welding aluminum

[fun4now]

you dad is right to a cirten extent, the spool gun is the best option but with 5xxx series aluminum wire its doable but still can be a pain. the 5xxx series is much stiffer than the 4xxx is.

[turbo38t]

You can get satusfactory welds with your millermatic 175. Get the liner and u drive roller kit. Leave the rollers lose and hit the trigger on the gun, start tightening the tensioner just until the wire barely starts moving, that's how sensitive it will be. Keep a 7 foot lead or leass and keep it straight. You can get good results but you have to follow these steps.....don't bother with 4043, use the 5356 as mentiones.....leave a good deposit at the end of the weld or it'll crack. Dave

[Bareback Jack]

I was in Airgas today and a gentleman told me something very interesting. He is welding aluminum with his Powermig 255, with the regular gun, and a nylon liner. The gun is 15 ft long!!!! His Python push/pull broke a couple months ago and he just started running the 5*** wire right out of the power unit. I would never try it with 4*** wire, but he's doing it just fine with the harder stuff. If you do give it a go, stay with a shorter gun (7' or 10'). Also, if you can, give us some feedback on how it works for you. I want to try the same thing. Goodluck.

[Black Wolf]

I've never tried using my Lincoln SP-170T for Aluminum but at work we had an LN-25 suitcase and a 10' gun that I ran off my Invertec V-350 Pro and it did a killer job. No birdnesting or any sort of grief. I think it even had knurled drive rolls in it. My preference is GTAW, but it got the job done in a pinch.

Later,