|
TIG is the way to go for aluminum. You have to have a spool
gun to run aluminum though a MIG without it binding up. You can O/A sheet metal,
but you HAVE to get to the back side to wash the flux off or it'll eat
itself... extremely corrosive.
Get a nice TIG and you'll find it useful on
a lot more than just aluminum. Works great on aluminum, stainless, 4130,
titanium, copper... All you need is gas and a proper rod, similar to O/A in
that respect. TIG is very versatile. You have to change wire and gasses to
use MIG on various materials. The MIG may appear cheaper at the outset, but once
you buy four different rolls of wire and four different bottles of gas (at $50 a
bottle), the TIG machine is not so bad.
It is also VERY easy for a beginnner to get
an absolutely beautiful weld with a MIG... a beautiful weld that grabbed
nothing! I have seen many great looking MIG welds fail. It takes
a skilled welder to make a good MIG weld, no matter how easy it looks. TIG
is very similar in practice to OA welding... if you have a feel for one, the
other is pretty intuitive. The only trick to switching between OA and TIG
is to get used to using the pedal vs backing out and vice-versa for heat
control. Back out on TIG in an attempt to reduce the heat and it just
spreads the heat zone. Once you get that, it's a breeze. We have Tig, stick
and OA at the museum. That is also my order of preference for a welding job. I
use the stick for heavy work and OA as a last resort, mainly brazing work. Mike
C.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 9:27
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Alu welder
With some alu welding coming up (radiators, intake
manifold, engine mount plate) I'm considering purchase of a
welder.
What would you recomend? TIG, MIG,
cost?
Finn
|