OK i have no welding experience at all so, first off i was thinking about buying a 110v mig so i can do my exhaust (obviously after some practice) and just to have for odd jobs. Now can i buy a spool of aluminum wire to just tack my IC piping together without gas and get someone with a TIG to weld it for me?
If not, which i think is the answer, can i use 100% argon for both aluminum and stainless?

 

You need 100% argon for aluminum. You can use argon for thin stainless.

 

ok so you cant use wire alone for just tacking aluminum.
Guess ill just pick up some argon as well
argon will be ok for 304 stainless .049"?

 

Yes.

 

what kind of results can one expect to get on aluminum with a low cost mig from harbor freight w/argon gas?

Just curious as to the quality of welds (pics?) Thanks.

 

I just got an Aluminum welding kit for my Lincoln SP-135 Plus and its a challenge for sure. You get wire tension too tight and it birdnest's and kinks in the machine... You need a stainless steel brush to prepare the aluminum. I've had good welds with the voltage really low and the feed speed slightly less than double the voltage. The regulator needs to be cranked as well... I think i set mine on the highest it would go which was 30 and that was the low end of recommended. You can use Argon for everything if you got a TIG...

When I weld steel's (including stainless) I get a 74% Argon, 24% CO2 and 2% Oxygen mix.

 

You could try self shielding wire... Not quite as pretty as argon but.. gets the job done

 

I would only be tacking the aluminun with a mig and get someone to tig it for me, any suggestions?

 

self- sheilding aluminum wire, i think you're referring to Flux-Core and thats for steel, you might as well have a stitch attachment on your stick welder.

Here's something to help you possibly save money... argon is used to keep impurities out... if you get the metal prepped really good and heat it up real hot with a torch, you might be able to get a sufficient tack to take and get finished. You'll need to tack it immediately after heating and it'll probably still look like crap, you might even end up contaminating it again. It's a judgement call, you might be able to do it, hard to say if it'll work.

 

Hey at least Lincoln is good for something

http://www.lincolnelectric.com...d.asp

btw it's just charge piping. If you fit it up and mark it really acurately, leaving a couple joints to be connected with silicone couplers you shouldnt have to tack anything at all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ManBearPig4silly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey at least Lincoln is good for something

http://www.lincolnelectric.com...d.asp

btw it's just charge piping. If you fit it up and mark it really acurately, leaving a couple joints to be connected with silicone couplers you shouldnt have to tack anything at all. </TD></TR></TABLE>

BTW, the guys that can weld like that make mucho dinero...

 

I have a spool gun welder set up with Argon that I use for aluminum and stainless. Works pretty well. Should be absolutely no problem if you are just tacking it up to Tig later.

 

dont forget im not a welder by any means, im excellent with a soldering iron though
any way im probally going to pick up a little mig and a small cylidar of argon and see how it goes, no spool gun though

 

no you can not tack alum without gas. if your doing charge pipes that thin of an aluminum without gas it will punch a hole through the aluminum as soon as you pull the trigger to tack.

 

OK thanks

 

welding and soldering are completely different. But knowing the basics of the metal drawing toward the heat source can help you, I guess.

With argon, you should be able to get it tacked up pretty well, but like others said, it won't be pretty. If you had a spool gun, it would be a much easier task. They tend to bind less than if you were running it through the mig, plus you can normally run it in conjuction with the normal gun and an additional bottle.

For exhaust work, I always run 75% Argon, 25% CO2. A lot of places will just call it "C25." It works well with mild and stainless. Also, keep in mind that steel is a lot easier to weld. You might want to go that route for charge piping, since it's normally cheaper, and the added easy of working with it (on a budget).

 

What you mean you can't get flux aluminum wire? I buy it at the hardware store all the time..... Built a whole trailer with it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shad0wslay3r &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What you mean you can't get flux aluminum wire? I buy it at the hardware store all the time..... Built a whole trailer with it</TD></TR></TABLE>

This does not mean a torch to weld. This is purely electrical arc welding. Yes, there are flux aluminum sticks you can buy but this is done with oxy acetylene and you'll burn trough piping in an instant.