Mig to weld Aluminium?

**Reckless** · 25th August 2019, 21:56

Hey guys

Calling any welders here.

I have a Autopac 150 mig as pictured.
Bit dusty from not a lot of use since I didnt want to have the bottle on hire.

I want to build a box for my trailer for the race bike?

Looking at trademe the price of 20x20 box aluminium as pretty much the same as Steel box

I can get . 8 wire and disposable Argon
If to I have to spend a fortune ill go steel but and mig it but rather have the lightness of Ali.
I'm hoping the mig lead and gun will work??
Just wondering if there are any catches to running Ali wire on my mig?

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**Madness** · 25th August 2019, 22:23

Check the voltage range of your Mig first, Ali likes a few extra Volts and you’ll need at least 23/24V. Aluminium wire is renowned for feed issues. The drive roller(s) should be a U-groove profile matched to the wire diameter. If you’re going to push Ali wire anything under 1.0mm dia isn’t recommended. The torch should be no longer than 3mtr and the liner replaced with an extruded liner, either Polyamide or Teflon and this should ideally extend beyond the torch plug and right up to meet the rollers. Pure argon.

**austingtir** · 25th August 2019, 23:50

^That guy knows what he's talking about.

Try get a small roll of 4043 to test it out it soots less (zero if you get it setup right) and does not have magnesium in it which is why 5356 (usually soots and isnt as easy to run for novices).. It should feed ok with a 3meter or less mig lead and graphite liner. Set your rollers to the minimum tension to get the wire running through the torch without birdnesting.

Either way its going to weld pretty much like ass on a non pulse mig.

But imo for stuff as small as you are considering welding you are wasting your time.

Its usually not worth the time to mess around trying to make it work on a basic mig. Usually people buy all this shit to get it to work then it collects dust on their shelves for years once they realize how much of a pita it is to get working perfectly. Especially so on material as thin as that 20x20 likely is.