Noob aluminum welding...

[4Xjunkie96]

...and I could use some tips, it's my first ever alum welding. I've got a millermatic 180 with the spool gun. I've working on some small frames with 1/8" angle. I've tried pulling, pushing, messing with the settings some, angle of the gun... I cant get anything better than shit. I try to clean the alum good before welding and use the settings on the side panel which seem to work fine. I've went through 3 tips already and went up to .035 from .030 and it works better, but sometimes I can get a weld going decent and all the sudden it stops penetrating or acts like it wants to jump around and the tip is toast unless I react quick enough to save it. I've got the argon at 22CFPH, recommended is 20, but figure if I can turn it up slightly I can pull the gun back some so I less the chance of screwing up another tip. Having trouble with a lot of black residue sometimes coating the alum and messing it up, is the amount of black that normal? I threw in a few shitty pics. The one corner was a complete train wreck and ok... so figure on some flaming for that one. Although they seem to hold good and don't look to bad if I grind it down to give it more of a "normal" appearance. Every once in a while I get a brownish cauliflower weld like on the tip corner of the first pic, and some on the train wreck in the 3rd pic. Any input or ideas are appreciated.

[03dodgeoffroad]

you have to push with aluminum with a 10-15 degree angle also have you tried to trun up the heat or turn down the wire speed
here is a bit of help
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...rticles10.html

[Adam@KARS]

You need alot of heat for aluminum and like said push the gun. make sure your filler metal is compatible with the grade metal you are trying to weld and that your gas is 100% argon. 4043 filler will produce less black. 5056 will produce more black sooting though. both of these are most common i think. I am no welding guru so somebody else will probably chime in with more insight.

[dopeassjackson]

CLEAN THAT CRAP.
with aluminum if you dont flap disc it and rub it with alcohol it turns to shit.

[4Xjunkie96]

Good deal guys thanks! I'll have to look into the filler and see what number it is. I've been poking around at researching and havent came across the 10-15 angle on the gun. I've just been using the same angle as when I MIG steele. I tried using some clean rags and alcohol, but guess I'm not getting the impurities out of the surface enough. Who knows how the metal was handled and how it was banged around and what got imbedded in it before I bought it. I'll look into this flap disc thing too. I'm going to try to finish the project up next week and have a $50 sheet of aluminum I don't want to screw up.

[dopeassjackson]

i can tell that you didnt flap disc it before you welded. dont just flap the part to want to stick. flap at least 1.2in past where your weld is going to be. so you should be cleaning about 3/4in past the seam.

[4Xjunkie96]

Don't flap the area you're going to weld but passed... I'm guessing it has something to do with the gas flow? If I quit browsing forums and get my lazy ass into researching this guess I wouldn't have to ask.

[TrailTamer XJ]

I am want to weld some aluminum with my MIG. I will like to see how this thread goes

I am planning to build a storage system in back of my XJ with old aluminum construction signs (not stolen! they're the junked ones that the city throw away).

[hondafreak08]

. make sure you either have a wire feeder or a push/ pull gun.. With alum filler try and keep the line really straight. it has a problem with balling up at the bends... also try using a contact tip that is slightly larger than your filler. i.e. if your running .045 wire... use a .052 contact tip... when the filler metal heats up it has a tendancy to expand and get caught up in the tip

[hondafreak08]

110-120 amps (not sure of what that equates to in wire speed. and 19-21 volts 30 cfh on gas

[blade1]

and only use it on alum