remember what my miller is. I bought it in 1993. Or 1992. LOL But it has been an awesome machine. The only thing I have ever done is a new liner maybe 15-20years ago.
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If its a full size model I'd guess its a 205. Does it have a dial or do you move the + electrode to change heat?
 
Tiha said:
Teflon liner, that's right. I remember when I bought he said that was the key to doing aluminum without the spool gun.

My liner is about shot anyway, maybe I setup my short one for aluminum and buy a new longer lead for steel. hmmm.

Otherwise I am kind of getting the impression I will not use the spool gun like I think I will. LOL
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You won't, they are bulky and cumbersome.

Get a teflon liner. I have a spool gun setup for my Lincoln 180. After adding a weather pack connector I can swap out guns fairly easy. If i used it more id get a dedicated machine. I only use it when I need to weld 3/8" or thicker or dirty transmission cases. Maybe when i buy an aluminum trailer or have to modify my tow pigs box.
 
DWT said:
If its a full size model I'd guess its a 205. Does it have a dial or do you move the + electrode to change heat?
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It actually has 2 dials, one for heat and one for wire speed.

It was something weird, it is a miler but I always have trouble finding it when I search for it. The dealer I got it from was also a welding shop and he talked me into it instead of what I went in there to buy LOL

The lead connection all look like normal miller stuff.
 
I’ve got a separate spool for my Hobart 210?.

Took a little bit to get it dialed in, but after about 1/2a spool I was “good enough “ to move an inlet on a radiator.
I managed to weld 2 pop cans together end to end, but it was a fail on adding one on the side. I’m not good enough apparently :laughing:

That being said, I was working on a bench, not at the top of my reach at a funny angle. I think that would have been a fail. Spool adds a lot of mass and mine is only 6’ lead.

Whatever you do, practice on some similar scrap first.
 
Practice is great advice. Always important.

I have stick welded aluminum, tig, ran a cobramatic for hours and hours, even brazed aluminum.

Would certainly not try it again before some practice because it has been so long.

I am actually more confident with my Tig work on aluminum but I just don't think I can get in there.

Usually I am an too much heat/over penetrator. don't think my welder will get hot enough to do that on aluminum. I hope it just gets hot enough.

And who knows, maybe I will let my buddy do it when I actually get to that point.
 
Well I am committed now.

Ordered a graphene liner for my 8ft lead. it was like $15.
Bought 100% argon 40 CU/ft tank. It was like $285. I was shocked it was that cheap. He said it uses the same regulator and my CO/80 but I need to look again it looks smaller.
Spool of aluminum wire.

Should be able to set it up and practice this weekend.

If it doesn't feed right I will just go buy another welder and mini spool gun. Couple of used ones on Marketplace were reasonably priced.

Started cutting my trailer apart. It is not just one irregular shaped box tubing but 2 of them.

But that doesn't change my plans much.

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Tiha said:
Thought about trying that. My lead is only like 8ft long. It seems shorter than what most people have and I was thinking when I bought it the guy told me I should be able to do that.

Maybe it would be worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Shorter is better, get a Teflon liner for it.
You will need a lot of wire speed and heat.


I did what you are doing to horse trailer, paid for my Syncrowave 250DX when I sold it.

I would think long and hard about just using some panel bond and fastners. It will be much faster and cleaner.
Welding a huge piece of aluminum takes a lot of power, like a lot...
 
CarterKraft said:
Shorter is better, get a Teflon liner for it.
You will need a lot of wire speed and heat.


I did what you are doing to horse trailer, paid for my Syncrowave 250DX when I sold it.

I would think long and hard about just using some panel bond and fastners. It will be much faster and cleaner.
Welding a huge piece of aluminum takes a lot of power, like a lot...
Click to expand...
Was going to order teflon and read that graphene is better, so who knows, well I guess I will this weekend. LOL

There is a lot of aluminum there but it is very thin. So yeah, I am actually more worried about burn through than anything right now.

I bought some aluminum strap as close to I could find as to what is in there. Should be interesting to practice on.

Talking to the guy when I stopped to get my argon tank. It has been 32 years since I welded aluminum with a mig. Crazy.
 
Tiha said:
Was going to order teflon and read that graphene is better, so who knows, well I guess I will this weekend. LOL

There is a lot of aluminum there but it is very thin. So yeah, I am actually more worried about burn through than anything right now.

I bought some aluminum strap as close to I could find as to what is in there. Should be interesting to practice on.

Talking to the guy when I stopped to get my argon tank. It has been 32 years since I welded aluminum with a mig. Crazy.
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Me no saavy Teflon vs Graphene, NOT metal is what I was suggesting.

You definitely want to get your setup dialed in before trying on the trailer.
I'd try pre-heating with propane torch either way, cause with the mig you are gonna be squirting metal as soon as you pull the trigger and it might be hard to get good fusion with that much heat soak and a mig.
 
Got all my stuff and it is not going well.

New liner installed just fine. It feeds the wire great, 8ft lead, I expected more problems.

100% argon, Flow is up to like 25cfm just to eliminate that being a cause of trouble.

.030 wire

Reverse polarity

This is 1/8 aluminum, band new, clean. I tried some 3/16 as well.

Screwed around as much as I could with heat and wire speed.

Still not right.

Going to grab some different wire. I had to buy 5356, I wanted 4043 but they were out of small spools.

It starts out cold, okay that is normal, but then goes right to burning through. I cannot turn my welder down any farther.

got all these ideas running around my head, like wrong wire, or gas flow, I hear the gas flowing but am I running out of gas? that would cause burn through.

Figured I would go buy a welder and spool gun if this didn't work, but I don't think it is my welder. I have enough heat and wire speed adjustment.

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I’ve never gotten to mess with a spool gun. I did discover on my tig that too high a flow of gas can be a bad thing

How clean is that aluminum? I generally hit it pretty good with a powered scotch bright pad and then clean with non-chlorinated brake cleaner. Even if the aluminum is new and visually cleaned to the eye.
 
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