Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello everyone, I'm looking for advice and information on welding. Located in Jeffersonville IN across the river from Louisville Ky. I'm setting up shop to manufacture my product and need some information on the best way to weld aluminum frames. I'm using 1" sq aluminum 6063 T-6 .090 to .125" thick, I'll start out with 300 frames. The frames will be powder coated silver gray. What is the better option Tig or Mig? Thanks in advance for your replies. Mel

For production, high volume, nothing beats MIG. Nothing. Get your process and parameters set right once, then crank out the frames.

If you are planning on doing large quantities too, a decent MIG machine setup for aluminum is better than a Spool Gun because you will have more wire on the spool with a dedicated MIG box than with a Spool Gun. Plus, you won't be carrying the weight around with you.

It can be a bit tricky to run ally wire via MIG, because a flexible nozzle doesn't feed ally wire as well as hard wire, so bear that in mind. 5356 wire would be my choice because its a bit stiffer than 4043, and will run a little bit better too. And its stronger than 4043 marginally.

I like your thinking, So with the 5356 wire you can run it off the machine? I thought with aluminum you need a spool gun. t I noticed the last time I welded the frames....I was changing the spool a lot. Any suggestions on a good welder since I'm starting over.

sidetrack50 wrote:I like your thinking, So with the 5356 wire you can run it off the machine? I thought with aluminum you need a spool gun.

You will need to run a different liner in the connection to the gun. Usually a nylon or Teflon/PTFE one and not a steel/coiled one.

Some more info: https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-gb/s ... etail.aspx

The whole trick is to make sure the friction from the machine to the gun is reduced as much as possible so the softer alu wire doesn't kink and birds-nest in the machine.

Eg. Keeping the hose without sharp bends and twists also helps a lot too..

Bye, Arno.