Alright. Im going to be welding the endtanks on my starion front mount IC (aluminum) and ill be welding my T3 adapter plate to my HF manifold (steel)

Each is less than a 1/4 inch thick. I may weld my own exhaust as well.

My question is which welder should I buy and why?

1. Mig (fleet farm) $300 Wire feed
2. Tig (not sure) Manual feed

Also what kind of welders do you guys have, where'd you get them, and how much?

Thanks a lot I appreciate it a lot. With this info and a welder ill have my turbo kit on my car in 2 WEEKS!!!!! So this info is important.

Dan Leslie

 

welding aluminum takes skills and practice and if you really want to do this, you'll need to learn how to weld properly. Tig is the way to go if you'll start doing this.

Just take it to a radiator shop and have them weld it..

stan

 

I would, but how would I learn then? Im hell bent on putting this kit together completely by myself and this seems like a reasonable part of it. Plus it never hurts to learn how to weld. I'll save myself money as well in the long run

Also, our family is friends with the owner of Pro Welding located in Wisconsin (They do welding for huge companies. REALLY nice owner) He teaches welding and he gave me a book on how it's done and all of the techniques. He said he'll help me any time if i have any questions, of if they want me to show them how to do it.

He recommended Tig as well.

Thanks for your help.

Dan

 

I tried my hand at aluminum a couple weeks ago. As long as everything is CLEAN and the oxide coating was just removed, I found it much like steel, only the aluminum puddles don't like to flow together. A little encouragement with the filler rod and it works pretty good. Thin gauge stuff may be too much for a beginner unless you use a copper (or other type) chill block to keep from punching holes into the material.

TIG is the preferred method, but MIG does it a lot easier - you're injecting the filler/wire as you go instead of moving the torch around with one hand and gaying around with the filler hand in the other with the torch occluding your best work spots some of the time. You need a spool gun to pull the aluminum wire, though, as typical MIG wire pushing setups birdsnest aluminum wire. They can run a few hundred bucks if you find a deal, and sometimes it's, uhm... interesting... adapting them to generic MIG welders but I've seen a lot of stuff done.

TIG is still the superior process, but since this is nothing structural or aircraft related you can feel free to go MIG based.

Oh, yeah, http://www.diy-welder.com. I'm four microwave transformers short, somebody help me out here.

 

sweet thanks for the help. I think i may buy a Mig just cuz it sounds easier. Im gonna give it a shot, if it fails, who cares At least i tried.

 

I've been MIG welding for about 2-3 years now...it's very easy to do and learn.

I'd reccomend the TIG anyday of the week. I'm saving up for a T/A 185...you should look into those. INverter technology owns nowadays...

 

having 3 hands helps

 

lol i'd have that checked

 

haha....its not my problem

but i would definitely consider TIG over MIG.....u can do a lot more with a "beginner" TIG machine than u can with a "beginner" MIG machine. with a beginner MIG machine...IMO, u will outgrow it and will eventually buy a better unit if u really like welding and plan to do more down the road. but then again, having both machines is nice 2.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by javierb14 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">haha....its not my problem

but i would definitely consider TIG over MIG.....u can do a lot more with a "beginner" TIG machine than u can with a "beginner" MIG machine. with a beginner MIG machine...IMO, u will outgrow it and will eventually buy a better unit if u really like welding and plan to do more down the road. but then again, having both machines is nice 2.</TD></TR></TABLE>

very true, having both is the ****

 

i used to thing that TIG was the only way to go with welding aluminum. here's what i learned over the course of about a year

on a budget... with the right electrodes you can weld aluminum on a buzzbox stick welder set on straight or AC polarity. that will run you 200 bucks. i've seen it done. i dont know how well the welds stood up to the test of time. also, stick (and flux-cored gasless mig) welds are butt-ugly.

oxy-hydrogen torch welding is another thing people have been doing with aluminum. if you know someone with a torch setup, you can burn hydrogen instead of acetyline. this works because aluminum's melting point is much much lower than steels. the acetyline would burn a hole in the aluminum instantly. i believe this leaves it with a strength of about 70% of what it would be if it were properly TIG welded.

MIG welding aluminum is common. you need to use argon shielding gas instead of regular old CO2, and you need that bulky wire-spool gun because it can't pull aluminum wire through the line.

TIG welding is your best bet. but it's not easy or cheap to do. you will need a tig welder that's capable of AC output, with a high frequency arc-starter. i use a miller econotig. and it's badass. stick and tig welding all in one. you're going to need to find as much scrap aluminum as you can find and make practice welds. i'm sure your welding buddy's shop can help you out with this. use pure tungsten, clean everything real good first, and remember that aluminum doesnt change colors, it just puddles like mercury.

my aluminum welds looked like boogers at first, but they're getting nicer. it's all about practice. a good friend of mine taught me to stick weld and i taught myself MIG and TIG welding.

 

i found a deal at harbor frieght on a 220 mig for $300!! it was 100 off. so i bought it and got some gas, regulator, etc. ended up being less than $500 all together. its my first time ever welding and so far i have done my downpipe and exhaust. mig is really easy and you catch on quick.
good luck

 

Sweet. Yeah I've heard about the problems with Mig machines and aluminum wire, having to pull it through the machines. Im looking for cheapness right now since im a noob, so ill prolly go with a Mig machine for right now just to get the hang of it. But it seems like Tig is eventually the way ill be heading so i do wanna keep my sights open.

Are there any places that sell Tig machines for around $300?

Thanks for all of your help guys, and this whole thing is starting to make a lot more sense now. I appreciate it.
Hopefully ill have a turbo sol in 2 weeks
Dan

 

Hey, I have an arc (AC) welder right now. Is there an adapter to turn it into a DC welder? Kind of a conversion thing. So I can do Tig welding with the same maching?
I heard there was.
Would this be a good way to go?

 

I have a Lincoln SP125+... its a mig. It does an swesome job of welding mild steel, as well as SS, which I have done a lot of and with some practice and the proper gas, it does a fantastic job.
The SP125+ model has been replaced by an SP135+. Looks identical to what I have.

http://www.weldingmart.com/Qstore/p001647.htm

And then there is the aluminum conversion kit you can buy:

http://www.weldingmart.com/Qstore/p002042.htm

I am curious to try this very soon.

-tom

 

I just bought a Miller econotig( $1245, so not so "econo" if you ask me) and I have to say i am so happy with it, i picked up the tig process rather quickly and i have decent looking welds with great penetration. TIG is the best way to go IMO, having ran both machines. HTH


Rob