zclubhouse Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Just like wrought aluminum, cast aluminum has weldable a none weldable forms. Typically 4043 filler is used for 300 and 400 series cast aluminum and 5356 for 500 and 700 series. Is there any way to tell which is weldable and which is not before you try welding? For example, a nissan valvecover is what series of cast aluminum? Out of curiousity, which of the above series are weldable and why? Thanks for the info so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejracer Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I have a miller 180, and the spool gun. Welding aluminum is difficult at best with the spool gun. It's nice to not have to change over a spool, just cylinders, flip a switch, a quick purge and go. But... the spool gun still jams on occasion. My welding skills on aluminum are pretty poor. I have gone through a lot of tips, and honestly get frustrated while welding. Another downside of a spool gun is all the bulk is right at the gun. If you have to weld in tight areas the spool can get in the way. I have already welded up a PCM bracket for a toyota engine swap, and it looks horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Is there any way to tell which is weldable and which is not before you try welding? For example, a nissan valvecover is what series of cast aluminum? Out of curiousity, which of the above series are weldable and why? Thanks for the info so far. There are industry references for all this. ASM 9 is the reference for welding and brazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Well guess what! The parts came in.. very easy to install.. I bought a small bottle of Argon.. I've yet to bunch up the wire or anything.. so $63 for the kit and $144 for gas and a 20 cu bottle. Here are some pics... These are my first 3 attempts.. ever at MIG'ing aluminum... without messing with the voltage and the wire speed You can obviously see some were cold.. the other towards the back went a little hot towards the end.. which means I should of moved faster. oh and this is my 4th attempt. Oh yeh.. the aluminum was NOT pre-heated Seriously guys.. the 4th time I ever squeezed the trigger and I have fairly good results.. 4th time! With some practice I know I'll be running really nice beads soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Sorry, none of those welds have much penetration. Cut your sample in half across the weld beads and check the depth of penetration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 This is a great picture that shows different heat/voltage settings... the one right in the middle is a lot of heat.. but it gave me full penetration on the back side. Jon the point of my last post is to show that you can weld aluminum with the kit and a 110v mig. With proper pre-heating and messing with the voltage its obvious I can get better penetration. I just wanted to show that in 4 measly tries I can run a basic weld with aluminum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughdogz Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Hi Prox, looking good. Could you post some pics of what it looks like before cleaning up all the "slag"? I'm curious to see what it looks like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 hughdogz.. the 1st two pictures I posted above are un-touched! I just cleaned the surface prior to welding.. but you can see the oxidation around the welds.. so they are untouched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughdogz Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 hughdogz.. the 1st two pictures I posted above are un-touched! I just cleaned the surface prior to welding.. but you can see the oxidation around the welds.. so they are untouched. Damn...I'm impressed! It looks a hell of a lot better than my "attempts" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 (edited) looks like progess is being made in both equipment and its adjustment to an application and the skill levels of the guy opperating the welder are all increasing to me! thanks for posting clear pictures its an excellent teaching aid! Edited May 3, 2009 by grumpyvette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaximumHP Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Thanks for the pictures. I have the exact same welder and this is making me think about trying this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumbyz13 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 That's awesome, you just made up my mind. For the price even if I dork it up completely for a while it still isn't bad. Have always heard everyone talk bad about mig welding aluminum. Good to see you posting up some proof positive that it isn't all that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 MIG welding aluminum is perfectly fine, the issues that are usually raised are whether a 110v machine can put enough heat into the aluminum to make it a worthwhile endeavour... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78nismoZ Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 Those welds look clean for a MIG. Well on the subject of welders. Whats a pretty good cheap TIG welder? one of the best and cheapest tig welders ive seen is the miller tig matic its not too expensive and a great starter tig welding machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMJ87T2 Posted June 13, 2009 Share Posted June 13, 2009 one of the best and cheapest tig welders ive seen is the miller tig matic its not too expensive and a great starter tig welding machine Miller's lower priced tig machines are not up to par with Thermal Arcs machines. Here is a link to their 185 which is very portable and overly capable compared to anything in the price range. This is just one of the first sites that came up with the machine. http://www.toolsforless.com/product/9805/Thermal_Dynamics_10-3073A-1_Arc-Master_185_ACDC_Heavy_Duty_Tig_Welder_Package Read the specifications and compare to comparable machines and make your own descision. This goes the same for any of their products. They offer a better warranty than either Lincoln or Miller and in my mind a better product. Especially for the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonycharger72 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I have always assumed that Alluminium welding with a MIG can give reasonable results, but was very tricky to do, mainly because there is a pretty fine line between getting enough heat into the alluminium to attain sufficent penetration and blowing holes right through the item being welded! I have been looking into purchasing a TIG, but my god they are expensive - guess using this sort of attachment allows you to use your MIG for alluminium welding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-Z Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I have always assumed that Alluminium welding with a MIG can give reasonable results, but was very tricky to do, mainly because there is a pretty fine line between getting enough heat into the alluminium to attain sufficent penetration and blowing holes right through the item being welded! I have been looking into purchasing a TIG, but my god they are expensive - guess using this sort of attachment allows you to use your MIG for alluminium welding! the trick is to preheat the aluminum evenly before welding. Yes its tricky, its like pushing around snot, it builds up if the base metal is too cold, and doesn't really liquify until its too late and then there's a hole. I've been playing around with those aluminum welding rods that you use a propane torch to weld (I believe its just brazing aluminum). Got a half pound of the stuff for like $11 at ACE hardware (i couldn't believe it, a 3 rod package is like $7 by itself ). Stuff melts at 732* F. Couldn't get it to work (was thinking of welding, not brazing ) watched a couple youtube vids and seemed easy enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xylemer Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I would like to see how a butt weld would turn out. I would imagine a butt would would prove to be difficult, especially on thin aluminum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mklotz70 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 New guy....came here for the fabrication more than the cars. You guys have some awesome fab threads going. I've got a Millermatic 185(175A?) and a 200A inverter style TIG. I've done aluminum with both(I'm a beginner on both) and they both have they're upsides. I cut/modified a full size Dodge pickup bed hardcover to fit a 521 for a friend. I welded the extruded aluminum channel back together with the mig, since that was all I had at the time. I bought a new liner, but used the same rollers. I lightened up the pressure on the rollers a bit. I was also running staight argon through it. The higher I turned the settings up, the better it welded. I also found that it seemed to work better with more stick out (how much wire is hanging out of the tip). The AL wire(.030) melts so fast that to push as much current through as it seemed to take, it wanted to melt in the tip. I think I had nearly an inch of stick out. I had the gas up pretty good, but I don't remember the setting. I also had no air flow in the room at the time. I moved the bed cover far enough from the welder that I could keep the cord almost completely straight. I've only done AL this way a few times and I did ball it up once. It did make some nice, flat weld beads with good penetration. From talking with a couple of other welders, I got this..... You run a brand new liner because of all the roughness and wear inside one that has been used for steel wire. The rollers put a serrated texture on the wire when they squeeze it and that saws away at the liner....in miniscule amounts. It also causes the wire to leave behind fine steel particles...which you don't want coming out on the AL wire and into the weld. As mentioned, run one size bigger tip so that the AL doesn't drag or bind as the wire swells from the heat. When you switch back to steel wire....switch out the liner and keep that one just for AL. It was only about $14 if I remember right...so well worth the $'s to have a dedicated liner. Had I had the tig at the time, I think I would have gone that route. The mig was simple and worked great at the time. But on nice clean, fairly new AL...the tig gives a great deal more control. This thread is more about welding AL with the mig, so I'll save the tig stuff As for the valve cover...I still have a project that I haven't quite finished becuase it was such a nightmare trying to weld it!!! I was doing it with the tig, but I think I'm going to try the mig next time!! The AL of the valve cover is quite porous. So...getting it clean seems to be the biggest problem. I've used AL cleaners and SS wire brushes....about the only recommendation that I haven't tried yet is to bake it at 400-450 for about 45 min to burn out any contaminates. Sorry...I can get a bit long winded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mklotz70 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I'm posting this separate in case it's not "okay" to put up links to other forums. I've got a of ton time invested into threads on Ratsun(I know at least a handful of guys are on both of these forums), so it's much easier to just link to there. Anyway....... This is a link to the valve cover thread. There's actually a good deal of info in it about cleaning the aluminum and different tungstens to use. And the welding is bad enough to be a bit embarrassing.....so maybe some other beginners will feel better http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=6675 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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