Anyone have experience MIGing alum?

[Even]

My brothers girlfriend has some sort of issue with her fathers pontoon boat, and something on the pontoon itself needs to be welded.

Is there any sort of advice you can give me? I would imagine the main worry would be burn-through, so similar to sheet metal just take your time and do small sections with very low heat?

I was also under the impression you should be using straight Argon, is it fine if I just use the same bottle of CO2/Ar mix that I have right now?

I'm going to try and scrounge up some scrap pieces I have lying around and give it a whirl.

[CSaddict]

You will need an aluminum liner hose or a spool gun (preferred) to get that done. It will probably make a mess and burn through if its thin. You really should TIG it.

[Buffalo Phil]

I would like to know the answer as well. I would assume you use a spool of wire specifically for aluminum, but I don't know.

[CSaddict]

Aluminum wire will kink in a normal hose. You need one with a special liner for aluminum or a spool gun. Thats about it.

[CSaddict]

[Even]

Aluminum wire will kink in a normal hose. You need one with a special liner for aluminum or a spool gun. Thats about it.

Bleh.

How much do spool guns usually run?

I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure that the sheet they need me to weld is quite a bit thinner than 14 guage. Sounds like I'm not up for this. I'm not really in the mood to tell her father I just royally fucked her pontoon up with a giant burn through hole.

[CSaddict]

TIG'n 16ga aluminum is actually difficult if you aren't used to working a TIG. That shit will disappear instantly if you aren't easy on it.

[crosbike]

You have to work fast when MIGing AL. I used a cobramatic at school and you really have to move it along a lot faster than steel.

[OWEN]

To run aluminum in a traditional MIG gun you need to run a teflon liner. A regular liner looks like a choke cable, and the aluminum wire will grab on it and jam up. Not many people do it as it is a pain in the ass.

What kind of welder do you have? Some spool guns can be had for cheap depending on how they are setup. On a spool gun, the wire is right into the gun barrel which has a short teflon liner inside. The whip is a Gas hose, power cable, and control cable. Some spool guns have the wire feed speed control on the gun itself, they are generall more expensive.

A cobramatic is a push-pull gun. It has a drive motor in the machine that pushes wire and a drive motor in the gun that pulls the wire. They work nice and are not as bulky to weld with as a spool gun.

[Even]

What kind of welder do you have?

Lincoln 175.

[Zullock Holmes]

that brakleen shit is lies i ran a bead through a puddle of it today and took a deep breath. nothing happened to me.

[Buffalo Phil]

that brakleen shit is lies i ran a bead through a puddle of it today and took a deep breath. nothing happened to me.

[crosbike]

that brakleen shit is lies i ran a bead through a puddle of it today and took a deep breath. nothing happened to me.

try again

[customcreationsllc]

How much welding do you need to do?

I have a TIG but I couldn't fit a boat and trailer in my shop, I'll have to check how far my leads extend out the door.

[Even]

How much welding do you need to do?

I have a TIG but I couldn't fit a boat and trailer in my shop, I'll have to check how far my leads extend out the door.

They already got it fixed at some other shop, or something like that.

Thanks for the offer though.