I heard you can use a gas feed wire mig and use aluminum wire with a specific gas but im not sure what the gas is? If anyone could possibly tell me what this gas is...that would be sweet. TIA.

 

wire feed welders are constant voltage and to tig you need a constant current stick welder. you can weld aluminum with dc with pure helium gas (according to a few things i've read).

dont quote me on it; let engolid chime in he's the local welding genius

 

I found this for you:

http://www.hotrodders.com/atta...85229

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ComputerJLT &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wire feed welders are constant voltage and to tig you need a constant current stick welder. you can weld aluminum with dc with pure helium gas (according to a few things i've read).

dont quote me on it; let engolid chime in he's the local welding genius</TD></TR></TABLE>

Helium ?? I think you mean 100% argon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Helium ?? I think you mean 100% argon</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'm pretty sure he was right with helium. argon is just your everyday welding gas. helium is used for DC aluminum. you would use argon for AC aluminum

 

Yeah, most common is Argon for AC, although some people will use a mix of Argon and Helium. For DC, I have heard you can use a mix, but likely a higher helium content. I always used pure argon or pure helium...depending on whether I was welding AC or DC.

I don't see why you couldn't use a mig machine for tig welding, providing you bought the parts you would need. I mean, the mig machine still has a positive and negative output...from there, you'd just have to hook up the tig rig and gas and such, just as if you were using a stick machine to tig with.

 

ive been reading alot lately. helium was the origonal shielding gas way back (hence heliarc) and was cheap at the time. its price rose as usage increased and compared to argon, its not very economical. helium is the second lightest gas to hydrogen and therefore it has a tendency to float away from the weld, so for adequate shielding, you will flow more cubic feet compared to argon.

helium also offers more electrical resistance therefore the arc temp is hotter and penetration is better, but current usage is increased roughly 40% to argon. there are a lot of gas mixtures and percentages that are better for certain types of welding.

this book is saying for aluminum go 100% argon and AC high freq TIG or DC reverse polarity MIG. 75/25 arg/hel is recommended for migging aluminum alloys.

 

Well, I think you all answered my questions.
I am not a welder, this was a question form a buddy of mine that has a mig welder and wants to get into welding aluminum but doesn't have a tig welder. I printed out the diagram and it seems good, I just haven't looked at it much as I am at work and on a call right now (tech support)

Im sure you guys have provided enough info for my buddy here, so thanks again and have a wicked New Years!

 

I've mig'd aluminum (in fact, lots of it) using pure argon w/ a spool gun and AC.

Worked fine, and works really well if you preheat the pieces your working on (that way you dont need to change settings as the aluminum heats during the bead.

Built entire (electric) race cars this way, and never had a joint failure.

 

For all aluminum and tig welding i use 100% argon. Helium is oldschool.

 

Cool. for the info again guys. I'm going to print this out and give it to my buddy....im sure he will be happy to hear that he wont have to purchase a new welder.

 

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but i'm considering purchasing the necessary gear to tig mild steel and stainless with my Cigweld TransMig 190.

I understand how it all has to be connected, but do you still have the functionality of the footpedal with a conventional DC tig machine on a converted mig machine? Or is it just on and off like a normal mig setup?

Unfortunately i don't have the cash to fork out for a proper tig machine but i am continously browsing auction houses for used setups.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ComputerJLT &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wire feed welders are constant voltage and to tig you need a constant current stick welder. you can weld aluminum with dc with pure helium gas (according to a few things i've read).

dont quote me on it; let engolid chime in he's the local welding genius</TD></TR></TABLE>

i have heard similar. That you can get away with buying a real cheap tig DC only, and weld aluminum half decent because of the excited state of HE.... or something like that

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snoochtodanooch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i have heard similar. That you can get away with buying a real cheap tig DC only, and weld aluminum half decent because of the excited state of HE.... or something like that </TD></TR></TABLE>
DC aluminum can be done with helium or an argon/helium mix, but it is really only good for materials 1/8" or thicker. Most people will tell you 1/4", but I've found it does fine on 1/8" also. It gets great penetration, precise heat control due to using sharp tungsten, and the "hotter" gas.

However, on most automotive applications, you'd be best off to use AC...that's why you don't ever see DC on car stuff.

 

i don't see how you can turn a mig welder into a tig,can someone explain.i would try and convert my lincoln hd3200 mig if i could.