I need to weld about 1" of AL and I don't have AC TIG

[zeke]

I don't have a spool gun either for my MIG. In fact, I don't have much of a MIG at all. Just an old Lincoln tapped 135. But.... I do have some AL wire and some argon. Can I load that in the machine and slowly run it through the cable and try to get a weld on that little 1" long and thin repair?

It's in a tight spot so the MIG torch w/o the spool would be ideal. Any "tips and tricks?"

TIA

[Fat Bastard]

JB Weld?

[DSW]

Maybe, but don't hold your breath. Keep your gun lead as straight as absolutely possible and you might have a chance. With only 135 amps, you'll be limited to about 16 ga ( 1/16") Much thinner and chances are you'll either have a cold weld, or you'll blow holes in the material. Thicker and you simply don't have the amps to get a good weld. Usually it helps to have a teflon liner installed in the gun. If nothing else be sure and blow out your liner, especially if you usually run FC wire.

Don't be at all surprised if this doesn't work well. Take your BP meds in advance, you probably will need them. Expect to have the wire birds nest on you or burn back and F up the tip. ( have plenty of spare tips on hand) You'll need to set your machine on max heat and crank the wire speed pretty much to 90% or more. Any hiccup and you'll burn back into the tip, or birds nest the wire. Also expect to have to push the bead and travel a lot faster than you do with steel. Mig alum is a hot fast process. It's probably a good idea to have plenty of practice material to run on before you F up something critical.

There's a reason AC tig is THE process for thin alum, and the spool guns and dedicated push/pull feeders are recommended for doing alum mig. You will probably end out finding this out the hard way.


One last thought. if you have an OA torch, there are a number of alum brazing rods on the market that might be a better idea. Yorkiepap has covered their use several times. Alumaweld, Muggy weld, Durafix, HTS-2000, Kirkrod are just some of the names of these sorts of products.

There's a ton of threads on this if you search on here.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php...ight=alumaweld
Good luck.

[weregeek]

Assuming everything goes right otherwise, you're still up a creek if you don't have a handy bottle of 100% Argon. In all likelihood, you currently have a bottle of C25.

[Jon K]

I tried this before. I bought aluminum wire and tried to feed it through the MIG... it was a disaster and I spent probably an hour trying to set the tension, feed, etc., up. In all honesty, I don't see it working well. Get a spool gun, or get a TIG. Those are your only two options.

[Eliotmay@yahoo.com]

Where are you located? Somebody near you might tig it for you.

[zeke]

I appreciate the "tips." Yes, I have argon 100%, I mentioned that. Yes I have an O/A set, AL rod and flux. I even have Tin Man's special lens for my O/A goggles. And yes, it's around a 16th but I don't know what alloy of AL. Not soft. This is the task, modify the bracket so the oil line does not rub on the header.




With all the other AL around and the heat transfer, O/A is out of the question. The car is immobile, so at this point it is something I'd like to do in situ. If not, I can drop the motor and start over.

[zeke]

Well, I got an arc and a lot of sticking like you do with Stick or SMAW. I couldn't find the sweet spot between not sticking and burning the wire back to the tip in a ball. I finally bunched up the wire at the entrance to the liner which at this point is not teflon lined.

You guys are right, it's not too feasible with what I have. Too bad I'm only a couple of tacks short of a bead.

[Joker11]

Originally Posted by Jon K

I tried this before. I bought aluminum wire and tried to feed it through the MIG... it was a disaster and I spent probably an hour trying to set the tension, feed, etc., up. In all honesty, I don't see it working well. Get a spool gun, or get a TIG. Those are your only two options.

Uh, or a synergic push/pull gun.....

And preheat does a lot for helping on aluminum. dont forget.

[Joker11]

tack, tack, tack, tack, tack, voila, a full bead.

Think again. those cold starts and restarts suck.

You know, my boat was all aluminum and i had to have a few welds repaired after the first use. who knows what monkey was miggin that day.

again, if you are going to go the tack route, preheat it well. you will be able to get by. until next time.

[Drf255]

Originally Posted by Jon K

I tried this before. I bought aluminum wire and tried to feed it through the MIG... it was a disaster and I spent probably an hour trying to set the tension, feed, etc., up. In all honesty, I don't see it working well. Get a spool gun, or get a TIG. Those are your only two options.

+1

And also burned back and ruined about 10 tips in 30 minutes.

[MikeGyver]

Just find somewhere to take it, it's only 1", anything else would be kinda dumb.

[zeke]

Originally Posted by MikeGyver

Just find somewhere to take it, it's only 1", anything else would be kinda dumb.

Well, you're right, of course. And we did. Less than 5 minutes and 65 dollars later, it was done. I just wish I could have done it because I would have charged the price of a burger and a beer. And had more fun.

[zeke]

Later on, I found a video of a guy using DCEN TIG to weld AL. I have an inverter TIG machine. But, apparently the cost of He is prohibitive.

[DSW]

DC tig isn't the easiest thing to do, besides the cost of He. You said "thin" alum in your OP. DC tig on alum is not a thin alum process. It's used for thick alum. It's a specialty process and not something the "average" welder can do usually.

[zeke]

Thanks. Maybe someday I'll have an AC HF machine. I have done AL welding in school, but I didn't get a lot of bench time. I did get lots of hours doing DCEN on steel, mostly light ga. I'm not bad, but at 67 years, I'm not the steadiest set of hands.

[Welding_Swede]

Zeke,

If you have access to a stick welder this might me one of those times that the old aluminum stick welding might work. I have used this method for small jobs like this when I didn't have TIG available. It does work and you can get some decent penetration. Tractor Supply usually has a small pack of the rods for around $15.00 and I think I ran the 1/8" rods around 90A DCEP the last time I had to do it. Not a bad idea to "waste" a rod on some scrap if you've never done it before just to see how fast the feed rate is. Its very different from regular stick welding in that regard.

It also doesn't require a really clean prep of the base metal so if that part is a casting you could get decent results.

Just a thought.

Eric

EDIT: Just saw you took it somewhere. Oh well, keep it in mind in case you have to try it again.

[MikeGyver]

Originally Posted by zeke

Well, you're right, of course. And we did. Less than 5 minutes and 65 dollars later, it was done. I just wish I could have done it because I would have charged the price of a burger and a beer. And had more fun.

What the hell? how could it cost so much?
I would have charged $20 for something like that unless it's got some other considerations like super critical fitup or something.

[Boostinjdm]

Originally Posted by MikeGyver

What the hell? how could it cost so much?
I would have charged $20 for something like that unless it's got some other considerations like super critical fitup or something.

I thought the same thing. Hell, I would have felt guilty at $20. I'd still do it though...

[walker]

Easy to get to $65. If the shop rate is $65 and there is a minimum 1 hour charge, voila $65.

[Boostinjdm]

Originally Posted by walker

Easy to get to $65. If the shop rate is $65 and there is a minimum 1 hour charge, voila $65.

And that's exactly why I think a 1hr minimum is bull****. I do this for a living and I still think it's bull****. Now something like a $10 or $20 minimum I can deal with.

If I'm going to pay somebody $65 for 5 min worth of work, she's going to be long legged and wearing a short skirt.

[Tec]

Originally Posted by Boostinjdm

And that's exactly why I think a 1hr minimum is bull****. I do this for a living and I still think it's bull****. Now something like a $10 or $20 minimum I can deal with.

If I'm going to pay somebody $65 for 5 min worth of work, she's going to be long legged and wearing a short skirt.

But even then I'll be thinking about baseball or something to try to milk the full hour.

Tom

[B_C]

Just looked at what you have to deal with and not sure what you want to weld thats aluminum to fix your clearance problem? looks to me like you need to reroute your oil line completely.....2 inches away from that header is still too close in my opinion.....

[B_C]

I get 60.00 An hr... and have a 25.00 dollar minimum just to turn the machine on...
You get 25 minutes of welding for that.....I can do a lot of welding in 25 minutes....

[B_C]

Originally Posted by MikeGyver

What the hell? how could it cost so much?
I would have charged $20 for something like that unless it's got some other considerations like super critical fitup or something.

same here......