.


Anyone ever tried it, I need to repair, make, modify and tack some alloy tanks that don't fit very well on my Mk4 Cossie project but finding it really had to find someone local that alloy welds, so I was thinking that I can modify the tanks etc and tack the corner etc in place to test fit and send them off to be fully seamed.

Anyone ever tried it with good results?????

Any info or pic would be useful



Ginger


.

 

Tig weld is used to weld alloy tanks together

 

I have heard you can MIG aluminium, the wire guide and tip need to be replaced so there is no steel contamination and you need to use CO2 rather than Argon CO2 mix.

 

You'd be better off having it Tig welded, nodoubt it was Tig welded when it was manufactured.
More than likely find someone too Tig weld than Mig weld.

 

I thought you had to use pure argon when mig welding alli.
Use a stainless steel wire brush to clean all joints before welding and use latex gloves to keep any contamination off the job

There was a guy at classic car show selling alli rods that you could weld with a gas torch it was a little bit like soldering but was strong as I tried to break it
Can't remember his company name though :-(

 

co2 will be shite for welding with ali, needs to be argon.
it can be done alright for tacking, i've done it to weld a gearbox selector arm back on, i did blow a lot of holes though before i got to grips with it, lots of heat needed.
have a bash with it, try some scrap first, it'll need TIGing though to get it finished.

 

where do you live?

 

as said, all ally welding be it TIG or MIG requires pure argon as the shielding gas,

i used to build ally tanks for HGVs which are mostly 3 or 4 MM thick, for that application MIG was used on the non visible areas and TIG for all visible joints... but for car stuff its usually all TIG

if your anywhere near KINGS LYNN in east anglia i can help you out...

 

Oops my bad, of course it's pure Argon. CO2 is for stainless steel isn't it?

 

You can ally weld with MIG but you will need pure argon.

However MIG welded ally isn't very pretty as you have to get the heat into it first so bearing in mind that all MIG welders I have seen do not have any way of ramping the current up and down, you have to start with a lower setting until the heat has built up in the material. This means you end up with a big lump of snot at the beginning of the weld before it drops into a better and well penetrated weld. To tack stuff together you'd have to have the current set high but let off before you start blowing holes in everything. I also find that to avoid snagging the wire in the liners a spool on gun arrangement is best although quite expensive.

For neatness you really want to be using TIG or gas if you're a competent gas welder.

 

Try fella in my sig if you stuck

 

no c02 is fit for fuck all i wouldnt even use it for mild steel its good only for sending lager up a pump

 

If it's only for tacking stuff together and you already have Argoshield light then I'd just give it a go.
It wouldnt be worth getting a completely new bottle.

Ensure all pieces are spotlessly clean. The biggest issue is wire feeding and speed. Alloy wire is soft, so can easily bunch up inside the tube. And you need to fire in a lot of wire.

IMO use the thickest wire your system can handle, and keep the torch tube as straight as possible so there is less chance of the wire doing strange things.

 

Pretty sure years ago I pre-heated a bit of alu I was tack-welding with mig with some clean burning gas. Worked great for tacking it together with a mig, but deffinately wouldn't have liked to do anything more than just a tack!

Jordan

 

.

Cardiff mate.


Will do mate


I'm 99.9% sure i'm using Agrosheild light so might give it a go, as said it's only for a few tack's so might try heating up the alloy as mentioned by T.E.D Jordan.


Thanks for all the replies


Ginger


.