MJDiesel

Hey everyone, I am looking for some information about aluminum welding. I have one of those toolboxes that strattle the box of a pickup right behind the cab (typical pickup toolbox), and I am getting sick of it always obstructing the view. It has a lactch in the middle, instead of one on each side, so it would work to just hack the rim, which sits on the box sides, so it can be mounted on the floor of the bed.

OK, now to the main point. I have a wire welder, but I need a spool gun or something to weld aluminum with it, right? If this is so, it will not be an option, which leads me to my next question. I understand that aluminum rod for use with a stick electrode arc welder can be purchased. Does anyone have any experience welding aluminum using this method, and if so, does it work well? At all?

Thanks for any insight into this.

chaikwa

Well, you can weld it with your wire welder, but unless you use fairly thick diameter aluminum wire, (.045 or up), it won't feed all that great. The aluminum wire is softer than steel and will bunch up in the lead to the gun, causing a big snarl at the feed rolls. It might work better if your lead is short, say 10 feet or shorter. The problem with using thicker wire is that you'll need more heat to melt it and make a weld that'll hold anything. I imagine if you cranked the heat enough to effectively melt the wire, you'd blast right thru the thin material of the box you're trying to weld.

As for the stick rod aluminum... I dunno. Never tried it. I know people use it with varying degrees of success, but I think it's more for thicker material, like structural shapes, (angles, channels, plates, etc).

Sorry I can't help you anymore than this.

chaikwa.

banshee

It can be done (stick aluminum) and can be fairly strong if done correctly, but I have never seen it be very pretty. You're correct about needing/wanting a spool with your MIG... it just won't feed good like chaikwa said. We do a lot of stick aluminum stuff where I work, but it's generally on thicker materials (over 3/16" or so) and on parts where looks aren't important. Since it's on a toolbox on your truck I'd look into seeing if you can find someone to TIG it for you.

Crimedog

I bought a pack of those aluminum sticks for fun, tried it out on some 1/8" diamond plate. I was really surprised how nice it turned out. It looked just like the beads on my toolbox. It wasn't the stacked dime look, but it was a continuous bead. The trick is that you go really hot and really fast. So it can be done, but if you're going to need to pay someone to weld it for you it'd be cheaper just to buy a new box and sell your current one. Heck, that's probably the best route either way. Just my opinion though...

MJDiesel

Thanks for the assistance, guys. Looks are not really an issue for me, so as long as the weld holds, it is no huge problem. I might just get some aluminum rod and practice, or maybe inquire a welding shop. A sit-in toolbox is a thought, but they are very expensive if aluminum. I also may just look for a steel box of some kind and sell the toolbox that I have.

P.J

I had my first experience with stick welding Alum. a few months back. I welded two 2" couplings in the top of a transfer tank. I had never even herad of such a thing, I looked at the guy that told me like he had two heads! Sure enough, the make rods with white fulx coating on them just for us guys who have little relatively unimportant tasks to do.

Anyway, you have to be reeeeaaaal careful with your heat. Things can run fine one minute and you'll burn though your base metal like a hot knife through butter the next. Keep a spray bottle with water handy, you can cool down the surface (don't soak it, just a mist).

Practice on a scap piece to get your heat right. There should be directions on the pack, (follow them) you need to keep a tight arc and psuh with it rather than leading with the stick out in front (dragging the bead).

Mine came out okay, not the most beuatiful bead, not all bubble gummed on there either. Put it this way, it doesn't leak!

PistolWhipt

Man ... it has been a long time since I had any aluminum welded by stick. As far as I can remember, there is something that needed to be done to ensure that the polarity of the welding machine was correct. I seem to remember that if you hook up the welding lead to positive and the ground to negative on your welder that you will get a hotter arc to the welding rod and less penetration to the metal. Switch it around and I believe it burns a little different. I could have and probably do have that backwards.

Now with that being said ... I am not sure what would be the best for your situation. (this hotter arc and metal penetration theory sounds right to me because it is a seperate issue than turning up/down the amperage to the welder to control the heat).
I do know that it is recommended have really clean metal and to stitch weld it .... you know, weld an inch or so ... space another inch ... weld another inch or so. Then go back, clean your welds and fill in the spaces. Again, to maintain heat.

A buddy of mine welded a cracked bell housing on my old Jeep. Worked great. 8 am and he was drunk as a skunk when he did it .

Cheers,
PISTOL

edwinsmith

I don't know a lot about TIG and MIG welders so forgive my ignorance. Isn't the only difference that a tungsten rod is used for TIG and you need to use an aluminum rod for filler? If so could a TIG head be fitted to the MIG welder to do TIG?

Edwin

Silverjay

We stick weld quite a bit of aluminum at work, but we use a high frequency box to do it. Takes some practice, but works really well and weld thin metal well.

MJDiesel

So, whats the best setting for the welder, AC or DC? I suppose that the welding rod includes some recomendations.

nickleinonen

no. a tig welder serves double duty as an arc welder.. AC needs to be used when tigging aluminum [i am not good at that ]

i think positive electrode is needed when using arc DC for aluminum [seen it done, never tried it though]