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Hi! From Colorado Seeking information for Mig with aluminum

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:55 am
by cjhorch
I'm at the drawing board working on a new project. I'm using an old aluminum ramp from a u-haul truck. I'm working with a Ironman 230 and looking for information on what type of aluminum the ramp might be made of and what type of wire I should use?

Re: Hi! From Colorado Seeking information for Mig with alumi

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:56 pm
by motox
welcome to the forum.
i do to mig weld aluminum
but I'm sure someone will chime in
if you are patient.
craig

Re: Hi! From Colorado Seeking information for Mig with alumi

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:19 pm
by Artie F. Emm
Welcome to the forum!

For full disclosure, I have not welded aluminum with MIG, altho I know enough to tell you your machine is *capable* of aluminum MIG but may not be *ready* yet. Apologies in advance if you already know that aluminum wire does not behave like steel wire: it is too soft to push through a cable to the MIG gun, so to weld aluminum you'll likely need a spoolgun, which holds the spool of wire so the wire travels 8 or 10 inches to the contact tip instead of 8 or 10 feet.

Also, for aluminum MIG you'll need pure argon gas for shielding, rather than argon-co2 which is common for steel.

So again, sorry if you knew all that stuff already. Do you MIG weld steel now?

Re: Hi! From Colorado Seeking information for Mig with alumi

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 11:04 am
by Mike
Welcome to the forum.

Re: Hi! From Colorado Seeking information for Mig with alumi

Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:13 am
by xwrench
Greetings and welcome.