Anything welding

Did some welding today. Installing a DMZ long travel spring under kit on my truck.

 

Wall of 140 mailboxes for a event in Nashville.
The rendering showed flowers covering the top and ends. 24' long 7' tall. 12" deep.
2 days, one man
47 20' sticks of 1x1. Built in four pieces.
On to the next job.

 

I don`t think I would want to build more then one.

 

Anybody here does Mig aluminum?
I'm finally pulling a trigger on the Vulcan spool gun. Also buying a bottle of 100% argon from cyberweld. Any pointers?

Side question, can my 75/25 bottle be filled with 100% argon once it's empty?

 

Yes, we have a spool gun on our Millermatic 250 here at work. It's alright, it has it's limits though. Get a lot of tips, then get twice as many as you think you will need.

 

I disagree on the number of tips you will need.

Once dialed in, you won't have a problem. I only used 2 to build my boat.

You have to have a dedicated tank for argon. You will have to lease a second can.

I used a buddy of mines HF mig max and I think it worked just as good as my miller 30a gun welder.

 

Once dialed in you won't have a problem with burn back, learning to get there is what eats tips.

 

You should be able to swap your 75/25 cylinder for a 100% Argon cylinder depending if the gas distributor polices

A learning curve for sure just buy a bag of Tips to start.

Just like Tig welding used dirty Aluminum still is a Royal Pain.

I hate spool guns You would have to pay me $250.00 /hour for the punishment.

Just used a Aluma Pro on a Miller Millermatic 350P talk about being spoiled

 

Busy with aluminum TIG welding recently

 

Pointers?

 

I wipe the material down with acetone and then brush with a stainless steel brush until it's nice and shiny, and then run over it once more with a dry paper towel. I grind the tungsten with a really shallow point (not pointy like a needle like you'd use for steel), then grind a little flat tip on the end. I find tight arc is really important, maybe 3/32" or so. Mash the pedal to start, and start tapering off on the last 3 or 4 dips. Also dip a little extra in the same spot at the very end of the weld to avoid a crater.

I've only got about 2 weeks of welding practice, before that, zero welding experience whatsoever, so take my tips with that in mind.
I started off with aluminium and spent about 90% of my time practicing on that, then maybe 10% with steel, which I found much more forgiving.

 

I know basically nothing about aluminum welding...can you use the same machine as a regular wire feed or do you have to have a dedicated machine? and it has to have TIG?

 

Spool Gun on a Mig machine with straight Argon.

EDIT: And the skills...

 

Today was a wood day.
All cnc cut , goes together like Legos.
Amazing what the CNC has done to shops across the world.
Took 2 hours by myself with a little help now and again from someone else to assemble this to completion.
Back to steel and aluminum tomorrow

 

If you use TIG, you need to use AC current instead of the usual DC. Once you add that function on the machine though, the price increases a good chunk. You can use a spool gun with MIG though, on DC too I believe, but I've never done MIG so don't quote me on that.

 

I have a customer the uses regular Steel Mig feeders to do Aluminum Mig.

The feeders are all mounted vertical above the work area the down side is if you have a burn back your changing liners as well

Because of how soft the aluminum wire is most people getting serious (Production welding) end up using any of the Push pull systems on the market

It comes down to the feeding system being the major difference /

Some of the lower end Mig machines advertise a Nylon Liner to do Mig Aluminum I have never heard anyone being really happy with that set up.

 

A spool gun basically uses the machine for power, otherwise it's like a separate system. Our welder here at work (Millermatic 250) had a plate on the upper right corner that was for the spoolgun option, it was plug and play. We added a bottle on the back for the spoolgun and it has it's on little roll of wire, you can use aluminum wire or stainless.

 

Tubbed another truck, this time my own. I still hate sheet metal and have respect for people that work with it regularly

 

Welders out there. Trying to get a pulse on what to list my welder for. Switching over to a MiG machine and a lighter duty tig welder. Just don't do enough tough alloys or aluminum to justify keeping this mint machine.

Miller Dynasty 210DX with ck leads + torch, regulator, and a very nice belt foot pedal. Very light hours because I just ended up doing most of my side work... At work. Only garage use. No field.

Any input?