Welding Tips and Tricks

1/4" thick aluminum
275 wfs
24 volts

Esab rebel 215 with Tweco spool gun


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Looks a bit overheated? hard to tell because the beads blend together so much.

Also new to spool guns, and having the same problem. Obviously to much heat input for the part. If I dial down the wfs or volts I get bird poop, or a crowned bead, up and it melts the part 2/3 of the way through the bead run. Cant seem to get a nice bead (compared to steel mig)
Was at a buddies today to help him dial in his mig that he was having trouble with , turned out out to be worn out drive rolls, plus running .030 through .035 grooves, and had to flip the rolls over to the right size, and even then crank the knob down for enough tension to feed properly.
That said, when we did some practice runs on a small strip of steel, it got red hot in a couple passes, tho it was the same thickness as the work on box tube he was working on.
Aluminum seems to be even more of a tricky wicket, heat saturation of the piece is so much more magnified, that doing test runs on a small piece will heat saturate it so much faster than it will on what you're actually working on that trying to get your settings down on a small piece before buggering up your project may not be the settings you really need.

aluminum is a great heat conductor and WILL absorb lots of heat in a hurry. Mig welding aluminum is a fast process. Sometimes you have to press - release, press-release to get the job done. I guess I'm trying to describe pulsing the gun. It does also require lots of gas ARGON coverage. And most of all, lots of practice. I've found that actually welding something together helps more than just running beads.

Tried welding something together...

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