Subject: MIG welding aluminum w/small rig

From: Matthew Brand <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 13:41:21 GMT

A friend claims to have seen an artist weld aluminum with a little 120V
MIG home welding rig.  Is this possible?

---

From: [email-masked] (Garfield)
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 16:49:17 GMT

>MIG home welding rig.  Is this possible?

He was probably looking at a MillerMatic 130 MIG unit, which can be operated
off 110-120v or 230v, BUT it would have to be thin Alum, prob < 1/8" and
you're gonna have to be pretty good to do a decent job with Mig on that thin
Alum. Things move right along when Mig'ing Alum. Maybe it it's art though,
you could think of your bad welds as creative expression 8).

Garfield

---

From: [email-masked] (James P. Riser)
Date: 22 Jul 1996 16:09:53 GMT

> MIG home welding rig.  Is this possible?

Matthew;
My Lincoln SP 125 Plus (120 volt) will supposedly weld 10-16 guage
aluminum with .035 wire.  You will need to run 100% argon.  They say in
the manual that you really should use an aluminum kit for such work (new
clean liner and tip).  Since my welding is done outside in the wind, I
haven't purchased an argon tank yet to give it a try.  Please let me know
how it works.
Jim

-- 
James P. Riser
Home page:  http://www.azstarnet.com/~jriser

---

From: [email-masked] (David Wilson)
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 14:28:21 -0600

>MIG home welding rig.  Is this possible?

Matthew,
I do a little aluminum welding with my Millermatic 130. It's 120v MIG. My
welding supply suggested a teflon liner, but said to try it without first.
I did and it did, work that is. I've successfully welded 1/8", with Argon.
The tricky part is getting used to the rapid meltdown of the aluminum. But
the green color of the gas sure is pretty! Weld. supply also said to keep
the line straight, to keep from "birdnesting the soft wire, (.035), but I
haven't had a problem. Like I said I've only done light test, but it seems
to work fine to me, it's not for passenger aircraft anyway! Just home shop
use.

David

[email-masked]
http://www.flash.net/~dwwilson/