Re: [MV] Mighty Mite dent repair.

jonathon (jemery@execpc.com)
Tue, 20 Oct 1998 21:09:34 -0500 (CDT)

>I've been told a MIG can be set up to do aluminum but requires different
>wire and gas. The guy knows his welding so I took him at his word. He was
>also quick to say the TIG was the best way and easier/better than a
>reconfigured MIG. There was probably more about technique and finer details
>he left out in the simple explanation to me.

I MIG Aluminum periodically but I have a large 500 Amp 3 phase machine which
is what is needed to do spray arcing. The little mig units do not allow you
to set the voltage up high enough to do this. Short arcing Aluminum is
possible but my experiances have always been less than satisfactory.
Spraying Aluminum really works slick but generally only on thicker sections
like 1/4"+ although 1/8" is doably with care. You, obviously, need Aluminum
wire and you need Argon only shielding gas (or He or a Ar-He mix). I also
install a different liner in the mig gun that has a teflon sleeve in it,
else the wire gets stuck real easy and leaves a nice birds nest of wire in
the feed rolls. This is hot stuff however, I add an extra heat pad to my
gloves which burns right thru frequently.

TIG'ing Aluminum is a little trickier than steel or stainless but your can
get really good results. As might be expected you sort of need some
advanced features on your TIG machine like AC, high freq, variable DC
offset, pulse mode ( escpecially usefull for thinner material), etc.

I guess the moral of the story is, find someone good and pay the price, the
alternative could be much worse. I have a few holes in my M422 and I think
I may take it to a guy I know that is far more experianced than I.

je

>

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