Aluminum Spool Gun Welding - Beginner's perspective figuring it out
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ม.ค. 2025
- Never tried one before... Here we go.
Use the code "6061" at the end of the checkout for a discount on ANY PrimeWeld machine. www.primeweld.com
MIG welder used in this video: primeweld.com/...
PW2500 Spool Gun : primeweld.com/...
Propane torch used to preheat small part: amzn.to/3YG9SUj - บันเทิง
0:15 that fly was like "ouu look at the pretty light" and then dies 😂
I was about to put. 0:15 disco fly!
Did some good spins.
Yeah, a wasp flew into my shop and fell right next to me when i was welding, guess he forgot his hood
first time a wasp flew in my weld tig on some alum. it scared the shit out of me lol just dive bombs the weld
6:52 there goes another one
What a treat to watch, and hear you talk your way through an unfamiliar welding process!
I have seen a lot of aluminum MIG welds on commercial products that aren't as good as your first tries. You definitely have experience and talent.
Few tips: you want to be in spray transfer all the time. 1.2mm (0.045 inch) wire works a lot better than thiner wires. Problem is with thin materials. That's where pulse mig finds it's place. U wheels, teflon liner and alu contact tip is a must if you don't use spool gun, which I don't really like. Water cooled torch is almost a must, when air cooled torch gets hot problems start to happen. Hot start and end slope and current is also a must have. Ripples in alu weld bead is normally not good thing, smooth weld bead is prefered. Argon purity is a critical, also any leak will result in poor weld/porosity.
Alu mig is doable with small inverters for home use, but when you try something like fronius or otc machine it's different story and quite easy to achieve nice welds.
Ill second all of the above
heck yeah, someone who knows his stuff!
In my roughly 1 hour of aluminum spool gun experience, I remember two things that seemed critical. You need more sickout than short circuit, at least 3/4" and you need to push the puddle as opposed to dragging it. Thats all I got.......
Damn good mig welding for your first try. It will be hard, if not next to impossible, to get the mig welds to look as good as Tig welds. But hey, speed is a big plus to mig welding. You are doing damn good! We bought a mig welder over three years ago and did a big aluminum welding project that took 9 months. During that build we bought a Tig welder. Couldn't get proficient on it fast enough so we continued with just the mig welder. Now I'm back learning on the Tig. Been watching your videos and have been enjoying them. Thank you for all you do to help us all learn to Tig weld.
Thanks for showing that. Clearly a useful ability to have for large stuff that does not need to win any beauty contests.
6061, most long hour MIG welders in alum. use a bit of a 'race-track' path to weld or maybe a 'wrap the corners' method? Begin (in your case of travel direction) one puddle width into the right of the beginning of the bead. Whip- fast not evenly- once you get an arc- even anticipating the arc a fraction- whip to the beginning of the bead/weld zone. That leaves the MIG start- drug out for one puddle width and then in the time it takes to 'light up' you're hot and welding, you go over the start drag track/spatter and burn it into the root of the bead. This leaves a cleaner, more fully fused bead than starting on the tacks at the ends. Then weld, and most long hour MIG guys use a more syncopated - not evenly movement to get puddles- and they whip the bead from 12:00 down in a C to let the pause happen and again make a more syncopated or fast then slow movement. Not as even back and forth as the travel happens. At the end of the weld you could 'wrap back' or turn the corner of the 'race-track' oval and put the final puddle back on the next to last of 2nd to last puddle to end the weld on top of the bead instead of having a hollow puddle which more prone to cracks. Also, if you'll be welding long seams - like 20-30' as you'd seen in a marine hull, 'whipping' out of the weld is also considered normal for all but the last tie-in passes of long seam welds. This is where you rotate the gun hand in the direction of travel in co-ordination with releasing the trigger. The weld puddle gets 'thinned out' or smeared along the weld groove or weld zone and there is not crater crack... and saves the work of coming back to gouge the ends of some welds with carbide burr to get a hot tie-in to that weld- using the wrapped end or race-track start described above. Also it is pretty widely accepted that to reduce gas bubbles in the root of MIG welds, wire brushing to disrupt the mill scale and oxide (which does not lift as well as AC TIG) right before welding w MIG.
I joined your website 4 years ago, before sound, because of the nice work that you do. You are a true craftsman.
I do fabrication for pontoons, we use a lot of push/pull style MIG welders. I have run both and most definitely prefer push/pull, It's less weight in the hand and not so bulky. The settings I run for 1/8" 6061 sheet aluminum to 6061 2" sch40 pipe are 21.4-21.7 volts and 315-345 wfs. The other guys in the shop run 22.5 volts usually, I find that is too hot and fast to control the arc and maintain clean consistent welds.
Thanks for the tip I'm going to try them out! What series of aluminum wire, diameter and brand do you run with those settings if you don't mind me asking? More info. on marine applications would be greatly appreciated.
This is seriously awesome, I love this idea of watching an experienced welder try a new process. It's fun to learn "along side" you in something I may never try, but you just never know lol. I never ever thought I'd be a TIG welder either 🤷♂️
This video is making me feel better about my welds.
When I was trying to learn to aluminum weld with a spool gun, everybody told me clean clean clean. Clean brush clean some more. When I see you getting moderately acceptable welds without any apparent cleaning and no signs of brushing, I'm amazed. You are obviously a better Welder than I am. The skills don't translate directly, but they do seem to translate. That being said, I did find eighth inch to quarter inch to be relatively easy to spool gun weld. Thicker was tough to keep hot, and thinner was a fine line between welding and falling out.
I run aluminum mig quite frequently in the rig shop. We also do SS 304-316 but nothing critical for either. MiG and tig. In my experiences. A bit more wire speed and a slightly to intermediate push angle will work wonders on keeping the puddle flatter and covered in your gas zone. We’ve had welders tuned in for half in to full inch thick in 24.5-25 voltage. Full argon. Sometimes a helium mix works better. You are right. Once that part is warmed up it makes fusion much easier. Welds look better than most I ever seen others do.
I found myself before the half way point of this presentation, wishing that the machine was shown (including it's initial set up) and it's setting manipulations as we went along were shown....
I like mig. I have a Hobart. Used to have the first interation of primeweld Tig. Sold it cause I didn't have time or situation to learn.
A long time ago, I used a spool gun to make repairs on cattle trailers. Getting things clean was relative.
I used a huge torch for preheating some 2 inch tube miter welds. 3/16" wall, i used the heat until the Sharpie mark disappears trick.
I saw on SV Seeker that it gave good results to tack the opposite end or the end that has the less mass. That will help get the part a bit warmer in the beginning and it will help with the blowout since the end already has a bit of weld when you get to it.
Forty years ago I used to MIG wide flanges onto racing wheels. I TIG welded the first few, and wasn't quite ready for how fast you can go with MIG!
I've done zero aluminum MIG welding since, as I don't have the need for speed.
Jody over at weld tips and tricks has some good spool gun videos, once you get it dialed in and you get the spray transfer the spatter will go away.
That thing has it's place and there's no doubt you'll master it with some time. I thought you did really well for the first time to use a spool gun. My first and only time was quiet embarrassing to say the least. I'll stick to trying to learn tig. Thanks for another great video. I really like the way you explain things.
Thanks, Aaron. I got this spool gun with my Primeweld mig welder back in '19. I'll have to give it a try.
There is a sweet spot for stick out where arc changes and goes to axial spray. It looks and sounds like you are in short circuit or globular transfer…hence all the spatter. Are you running 4043,5356? 5356 is difficult to run as its does not wet out well….and it is very Smokey due to the 5% magnesium. Of course you want to push the arc, but a vertical down works well with the nozzle pointing up. I weld a lot of .125 6061 sq tube and also .250 to the .125… your voltage has a very narrow sweet spot range…I run a Miller 252 with a miller spoolgun. I also use a Powcon with a Lincoln spoolgun and have run a lot of trailblazers with Miller guns for the file…16 gauge for fence and entry gates…..no fun…best wishes from Florida…Paulie Brown
The Kemppi welders we use here have this setting called double pulse which works good when welding AlMg wire
From my little experience dialing in my machine, if you're getting spatter at all, your wire feed is too high for that voltage. Slowly lower it until you get into spray transfer. It has a very smooth hiss sound, and your beads come out fairly smooth and shiny. Thanks for sharing
Your work is still superb, just need a bigger crescent wrench
Great video. I’ve never run a spool gun, but it looks like with a bit of practice a person could make strong welds on thicker aluminum quickly.
Thanks for the propane torch link, I can see how that would be helpful at times.
looks better than a lot of aluminum welds I see out in the wild.
Well this video just diminished my hope of ever learning to run a spool gun, knowing the quality of your tig welds and now seeing the learning curve you are experiencing tells me I should try sewing or crochet.
Aluminum mig really is a strange welding experience.
Also, that smoke is horrible. I can weld steel with mig and it doesn't bother me. Aluminum is very bad.
"Starting to look like a trash bin at a community college." - LOL 🤣
I would push the weld instead of dragging , use higher speeds and feeds to what u would think
I use .030" in my standard Mig gun. Have to keep the gun cord straight off the machine and run full speed so it doesn't birdnest. It works. And seems to weld clean with C25. Little soot.
Hello, I have an old Miller set up for Aluminum with Miller industrial spool gun. Your welds are what they look like. I always preheat it make big difference. Turn your gas up I don't get the the heavy suit. You should try HTP Revolution TIG. MIG hot start double pulse. It's impressive machine.
Mark
Those gloves are looking fly
This brings back memories. I used to repair alloy truck bodies with an ancient Miller SpoolMatic 2. My boss was too tight to buy the proper spools, so we'd have to reload them from a 5 kg spool every time it ran out.
That is cheap!😂
If you really want your mind blown, pop in a roll of 4043... The difference between 5356 and 4043 with TIG is subtle compared to MIG. 4043 will weld 1/2 material with no preheat, but thin stuff starts getting difficult, unless it's a pulse MIG. You gotta try it.
I find if I pre heat and I start on a scrap piece clamped next to the part that needs to be welded that little bit of a running start seems to help, I feel like it’s a chain reaction. And if I set the machine correctly it comes out acceptable, I am always trying to find ways to stay consistent
Thanks for making this video. 💪🏆😎
I have been intrigued by the spool gun, but it was always broken or non-functional when i was in welding school, so i never had the chance to learn it.
17:36 - I have a 2000 Honda CBR 929 and i suspected the aluminum welds on it were made with a spool gun, but they look more like TIG welds. I can see the dimes are smoothly textured and there are stop dimples.
@2:33 - should the bevel steepness be similar to the wire thickness or is that only setting the root gap?
A possible future video could be MIG welding stainless. I did this on a job that was making A/C ventilation for a big hospital.
4043 wire will look pretty and hold ok, but for strength items 5356 wire is recommended for semi trailers or structural. I use Miller 30 A spool gun since 1992. I like to do circles or or small e's when moving the gun and I try and push the gun vs pull as much as I can. One nice feature my MillerMatic 255 has is pulse, not only for my push pull gun, but also for my spool gun and with the cleaning action of pulse, gives almost robotic looking welds, even on the DIRTIEST aluminum. LOVE you videos, as I have learned a lot from you on the TIG side. Carbide is your best friend for cleaning, and SAIT brand for dedicated aluminum has been my goto IF I have to use abrasives. I usually error on the side of high Argon pressure than lower, even in my shop. A small piece of stainless steel wool pad pinched before the feed rolls helps clean dirty wire, but not all spool guns have room for this. A paper clip works for a pinch wire. LOOKIN' GOOD, KEEP AT ER' . Thanks for sharing all your expertise !
4943 is becoming available for MIG. I think that it is important to select the filler metal based on the alloys being joined. Aluminum structural design takes into account the filler metal used for the welds. The stresses in the welds in aluminum structures are evaluated separately from the stresses in the structural members.
Excellent tips, thanks for the info. What brand of aluminum wire do you run for repairs for semi trailers? I recently started using Rockmount Neptune wire. It works great for critical repairs but the price is out of sight .
6:53 that fly was trying to learn to weld and became Icarus instead :)
Thanks, you make it look way too easy!
Keep torch as perpendicular to the work as possible, will help a great deal to avoid porosity and excessive soot.
Spool guns will humble any welder. BTW: I have always found serious cleaning and preheat to be definite requirements for any decent spooling.
Heh... something I actually know more than the master of TIG Aluminum!
SpoolGun is awesome! But you can ONLY use the push method to get good results, and lots of Argon. I see you were using 5 series wire, which is the one you want for trailer and boat repair. You can tell by the color of the arc. If it's green, then it's ER5356 series. If it's white or yellow it's ER4043 series.
The soot comes from the Magnesium in the 5 series. It's much more stronger than 4 series. But doesn't flow as nice or have a bright silver finish like the 4. You can heat treat 4 and get up a higher temper level. The cool thing you can do with 5 series wire, is you can anodize the part and the weld won't have a different color shade to the rest of the base aluminum.
Old boy that works for me has a good saying when it comes to ally mig
" once you realise its gona look like crap your day goes a whole load better" 😂
I don’t have much aluminum welding experience. I have used tig and mig aluminum proses. Each has there place. Aluminum wire feed is just messy dirty proses. While tig is certainly cleaner no spatter like wire feed.
Aluminum spool guns are definitely for laying down lots of bead on thicker material very fast.
Damn good price on that mig-285. $999 (before your discount) for a 285 amp mig welder.
There ain't nothing like the smoke from aluminum mig. It covers everything!
A small piece of plexi-glass in front of the camera lens would be a good spatter guard.
Wire feed welding. Watched someone destroy an exhaust with one, trying to fill a small hole. They created a wad of metal bubble gum, as porus as a sponge. Tricky machines.
0:14 Disclaimer: No flies were harmed in the producing of this film
With aluminum mig, it's less short-circut and more spray transfer.
My 5 minutes of spool gun experience. Turn the gas up higher than tig and only push the weld to make sure you're getting good gas coverage. Should prevent most of that soot.
I crank up the gas,use way longer stickout,and push. Thank you
If the material is thick enough to allow you to get into spray transfer settings it goes sooooo much nicer
I’d love to see you weld with a push pull gun on pulse. Your welds will look like tig
Were you using 5356?
I find using 4043 wire and spray transfer works well for me.
Is that the Primeweld PW2500 spoolgun? Mine will be here tomorrow.
Long stick out helps too.
Nice welds. I thought aluminum mig was more like flux core with more stick out?
It’s my understanding that more of a spray transfer is what you are chasing so a bit more tip to work distance and just enough wire speed to not have the wire burn back up. Only just
Why do corded angle grinders have a top position for the handle? Battery operated ones don’t. Why is that? 🤷🏾♂️🤔🔥
That fly didn’t seem too like your welding.
What wire type were you using? I’ve tried 4043 & 5356 with my Miller 210 and spool gun. 4043 lays in really nice. I can’t get the 5356 to run at all
@@DennisP-vd6cf truth.5356 has always been hard to run
Are the settings for spool gun gonna be the same as mig welding aluminum with a mig gun!!!!
Thx. What were your settings for 3/16?
Just did a job using a 20:05 spool gun.Not much experience myself. Was 5356 wire.Everything turned out okay.Very sensitive to settings.It is so strange having you talk on videos.Not used to it.
Mig welding aluminum without
Pulsed spray is like swimming in a hoodie and steel toes
What wire were you using? 4xxx series is softer and easier to weld with than 5xxx series. Oh for those that dont know always push aluminum as well.
Not always
HE'S GOT A GUN!
Lmao the burning fly
The push back can be from a bad contact of the part on the table.
What dia & alloy wire were you running
Do you recycle used up pieces like these?
you must try super pulse U82 by Esab for Gmaw alumunium
$13k
Good experience 👍
Да уж, классный аппарат! С таким и тиг сварка не нужна. Он от 220?
I'm guessing black soot on most welds is from not cleaning the aluminum?
mostly on 50 series wire that has 5%mag.soot is called smut a by product of the burn off.hard to get a totally clean weld with it but brushes off easy. Aluminum mag hot and fast.lots of pissing about dialing in.
@@treyrags nope, it is from the magnesium in the filler
You need to have argon flow at 40. Push the weld. I like to weave.
He’s just goofin, new process goofin
No new boots, see the bike around the pole video? Got that idea from Reno
always a better weld with a bit of pre heat on Ali
It is possible to use it on a AC DC welding machine ?
@@cdjklm8483 no need to use ac, as the arc is 100@ dc positive on a CV ,which is the cleaning cycle…but you can run some feeders with a CC machine, like a Cobramatic, but that is a $6,000 feeder and it takes a special circuit to run in the wire to start arc…it is supposedly not as good as a CV machine…
12:24 nice flames
After welding you could dissect the whole thing to see the penetration
Wait until you try AC pulse with a push pull gun.
Its the Supersoaker of welding.
My two cents. Use spray-arc.
You sound so familiar. Utah person.
No way. We saw Aarons hand without a glove
You need à puls Mig 👍
Too much wire and not enough volts. You also need a smooth faster travel speed. Aluminum MIG don't like when you stay too long in the same spot, or go over the same spot twice.
Impressionnant...
Kills flies, too! (first 10 seconds)
A longer arc length will help aluminum mig is weird lol but I'm no expert at all
Ok......now an aluminum arc welding video?
Nice
In MIG, m stands for mess.
Not many spool gun videos.
More to come hopefully
(as soon as I figure out what the hell I'm doing)
argon/ helium mix works well for me .... i believe the current i have is a 25/75 mix