Welding Aluminum

[x.system]

Ok guys, heres what I have to work with. I can weld but I have never used the aluminum side of this welder. Does anyone have one similar or know how to set it up for welding aluminum. I am going to read through the manuals this weekend and see if it gives any help there. I need a crash course so I can try it out next week.

[jeswinehart]

i am about as close to buying a decent welder as i have ever been.
i stopped by the local tractor supply store ( TSC ) and picked up a very informitive paper. hobart produce it. it gives info to the lay type person .
this is going to be another interest thread for me to follow.
tsc has a exchange cylinder program that sounded reasonable ( you need argon for a sheilding gas when doing alu from what i am reading )

john

[LaDano]

You need %100 argon no mix. A new teflon liner, the carbon from another liner will contamenate the weld. Start with a low/med heat, and play with your wire speed. Its been a few years, and I think you might have to change your polarity. Hope this helps.

[atczack]

Yes, you will probably have to flip-flop the positive and negative cable's on the inside of the welder around. On the one I used to use the lining that the metal wire slid through had to be switched for a lining that would allow the bigger diameter aluminum wire to slide through. This might not be the case with you though. That thing look's a lot more high tech then the one I used to weld with. And aluminum is supposed to be super clean before you weld it. Just my .02 cent's.

[x.system]

This welder has dual feed or seperate wire feeds and guns or triggers. One side is steel and the other is aluminum. Suposedly this is ready to weld but I havn't tried to use it yet. I've got some 1/4" aluminum flat stock and some 1/2" flat stock so I can try to practice on different thickness material. I am not sure but I don't think the gas is 100% argon, I think its a mix. We do have more gas tanks though so if I need 100% argon I can get it.

[sblt500r]

its hard to weld aluminum with a wire feed. thats for doing big jobs, not small stuff on cases. you need straight argon. does it have a spool gun or is the wire in the back? if its in the back in a roll watch the cable, be sure not to kink it or the wire won't move through.
wait i think that has a tig setting? gtaw if so use that.

[K1500]

Just read your manual and practice, practice, practice. As others have said your material needs to be very clean. I have welded 1/8" aluminum with a wire feed with no problems using an inexpensive Hobart wire feed. I would love to have even a basic TIG machine but they are costly. By the way, very nice welder you have there.

[x.system]

its hard to weld aluminum with a wire feed. thats for doing big jobs, not small stuff on cases. you need straight argon. does it have a spool gun or is the wire in the back? if its in the back in a roll watch the cable, be sure not to kink it or the wire won't move through.
wait i think that has a tig setting? gtaw if so use that.
I was checking out the welder today along with the owners manual. The wire is in the back on spools. This has the gtaw setting but we don't have the tig atachment. I do need a tig attachment to use that setting right? This welder will mig, tig and also do arc welding from what I have read. We have all the attachments except the tig, that will get ordered tomorrow if I can get it for this. I do have another tank that is 100% argon so I can hook it up on the aluminum side of this welder. The welder has two gas feeds on the back, one for each side and I have the seperator so it looks like I can have both tanks set up at the same time. I'm going to call our welding suplyer and see if he can get someone out to show me how to use this and see what all I need to get it set up for tig.

K1500
The owners manual really doesn't tell me much about setting it up, its more of a parts break down. This isn't my welder, wish it was, I just have full access to it when I need it. My buddy bought 3 of these at an auction in a lot and sold 2 of them to get his money back, this one was basically free minus his time.

[K1500]

Once you get set up just get yourself lot of scrap material and take off. It's the same principle as welding steel, you will just have to play with your wire speed settings and heat settings until you get it down. Just a little thing to remember, if you are welding say 1/4" and you are getting good penetration and everything looks good, jot down the settings that you used on your machine. Then you will have a baseline setting for that thickness of metal. Then move on to a diffenent thickness and get your settings. It will save you time if your memory is like mine. Then any small changes can be made with hand speed.

[asc180]

Have you ever oxy fuel welded? If so you would be better off getting the tig torch for it and doing it that way. It is alot better weld. Is this a AC welder or just DC? If it is just DC you will have to use the wire feed as the tig torch requires AC high freq. for aluminum. You will need 100% argon. Set the flow on the regulator to 16-18 cfm for tig torch.

[brandosfiero]

harbor frieght has tig welders for 200 dollors.that dosent sound to expensive

[OldSchoolin86]

harbor frieght has tig welders for 200 dollors.that dosent sound to expensive
That's DC only, you need AC for aluminum.

[jeswinehart]

i was talking with a fellow board member about alu welding and come to find out his son has the whole set up. both are board members and live close by so i'm just gonna hire him to weld up my alu projects. i was looking at about 700 dollars with argon tank and a 140 amp welder.


john