Welding Tips and Tricks

In a production setting, using mig either spray, pulsed or pulse on pulse, how fast can you go in terms of travel speed using mig? The joints are 1f butt joints 1/8 extruded aluminum. We have .45 wire, 100% argon with either miller 252s or lincolns mp350s. The millers can do straight spray and the lincolns can do all the fancy pulsed settings.

Management says TIG is not an option since we are in a production setting and TIG is slow????
How fast/cheap can you run tig with maybe the laywire technique compared to mig strictly for these joints.

Mind you, the guys who do these joints probably have not done tig since school, if ever.
The problems we are having are burnthrough, and constant starts and stops.
They've given up using the 350mp because the pulse parameters are way out of wack, and the push pull gun is way too long for the work area.

Ideally I'd like to get them to spray well with the millers so I can liberate the 350 mp for my section.

Migmonkey,
I would go with the 350MP using pulse and here is why. Once set up properly you will be able to train the others quicker and easier than regular spray and since your guys are not proficient on GTAW that would be a lengthy training experience in itself. GTAW will not be as fast at GMAW unless you are running extreme amps and have some serious skill. Spray for a production setting is not bad but there will be a learning curve with that as well such as proper gun angle, which you will also need for pulse, and the aluminum oxide that will/might need cleaned up. As for final travel speed, it has been several months since I have used mine for alum so I don't remember settings or travel speed but that will be different depending on your settings and technique.

Also, pulse on pulse is a sweet advanced wave form but again, unless you or they can set it or understand it I would stay away from that feature. Just some thoughts.
-Jonathan

Thought I'd chime in with some limited knowledge of the subject...

One thing helpful to know would be the length of each weld...

I would stick with standard pulse for a few reasons:
1) 1/8" material with .047" spray - would be difficult to control quality - if it could be done at all consistently (sounds like a lab experiment)
2) The standard pulse would help with bead appearance and burn-through over spray and you probably have more machines with this process available than pulse on pulse.
3) Pulse on pulse has interesting benefits, but in your case aside from bead appearance, it may be a hindrance. Pulse on pulse results in an overall higher average current. Not a huge deal, but another thing to 'work around' and teach people to use properly. Also a limited number of machines have this capability.

I would suggest calling your local welding supplier and ask them if someone has the knowledge to help. Best to have someone on-site to help.

I mig aluminum with spray setting in the production setting almost every day building industrial fans it is definitaly a whole other animal than steel but once you get a hang of it it is fairly consistent figuring out where to set the machine the three things to look at are stick out which unlike steel the more stick out you have the hotter it is, wire speed the more wire the cooler itll be, and gun angle hope this helps

Interested in a general discussion on gun angle for pulse applications. Both mild steel and alum. Just not much out there to read on the subject.

Glidertow wrote:Interested in a general discussion on gun angle for pulse applications. Both mild steel and alum. Just not much out there to read on the subject.

It's a good question.
I usually find that I am close to 90 degrees when using spray transfer with aluminum and MIG. Move too far in either direction (forward-hand / back-hand) and you start to get real deposit control problems. YMMV
Trev

timothymass wrote:I mig aluminum with spray setting in the production setting almost every day building industrial fans it is definitaly a whole other animal than steel but once you get a hang of it it is fairly consistent figuring out where to set the machine the three things to look at are stick out which unlike steel the more stick out you have the hotter it is, wire speed the more wire the cooler itll be, and gun angle hope this helps

What machine and settings are you running?