Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 is it possible to set up a lincoln weldpak- 100 to weld aluminum? im building seat frames for my sparco seats this weekend so i can finish my rollbar...... i would like the lower weight of aluminum, but dont have time to sub this out before this weekend. thanks, dominic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I'm guessing no. The reason I say that is my HTP 140 has provisions for aluminum welding, but even at the highest setting, 14 ga aluminum sheet is a stretch (it welds steel up to 3/16" great). It takes a lot of heat to work with aluminum and it sounds like the work you are using is going to be a good bit thicker. Also, I believe the Lincoln WeldPack100 is a flux core welder, which means to me you have no provision for a shielding gas? Even if this could be overcome, I'm guessing that the 100 will have less heat available than would be needed to do the job. The aluminum wire liner will need to be something that will not gall, such as teflon or such also. Most welders that are designed for a ferrite metal wire are steel lined, which does not work very well on aluminum wire. Not an expert here, just sharing my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Might as well spring for a tig welder. AWE...Go ahead, you know you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I'm less knowledgeable than Terry, but I do know that the very minimum requirements for Al MiG welding are a Spool (No way can you reliably push wire thru the liner), Argon gas, and a very accurate heat and gas pressure setting. Typical Weldpaks have None of these. Mine has a stupid A B C D heat setting, rather than infinite. The regulator is completely non adjustable. Well, you can adjust it, but there's no guage (only an empty/full guage). Also no spool. Metal liner. As Terry mentions, I have heard/read that steel and Al don't play nice. As in, you can't use the same wire brush to clean parts with. Don't get me wrong, my weldpak is a great tool. I've run miles of wire thru mine (seriously - many, many miles, owned it for ~12 yrs). But it is not meant for such tasks. TiG. You know, speaking of unobtainable tools, I have, for the past 10 years or so, responded the Exact same way any and every time anyone asks me what I want for Xmas or Birthday. Plasma torch, or TiG welder. My needs are simple. Unfortunately, so are my means.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I personally have all of the above. I am a hopeless toolaholic. My only complaint with my tig, It doesn`t have a foot pedal. If you ever decide to get a tig,"get one with the pedal". They are much easier to control. I still have to play with mine quite a bit to get the perfect setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo2001 Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 I want a TIG with stick option. Best of both world. I like the Miller Syncrowave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Mine is Mig w/ tig. I have a separate stick welder for ral heavy stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 i have the mig conversion for it, but i guess that doesnt help. i would buy a tig welder, but right now i dont have enuf xtra $$$ to pick up a tig welder. plus i dont know how to tig weld. maybe ill just build the frames out of steel and have it copied in al when i have more time. anyone know a good tig welder in columbia,sc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 There is a optional gas set-up available for the Migpak 100. I just saw one at Home Depot, I think it was about $100. I purchased an aluminum set up for my SP-135 a few weeks ago . It came with the teflon liner, rollers, nozzles, and 1 pound of wire. Cost $65. I am not sure if it is available for the smaller welder. My local welding supplier is very service oriented. Urie & Blanton. They take in trades on mig welders. Used mig equipment sells quite fast, so you may do okay dollar wise with a trade deal. You may want to explore trading up at your local supplier. My 135 does a nice job on aluminum up to 3/16" thick aluminum, it may do more, but that is my experience so far. Welding aluminum is nothing like welding steel, that is for sure. I must have used the 1 pound roll just for practice and finding just the right temp and speed. I can say that having the capability to weld aluminum has opened up a whole new world of options, so far as construction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 So, the teflon liner is effective? That Al wire is soooo soft. I would never have thought that pushing the wire thru any kind of a liner would work. So, I presume you already had a tank of Argon? Do you use that for steel as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 The trick is to keep the hose as straight as possible. This minimizes the risk of the wire getting bogged down in the tube. Yes, pure Argon. The cost difference here is not that great over the mix. Actually, I rented a small bottle ( I am not sure what size it is, It stands about 3 feet tall) I think it cost $20. to fill. I did try the Argon on steel, it works fine. Keep in mind, the aluminum wire should never come in contact with ferous metal. So I keep the aluminum conversion kit in a large zip lock bag, when not in use. I have got the conversion process (changing the steel to aluminum set-up) down to 3 Minutes. By the way, My Sp- 135 has the stupid ABCD heat control also. I just had to practice, practice, practice and experiment with each heat & speed setting until I was satisfied. My gas regulator, does have a good gauge on it. I found that setting the flow of gas is as important as the heat setting. Check out http://www.lincolnelectric.com, for the Aluminum kits, http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/optiondatasheet.asp?p=2127 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 If the aluminum wire cannot come in contact with derous metal, How does it feed? The feed rollers in my welder are steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 The right rollers come in the kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 As though everyone else hasn't thrown enough at you, In navy nuclear welding school, we were taught that aluminum requires a high frequency welder. I am not sure but I think it was around 200hz, apparently without high freq. you are just sticking the metal together. I was told "well, heck, if you ain't gonna use high freq just go get some g**d*** elmers glue" I don't know what type of welder we were using, but I know I have never seen one since school. So ,best of luck to ya. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Aluminum conversion kits normally come with aluminum rollers. The big trick is to adjust roller tension to just push the wire through with as straight a line as possible. Remember, wire feed speed on a MIG welder determines amperage and heat input. MIG welders are Constant Voltage (CV) machines so current (amperage) varies; determined by the machine trying to maintain a specific arc length (voltage) by melting the wire. For welding aluminum turn up the wire feed (heat) as high as you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 i havent reserched this at all, but is there a 220V peice out there that can do both tig and mig? id prefer not to have to constantly swap stuff back and forth, so i may just try and find some bigger used equipment to do them seperately...... soon as i payoff my snapon account in the next couple of months i should be in the market.... dominic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 If you can do TIG, why would you want to do MIG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 When working on farm equipement(or any number of things) there are plenty of places you can reach with a mig gun that would be impossible to get to with both hands to Tig. Also, mig is nice for tacking things together. You can hold it where you want it with one hand, tack it with the other, and tig it later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 14, 2003 Share Posted March 14, 2003 There are very few (if any) combination MIG/TIG machines. Again, MIG machines are Constant Voltage (CV) machines and TIG/Stick machines are Constant Current (CC). The power supplies are different for each type of machine so a combination MIG/TIG macine would require two different power supplies or a special (expensive) inverter. There are many different kinds of TIG torches and they even have TIG torches with an automatic filler wire feed and hand amptrols. Any place you can get a MIG gun you can also get a TIG torch. But, for farm welding, buy a separate MIG welder. You can weld dirtier metal with MIG and still get a good, strong weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted March 15, 2003 Share Posted March 15, 2003 Its been my experience that most Aluminum MIG outfits are very touchy about setup. You can spend half a day just setting one up so it will run a decent bead. TIG is much easier to set up, since you dont have to deal with feed rates vs amperage, wire size, etc. Granted, the TIG machine will probably cost you more, but will ultimately be less frustrating than a MIG. Just make sure to use pure tungsten for the electrode, not the 2% thoriated stuff. Pure runs better for some reason. Considering the application (seat brackets), I would opt for steel anyway. Anything thats going to support your weight in the car, or have a signifigant function concerning safety should in my opinion be made of steel. You should only gain a few extra pounds by using steel anyway, and you wont have to worry about the galvanic corrosion that occurs betwwen aluminum and steel. (This is a signifigant issue, I work on a ship that has its hull made of steel, and superstructure out of aluminum. The aluminum is literally rotting away in places. The places that are not rotting have stress fractures.) Additionally, any welding of the aluminum pretty much voids any heat treatment its had within the heat affected area. A T-6 flat bar will only be T-6 hardness in the areas that havent been welded on. Anything within about 3" of the weld will just be plain old soft aluminum, hardly the material I'd trust my safety to. Anyway, sorry to be a stormcloud. Just putting in my 2 cents worth. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.