can i weld aluminum with a miller suitcase x-treme 8vs and 12vs?

[Cgotto6]

Pushing aluminum through a 10+ft hose doesn't work well. I wonder If there is a push pull gun you can use with the feeders you listed that were compatible with cc machines.

[jerrybigbird]

thanks a bunch ima look into that now

[cruizer]

Pushing aluminum through a 10+ft hose doesn't work well. I wonder If there is a push pull gun you can use with the feeders you listed that were compatible with cc machines.

Well, if you think welding with Aluminum with a mig gun is bad, try welding Aluminum with a CC only unit and a mig gun. If you can picture a mile of Alum wire in the garbage, and 2" of weld, you would be about right!

[cruizer]

whats it do ??????knot up before it hits the liner?

Knot up before it hits the linner, knot up in the liner, burn back contantly at the tip. A soon as there is a little bend in the gun liner, with slips and knots up.

Forget about it.

Besides as I mentioned in my last post. Aluminum won't even start on CC. You first need a CV machine.

[gnforge]

Cruizer is right!!! Tried it many many years ago with a SP-200 & 10 ft cable. Got it to weld but more like 2 mile wire for 2 inch weld. Invest ur money on something that will work.

[jerrybigbird]

ok ok..... i get the point guys.....on with question 2
this is an ac/dc machine and i have a hf arc starter/stabilizer.....lets talk about aluminium ac hf tig for a second here...... now ive done a fair amount of tig welding in my days but when i tried this it seems like (on my small pieces of aluminum round stock) by the time it wanted to tie in the base metal was so hot it just burned off. im lookin to make repairs on a semi trailer pup and i know a spool gun would be preferable really don't have any mig equipment available oh ya ....my shielding gas is/was 100% argon

[walker]

For a project like that just go to the local rental place and rent the right piece of equipment to do the job, or keep your eyes on CL for a MM252 with a spool gun.

[Country Metals]

In a standard mig machine the machine adjusts the amps to keep the volts running perfectly. In a CV Suitcase, it relies on the machine to "think" for it. In a CC Suitcase there is not way for the "welding" machine to think because it is not designed to think mig settings so the suitcase will adjust the wire speed to control the weld settings.

If you are welding dumpsters or other non critical steel items this is fine, you can even do structural once you get the hang of it, but aluminum is very fussy. If you even think the aluminum wire will jamb it will just for spite. Aluminum wire is prone to "burn back" which is the stick out melting back and welding itself to the contact tip. This is usually solved by adjusting your wire speed but since a CC suitcase will adjust the wire speed itself, you will have a lot of burn back. Also a spool gun would not help as easily because the brain of the suitcase will still be powering it.

I would state that in general no CC machine can mig aluminum unless you are prepared for a battle with money getting burnt.

[cruizer]

ok ok..... i get the point guys.....on with question 2
this is an ac/dc machine and i have a hf arc starter/stabilizer.....lets talk about aluminium ac hf tig for a second here...... now ive done a fair amount of tig welding in my days but when i tried this it seems like (on my small pieces of aluminum round stock) by the time it wanted to tie in the base metal was so hot it just burned off. im lookin to make repairs on a semi trailer pup and i know a spool gun would be preferable really don't have any mig equipment available oh ya ....my shielding gas is/was 100% argon

It will tig well providing the starter is on the same phase as the welder, ie, plugged into a 60HZ circuit on the welder. With this unit the auxillary is 100 hz, so tig simply won't work.

This welder is useless for AC TIG, no CV, your not doing any ALum wire.

You need a machine that can do the job, this one simply isn't going to do it for you!!

[gnforge]

Walker has a good point. Consider renting, Tig is very slow compared to mig. In my business time is money, I only Tig if I cant mig or for appearance. Had a stainless spreader come in last week for repairs didn't hv correct gas or mig wire so had to Tig. Flat out took way to long to repair and appearance meant nothing in this repair. Didn't make anything on that repair.