Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys. So the shop I work at is looking and possibly switching the filler rod we use. Most of the aluminum we weld is 5052 sheet. Currenty we use 4043 but the company is trying to save money and wants to not bevel some of the butt weld seams. Most of the butt weld seams get a bevel put on them in the torret that blanks the parts out, but some the seams they are unable to do at the torret, so they get done in grinding. We just did a run of parts with some of the seams not beveled and they came back with cracked welds because everything gets ground flush. So I had them order some 5356 filler rod and welded the same parts up and sent them to the customer and they got tested and everything was good. But I saw a chart and saw that 5183 and 5354 were also used on 5052 aluminum. Just wondering if anyone could tell the me differnece and mayb give some advantages and disadvantages of the 5183, 5343 and 5356.

4043 (an aluminum-silicon alloy) seems like a poor choice for welding 5053 (which is an Aluminum-Magnesium alloy.) But if your part is subjected to elevated temperatures (e.g. > 125F) it could be a good choice in that case.

5356 would be a much better choice (in terms of strength and ductility), and it is very commonly available, (and I would guess, therefore, relatively inexpensive.)

The other two 5xxx alloys are not as commonly available, so I would guess, would be harder to find and probably more expensive. But you could study their pros and cons here:
http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/support/up ... hart-2.pdf

(actually 5354 is so exotic, it's not even listed on the Alcotec aluminun filler rod selection chart - probably means it's not sold by Alcotec.)

thanks for the reply. I got my work to switch to the 5356. It was only like 10 cents more per pound and the grinders like it better, so I guess its a win win.

I just finished a TIG and MIG class at Lincoln and they used that exact chart extensively to discuss pro's and con's of different alloy/ filler combinations.
Everything you need is right there!