Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a small project coming up and not sure whether to mig it or tig it. Material is 42”x 24”x 0.16 6061 aluminum sheet with 1”x1”x .250 6061 aluminum angle. Welding the angle to the sheet. Only have two to build so not much production. Obviously trying to keep distortion to a minimum. Thoughts?

Personally, I would TIG it. Course for me TIG would be faster since I am setup for TIG, an aluminum TIG weld will last longer, poetically look better and less heat input if welded right. I pretty much only use MIG if I am repairing an item.

This is MIG Course I MIGed this also

I differ from drizzle. I’d MIG it. Joining 0.063 to 0.25 aluminum is tricky to say the least. With a bit of preheat on the 0.25, and correct settings on the MIG, I think you end up with less distortion than with TIG. I’ve done 3 fuel tanks recently (2 were 3/16” TIG, the other was 1/4” MIG) and the MIG’ed tank had no distortion at all.

And I’m in the midst of building two 24x72x3/16 tables welded to 1/8 angle and TIG was a bit of a nightmare to get the sheet welded to the angle without blistering the angle. Should have MIG’ed it but my Spoolgun had SilBr in it and I was lazy.

Appreciate the input fellas. Distortion of the sheet was my main concern. At my skill level, I think I’d have less overall heat input with mig.

Drizzit…Looks like you’ve got quite a project.

Barney wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 6:26 pm Drizzit…Looks like you’ve got quite a project.

It was an older project when I worked for an E-One dealership, 2nd time on the same truck. They just couldn't keep it on the road, I guess. lol