This video should be renamed "Tips for unsuccessfully welding aluminum without a spool gun"

When I was a kid we welded aluminum without a spool gun. They were heavy and cumbersome. To make it work without a spool gun. The line has to be in good shape, keep liner as straight as possible. And use smooth rounded rollors! Great video, thanks!

I've been welding aluminum with a migraine gun for years with almost no problems, i set the drag so the aluminum wire will slip before it will bird nest and i also use graphite in the liner to make it less likely to bird nest

@nicholasfernandes2217

5 жыл бұрын

Great tip. Graphite

@J.Ogden954

2 жыл бұрын

More info please? Such as wire size, tip size? I'm new to welding juat looking for tips to not buy a tig or spool gun. Tia

@billybadtoes

2 жыл бұрын

Ok i use a 15foot leads and gun setup with, 35 wire,i have the tension set to where if the wire sticks it will slip before it can birdnest,i use a steel liner and i use graphite in the liner as the steel liners hold the graphite very well and it doesn't contaminate the weld,ive been welding aluminum for years and ive not had any problems with my setup

@billybadtoes

2 жыл бұрын

Ive tried both of them and to me the Teflon liners don't work as well for me

@J.Ogden954

2 жыл бұрын

And you use a regular mig welder? I'll definitely give it a shot. I was about to order a tig welder. May still but definitely wanna try this also. Thanks again for the info. Greatly appreciated

After saying it you never appeared to straighten your gun lead. Huge huge difference between 4043 and 5356 the magnesium in the 5356 makes a much stiffer wire. I find in my spool gun I can't reliably weld less than .035 in 4043 but .030 5356 gives no trouble whatsoever. I wouldn't even bother with pushing aluminum although one thing is certain...you'll never exceed the duty cycle!!

Good info there, I have tried to aluminium MIG weld but had a lot of problems like you had. We use a teflon liner but use 4043 wire and as you pointed out maybe trying the 4943 or the 5356 wire would make a big difference. It is rare that we would need to do aluminium with MIG, I DO prefer to TIG weld.

Nice video! I like the new MIG series. I've never attempted aluminum with the MIG, but maybe one of these days I will give it a go. Thanks for the videos and great tips.

Thanks for your help. I was wondering if it was feasible to weld aluminum without a spool fun. You made good points

Use 5053 aluminum wire .30 and use a .o35 contact tip to help avoid bird nest. I’ve had really good results with that on my Hobart handler 140. Cheers.

As he mentioned, the lead drooping down was one problem, and probably the rest of the lead piled up on the floor, and tip too small, i mig aluminum every now and then without a spool gun, i haven't had not one birds nest, i keep my 10' lead laid out as straight as possible and adjust the drive roller tension lightly, i use the 5356 wire which is fairly stiff, and haven't had any issues so far.

@walterbaldwin3643

4 жыл бұрын

How much amperage do you need?

The feed problem occurred only after you put the tip on. If using 0.8mm wire use a new burr free 0.9 or 1.0mm tip. Also use 5653 wire. Not saying these steps are recommended but they greatly increase the chance of a fudged setup. Spool guns are recommended.

@Tim_Tim_x

4 жыл бұрын

yes larger contact tip as aluminium expands when it heats up

@jacquespoirier9071

3 жыл бұрын

this is also true for stainless wire, the use of one step larger contact tip is alor a good practice.

@leonardpearlman4017

3 жыл бұрын

Some places sell tips just for aluminum. The end of the contact tip might be partly milled away, and I think the bore is larger also.

I would use E5356 .030" diameter and use a 0.35" contact tip. The roller tension should be set as light as possible. I used this successfully on my mig welder and fed over 1,000 feet of wire through the gun (just shy of one pound). If you use .035 wire use a .045 contact tip. My experience is that E4043 is too soft (too low of a tensile strength) to feed through a mig gun without a special liner. It might be limited to larger diameter wires, but I do not know this for certain And, E4043 in designations for aluminum is a 4xxx series alloy which is an Aluminum/Silicon alloy. The "40", unlike steels, does not refer to the tensile strength of the alloy. In the numbering system for Aluminum alloys, the first number indicates the principal alloy element(s) in this case Silicon. The second number indicates indicates a modification of the basic alloy. A "0" indicates no modification in this case. The third and fourth numbers are assigned arbitrarily except for the 1xxx series where it indicates the aluminum purity. The Aluminum Association has a pdf that describes the active and inactive alloy listings as well as how the alloy number is designated.

Hobart makes a 4943 that makes all the difference. It has made life a lot easier for me.

well I'm glad I watched this video. the old boy gave me some pointers so I'm happy. thanks mate.

I always thought I needed a spool gun to mig weld aluminum. I've got to try this with my everlast welder.

@seandrake7534

5 жыл бұрын

Make sure to use a tip that is one size bigger than the wire

you dont need to relase tension on spool, it is oposite. It is not problem between spool and driven rols, it is between rols and gun. So, you need to increase tension on spool and reduce tension (presure) on rols. Whit gud adjasment you will have rols slip over wire, and this will prevent the bird nest.

Iv got a Clark 151, the line and torch are as a hobby welder, the liner was steel which snags the aluminum filler wire. I converted the liner from steel to a Teflon, I had to do some work in the torch to change it to Teflon, this made all the difference, it now welds aluminum no problem with a far far smother feed to boot. I wouldn't spend the money on a spooler though, that's a lot of cash, I would be looking to buy AC/DC tig.

It seemed like you had it feeding pretty well. I couldn't help but wonder if it was an electrical issue. If you clamped the ground to the work itself and didn't rely on the table for part of the electrical path, it might have worked. On your second attempt the wire actually hit the work but there was no arc and it birdsnested instantly. On the third attempt it sparked momentarily, but didn't appear to have a stable electrical path. Just an observation. I was rooting for this to work, and I think it could have. Great experiment. Thank you!

@andolinithedon

7 жыл бұрын

HemiRod23 thank you I'm glad someone said it. he had no ground. you can't ground steel to weld aluminum

for aluminum wire welding ,I suggest getting a shorter gun with a teflon liner to use when you want to weld aluminum .then swap in the gun set up for steel when you are using steel wire .check out HTP ,they can supply you with the proper gun to meet your needs for a good price .

@willhall7777

2 жыл бұрын

Htp has awesome aluminum mig machines! Still the best for mig welding aluminum. I don't think any other company even comes close. Your comment is the first I've seen that mentioned that company.

Good to hang the wire feeder up to give a nice no kink swoop to the gun, go a size over on the tip too, what others have said about lowest roller pressure too

I like these video, thanks. This one though did not show the one thing I have found to be key....keep the wire feed to t he gun as straight as possible. It would have been interesting to see the results of that when getting a birds nest before trying different tensions etc. You had the wire feed in a circle...never works for me.

After watching this I'm definitely going to buy a spool gun for my everlast mig welder.

@mikesuperman5421

3 жыл бұрын

yeah me too!

Sr. I saw myself trying to weld aluminum in my mig machine... that make me lose my patience with the bird nest... what was cool to check wad I took all the measures you described on the video. After several attempts I decided to buy a brand new torch dedicated to this task (aluminum weld) the prior one was 3 meters long and I just replaced the iron conduit to a teflon one. The torch that I bought was shorter 1.5meters... did not arrive. I hope will work fine. Thank you sr. For your video

Should have put the machine behind him the full length of the soft aluminum running thru the cable (8 to 10 feet) to lessen the chance of bird nesting...

Very helpful thanks. I use a1mm tip.

I have the SP-100 and haven't had any problems, when I took my steel wire out I blew the line out with my air hose to get any leftover steel out before putting the 5356 in and I also wear a half face respirator because of the aluminum

Just watching this makes me wanna have a welders fit

Came here looking for tips so I didn't have to buy a spool gun. Left knowing I have to buy a spool gun.

I use 035 5356 wire with a # 45 tip keep your stringer cable straight, and weld all day no problem.

Thanks a lot ! Very usefull and well explained !

Seems it pushed good, until you put the tip in to the equation... I've only run aluminum with a spool gun.. I don't dare try it through the might stinger lead!! We run an 18' lead.. way too many bad variables mixed up in there for aluminum!! Love your videos Paul!!

It looks like I should look at buying a spool gun for my everlast mig welder.

Great video. Loved it!

Most common welding issues we used to see in the retail store I worked at were either wrong size rollers, wrong type of rollers( U vs V groove), too much tension on the rollers, front guide not close enough to the roller, wrong liner, wrong size tips ( usually too small ) too long a torch ( we had 2.5 meter torches made up especially with teflon liners, you can use 3m but 4m is pushing it if you are not experienced). A good welding shop can get your welder tuned up nicely and show you some tips and tricks, aluminium to the inexperienced can be very difficult.

Great video! I was afraid the only answer would be "just buy a spool gun." I learned a lot. I find welding aluminum to be intimidating because I am afraid of using the wrong alloy on whatever mystery alloy needs repair.

@leonardpearlman4017

3 жыл бұрын

Well, I think you can use dear old 4043 (Aluminum 5%Silicon) on almost anything. So if I have to guess, that's the guess.

IDK but every one of these videos I have seen about running aluminum mention nothing about using a teflon or plastic liner. My Snap on mig welder I owned back in the 80's had a liner I had to change out to do aluminum. I haven't owned a welder since then, up to now. Just bought a multi process welder and spotted a teflon liner the other day I WILL be buying to give it a try!

Im not saying that this setup works better than a spool gun,im just saying that if you don't have a spool gun this will work very well till you can get one.i have a separate wire feeder and i have it on a boom so that I can swing it around and it has great reach as i can take it off thd boom and it will reach even further ouf

Need a differently shaped groove on the drive roller too. More of a U groove than a V groove.

I'd like to see a video that shows problems with the weld itself after one has overcome the problems with feeding the wire. I can't justify buying a welder and a spool gun at this point, but I would like to weld more aluminum. How do you solve the issue of burn-back?

@robertblackshear8963

Жыл бұрын

Sorry for the late comment. To reduce burnback its best to increase the wire speed.

This guy is awesome

ill try 5356 wire, first time alloy welder here,,

Wish you would have tried the new drive roll & teflon liner to see if it would work for you!

@andrewjackson3327

6 жыл бұрын

I would have liked to have seen that as well. I don't weld much aluminum with my everlast mig welder. I'd rather not have to buy a spool gun if I don't have to.

100 % agron ?

good information, if changing to a teflon liner works, can the liner be used to run steel wire also? that would make switching between aluminum and steel much easier .

@Welddotcom

8 жыл бұрын

+larry sperling You can use a teflon liner with steel, however it is going to wear faster.

@furai333

8 жыл бұрын

+larry sperling Just be aware running mild steel wire in the liner can leave small deposits that can be picked up by the aluminium wire causing issues with your aluminium welds, rust spots etc. Better to have two separate torches for the job if you are going to be doing both a lot. In reality a liner change takes less than two minutes if you have everything precut so I'd just run two separate liners and make sure to give the torch a blow out between changes.

@leonardpearlman4017

3 жыл бұрын

Plastic liners are cheap enough if you can find them! There are Nylon ones, mystery blue plastic, all kinds. I like Nylon, but feel sure that something better will come along! DELRIN?

Teflon liner also helps.

I have Miller machine with a spool gun. Its still no fun at all to mig weld aluminum. The wire will still birds nest inside the gun if you bang the end of the wire against the work or melt the contact tip, both of which things are too easy to do. Removing the mess from inside the gun is a huge pain. Additionally you have to learn to spray arc weld to get any kind of good results with aluminum. Grrr.. I bought an Everlast tig welder. Should have done that $1600 and many, many wasted hours ago. Tig welding had a vertical learning curve, but its the way to go. Good luck with the mig machines folks.

Loosen drive as much as possible and keep line as straight as you can even to the point of proping it up .never had a problem.

When it comes to EFFECTIVELY welding aluminum without a spool gun. Its like pushing a cloths line up a wall. Sure you might be able to do it but most likely you will waste your time. You can buy a decent spool gun for 150 bucks or for light duty work you can braze using a low temp aluminum rod with map / propane gas torch.

OK so please get some 5356, straighten your lead and try changing the tip size. It would be nice to see a professional do some real welds that way.

At very least set up lead so that it is as straight as possible ( straight line to the work ) , tighten rollers only barely enough to drive it, use a tip with next size larger hole. Next step if you have any old parts or if you are going to do a lot set up second gun assembly that is much, much shorter ( like only 5 ft. instead of 10 ft. ). Next better would be shorter lead with Teflon liner ( you would use the Teflon liner only for aluminum anyway ) Use the stiffer wire ( but I think the soft wire welds better so you want to make it work if you can ) At my place of work they set up a MiG welder so that the maintenance guys could do an aluminum job and not have to bother me and it was about as bad as this one

030 wire , 035 tip works also.

For aluminum welding. I have always used a spool gun with great results. With agron gas.

I have heard that running aluminum through a steel liner contaminates the aluminum wire and creates problems in the weld. . Is this true?

@thermalnose

8 жыл бұрын

+Mr2ezgoin yes, it absoutly does. it needs a clean slippy liner.

@pizzaWelder

8 жыл бұрын

+Mr2ezgoin That can happen, but unless you are welding class A / B welds it shouldn't be an issue. For those of us welding in the garage as a hobby or fixing stuff around the house / farm, it's not a problem. The bigger problem is feeding. A Teflon liner allows for much easier feeding which translates into fewer problems.

@fredsmith6160

7 жыл бұрын

Teflon liner, keep the line as straight as possible. I'm lucky as I've got an Everlast mig welder with 4 active drive rolls so that helps too.

It works better if you use approx 95% argon and 5% helium. The helium makes the puddle "wetter" and a lot easier to manipulate.

Go up one size tip should help.

If you used the 5356 wire with a one step largr contact tip, you could have welded quite well. In addition, set the voltage at about 70v. and use a faster welding speed on laying down the bead. If you had done these things FIRST instead of playing with the feed presure at the rollers and reducing the attachment pressure of the spool itself, you would have been welding SOONER. Not impressed with your knowledge of using that machine OR adjusting it to weld aluminum.

I weld with a cheap mig I use 5056 1.2mm wire, pure argon and a 1.4mm tip. No BS bout wire flattening or any stupid excuses just plain welding. I am also an old timer with limited experience maybe I should also make videos

why not try 5356? and use a torch with a teflon liner? with same machine

@nicholasfernandes2217

5 жыл бұрын

Additionally it's a good idea to buy a short torch. 1.5m I think can reduce the drag inside.

Machine feed speed is maxed out. To much pressure on wire

His screw ups just saved me 8 hours

errrrr........can i get the half hour of my life back

Try a plastic cable liner

may i suggest a bit slower wire speed or loosening the tension all the way, then apply tension until it starts to slip on the wire then hold a bit of tension on the wire at the nozzle to adjust the slippage on the feed. and you may have your heat to low to initiate a smooth start. one thing i noticed. you never made it work for your audience.

So why didn’t you show us 5356 to see if it worked then a spool gun.

use push/pull a system

Well, I'll never get that 15 minutes back. How about a demonstration that actually works, with information on the proper wire size/type, tip size and machine settings?

Doing it without a Teflon liner is asking for issues!

Try using a shorter length gun

Tip?

go straight for 5356 1.2mm wire on the big rolls 7kg. use a welder with double drive rollers, not shitty single drive. u groove rollers. teflon liner and 1.6mm tip. spool gun wire too expensive when you are putting in 4-5 kg of wire in one day.

Most likely cranking down the tip on the gun didn't help at all, it's copper and will crush making the .035 tip size more like .032 I never crank down a tip that tight. Just a little snug Not tight. I learned this years ago.

5356 correction.

mig

Paul get a push-pull gun.

Please stop all these adjustments and get the gun cable as straight as possible.

🇺🇸👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

wasted 11 minutes of my life

@frucklerbullpit

4 жыл бұрын

so you didn't watch the whole thing?..

This guy is getting on my nerves

What bullshit. You said you were going to well aluminium and you didn't. Instead you just wasted my time.

boring

Should be renamed 15 mins of wasted time with no answer or solution. . Don’t watch!! FAIL