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Welding Aluminium, specifically


MikeSharp01

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Hi all.

 

I need to create two frames from 2"x3" 10SWG hollow section aluminium (6082 T6). Am thinking I should weld them so I need to buy the kit to do it - need to update my 45 year old arc welder as well. I know the @Onoffspeaks well of this model which with associated TIG kit sounds like a working solution for under £300. Any other recommendations or thoughts? 

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@MikeSharp01 - I posted your question over on the welding forum, after all I wouldn't go on there and ask about MVHR systems! :) The first response from one of the mods:

 

"Easy job with the right kit, but £300 isn't going to buy it, you will need an ac tig welder, pure argon gas, filler rods, and then learn how to use it, ally is not as easy to learn as steel or stainless for most people.
I knocked these four frames up on Monday, just a few hours work, for a one of job it would be best to just get some who knows how to do it.
"

 

&

 

"find a local welder and ask for a price to weld your frames certainly the cheapest route"

 

I can point you at a fabricators in Hoo who do excellent TIG and have done so for me for 30 years btw. I do understand though the desire to DIY! 

 

Then again...this is ali welded with an EWM Phoenix MIG welding machine. Welds look good to me:

 

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/mig-like-tig-or-almost-anyway.74184/#post-1017595

 

Seems it's super controllable for pulse duration, voltage etc.

 

I do have a Clarke 130TE mig machine. You can get 0.8mm ali wire for it. Would need a 0.9mm (1.0mm?) tip also  (expansion of the wire) and a bottle of argon. All the bits are available from MachineMart for <£30. 

 

You'd be quite welcome to borrow my mig to have a play if you wanted to get the ali bits. Think its advised to pre heat ali?

 

I am however planning taking my daily off the road shortly for major sill surgery though so it'd have to be a quick lend!

 

 

Edited by Onoff
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If it's just this one off job, why not use ali welding rods? I've used them with success on ali albeit it's a slower process as you need to heat the ali up first to melt the rod onto.

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What are these frames for. 

Screening? 

Why not get the main frame welded by someone else and then fit them out yourself. 

I have been looking at industrial type pop rivets for fitting ally planking on a frame. 

That is a tool I could find a use for very regularly. 

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I'm reasonably handy with TIG on steel, but even after a lot of practice (using a big commercial TIG set) I'm not great at welding aluminium, particularly architectural type alloys like 6063.  I'd just get someone else to weld these up, if welding it the only way to go, bearing in mind that most architectural or structural alloys will be supplied to T6 temper (or an equivalent) and that the heat affected zone around the weld will be reduced to T0, and will take a couple of years or more to age harden back to something like T6 

 

If you can use mechanical fastenings, then that would be a lot easier.  I tend to use stainless pop rivets to fasten aluminium structures, as they are strong and reliable.  Dip the rivets in chromate paste before inserting them if you want Rolls Royce corrosion resistance, but even if you don't the joint will probably outlast you.  The aluminium alloy framed boat I made a few years ago is still fine, and that's just pop riveted together, without chromate paste:

 

5692659726_314ed0e5c8_b.jpg

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22 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

What are these frames for. 

Screening? 

Why not get the main frame welded by someone else and then fit them out yourself. 

I have been looking at industrial type pop rivets for fitting ally planking on a frame. 

That is a tool I could find a use for very regularly. 

 

Are you talking a rivnut / nutsert type tool? Magic bit of kit!

 

PC290021.thumb.jpg.d18457707b4430acf5eaf998e1062819.jpg

 

Used to add an earth point in a back box (original fooked):

 

PC290043.thumb.jpg.7c04fb1a8f37ef6042cb85548e8b23b8.jpg

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Thanks all. I agree Ali is hard to weld and although I took a course is was 35 years ago! Thanks @Onoff for your offer I will PM you for the people in Hoo as I have go past every day. I need the frames to allow me to repurpose the windows of the old house in the garden room. They are only double glazed but are of goof quality they just don't open so the frame is to allow me to add a hinge etc and provide strength. I think that I may look at mechanical fixing, thanks @JSHarris for the insights there. In the end, when I get back to locomotive building, I will need a new welder but perhaps I should put it off until then. 

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Another comment:

 

"£1500 is a realistic figure for the gear to slap that together. 
An AC/DC tig welder, cylinder of argon, reg, filler, tungstens and front end consumables will see that wither away with enough change for a pint. 
This is fine if you have the time to learn to use it before getting fired in to paying work and if you intend to carry on using it after the job. 
For a one off, pass it on to someone who has the gear and skill. Save your self a few quid by doing the cutting, prep work and a decent drawing. 
I'd happily quote to do it but as you can see from my location Kent isn't that local and he would need to deliver and collect."

 

(Richard, the writer is in Herts btw).

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