Welding Tips and Tricks

https://youtu.be/CzcyA6Z-8dk
The first 3/4 of this vid caught my attention and was curious if this really could be done....even if it was for nothing else other than maybe making intake boxes or similar light use projects.

That was NOT a good weld. If you had to get by and had nothing else to use......

loudandgreen wrote:https://youtu.be/CzcyA6Z-8dk
The first 3/4 of this vid caught my attention and was curious if this really could be done....even if it was for nothing else other than maybe making intake boxes or similar light use projects.

You can use a MIG machine to run aluminum wire, but, you need the correct rollers, liner, and of course, to know what you’re doing (the guy in that video knew very little). MIG ally (spool or not) is DC so it doesn’t matter the machine type. Spool Guns just make it easier to feed softer ally wire as they’re straight off the spool.

His welds wouldn’t hold dry laundry... Geez, dangerous project considering some dope will stand on those things

cj737 wrote:

loudandgreen wrote:https://youtu.be/CzcyA6Z-8dk
The first 3/4 of this vid caught my attention and was curious if this really could be done....even if it was for nothing else other than maybe making intake boxes or similar light use projects.

You can use a MIG machine to run aluminum wire, but, you need the correct rollers, liner, and of course, to know what you’re doing (the guy in that video knew very little). MIG ally (spool or not) is DC so it doesn’t matter the machine type. Spool Guns just make it easier to feed softer ally wire as they’re straight off the spool.

His welds wouldn’t hold dry laundry... Geez, dangerous project considering some dope will stand on those things

Yeah, i don't know much but i could atleast see that i wouldn't use it for structure to hold someone or anything but was hoping to use it for little stuff, but as i can tell from the replies this isn't good for anything but to point and laugh

loudandgreen wrote: Yeah, i don't know much but i could atleast see that i wouldn't use it for structure to hold someone or anything but was hoping to use it for little stuff, but as i can tell from the replies this isn't good for anything but to point and laugh

You misunderstand: MIG welding aluminum is perfectly safe, if done properly. The guy in that video hasn't a fcuking clue on how to weld. His "tacks" are all cold (you can see that by the way the toes of the tacks don't blend into the base metal), he ground off all the weld strength (granted, its a thin piece and he welded both sides, but with the porosity he declared, there's little to no strength in his beads) and using WD-40 before welding is just plain stupid. Properly clean the aluminum, use Acetone or similar, then weld.

Production Aluminum welding is very frequently done with MIG due to speed, strength, and consistency. Its plenty strong if properly configured. And they don't run "spool guns" in heavy production environments. They run MIG machines with rollers and liners setup for ally wire.

Just for your clarification.

side question......
do you need pulse mig for aluminum?
my welder had pulse mig, but not if you use a spool gun.

Not necessary.

tweake wrote:side question......
do you need pulse mig for aluminum?
my welder had pulse mig, but not if you use a spool gun.

No, pulse isn't needed for mig aluminum.

But as was stated above, correctly doing it is important. It's fairly difficult to do correctly if no one has taught a person how.

The video was awful...

loudandgreen wrote:https://youtu.be/CzcyA6Z-8dk
The first 3/4 of this vid caught my attention and was curious if this really could be done....even if it was for nothing else other than maybe making intake boxes or similar light use projects.

This guy is clueless! That little Lincoln doesn't even start to have enough power to weld aluminum. And he doesn't know what he is doing! At least he provides plenty of disclaimers about not doing this at home! Lol!