Howdy all,

I'm building a deck in my small tin boat and I decided I'm going to go with aluminum and weld it. A friend loaned me a Millermatic 130XP wirefeed welder and I'm looking for how to set it up to weld aluminum.

does anyone have any experience with doing something like this? will this welder even work?

I've burned a few thousand pounds of wire welding aluminum.

Your best bet is getting a spool gun & the small spools but that is an expensive option for such a small project. You can still make that welder work but you'll need a tank of helium (best) or straight argon. A new liner and a handful of tips will be needed. You will also probably need knurled rollers depending on the length and configuration of the whip.

After all of that you will need to learn how to weld aluminum. It is nothing like steel. Unless you have experience I would recommend getting this small project hired out.

You could also stick it with an AC welder.

Yes you can weld aluminum with that machine. That machine would not be my first choice, but then again, I reckon someone could dig a field drain with a table spoon if that's all they had to use. wwJd

There are some issues that may come up tho. Wire contamination, wire feed ability and wire transfer characteristics are just a few of several with aluminum wire.
If the machine hasn't been used for aluminum before a new nylon liner just for aluminum should be used. A size bigger diffuser tip can help with feeding too (cuts down on sticking in the tip due to heat related wire expansion that's characteristic of aluminum wire). Aluminum is soft and doesn't want to push feed for much distance. Knurled drive rollers will help grip the wire. Even then it has a tendency to bird nest between the machine drive rolls and wire guide for the liner on a strictly push feed set up. A hand held spool gun or push/pull set up is generally used for aluminum wire to avoid this.

Use only stainless wire brushes when prepping the aluminum to avoid contamination. Torch angle on the puddle in relation to travel needs to be adjusted with aluminum as opposed to carbon.
A Helium mix added to the argon can aid in better penetration with aluminum too. Preheating the material to be welded can help the process.

What he just said.

i just learned something also.

Pay attention to what everyone else said about contamination.....than find a friend to lend you a TIG welder and TIG it!

I really would NOT choose that particular system,.....
But,....If it's what has to be,listen to what's already been advised, and soldier on. The only additional advice I'd give would be to try and get the machine HIGHER than the work. That drive does not push aluminum wire well, and you're going to need all the help you can get.

GTC

AMEN. Don't know if you have access to a TIG but that would definitely be best. Slow and easy with nice control. Aluminum welding with a spool gun or stick is controlled chaos that takes practice.

With a TIG and a little practice you could make a good looking bead on your boat. Just like stacking dimes.

FWIW youth does well with new thigns.

A friend bought an airboat. Then a welder.

He had never welded AL before, but the first coupons I saw were not bad, and he welded a big grass rake etc...

Of course he isn't dumb, is a machinist by trade out of TSTC and researched.

If I had just a bit to do, I would never buy... but I've asked Cross and still have his advice and buying one on the list for my AL airboat.. I RUN mine.. it gets beat up on dry land etc...cracks need attention and so on.


That being said I have a small mule project and that kid is gonna weld it... not enough for me to buy/learn at this time.

Damn fine piece of technical writing, and 120% correct !

by the time you've got one of those spool guns dialed in and producing acceptable results your nerves are shot, and your sweating whether you have enough sanding discs around.

A screwy process for sure.

GTC

It's been a few years now but I prefer welding aluminum to steel.
I welded cooling extrusions (pressure tested) as well as structural for a number of years at a large manufacturing plant.

You can do some really cool things with aluminum and it's a fast process to MIG weld.

The downside is the amount of smoke generated and how bright the arc is. Both are considerably worse than steel.

Ryan, have you thought of drilling holes and using rivets? Easy to work with and hand tools are all that's needed. Maybe an option....

I have an old friend right out of Sturgis that does metal fab. I can check with him if you need help in that area.

I guess I didn't read this good enough the first time.

Rivet that sucker!

It really is an art. Something that needs to be done on a regular basis to stay sharp.

If you do it inside consider ventilation concerns. If it's outside with a breeze, fold it up and go fishing.

Or just ignore all this advice, watch a u tube video for a few minutes and carry on.

Yup, nailed it. If you think you'll poor boy it by using the existing liner in torch you'll just end up with a contaminated bead due to small flakes of the other wire that have been scraped off over time.

I've had a 130 for over 20 years and it's a great little welder for thin steel sheet metal. I've never set it up for aluminum because IMHO it'll be marginal for the task.

Aluminum requires more heat than steel so you're going to have to run the welder wide open and hopefully it has enough power. The thing with aluminum is prep is super critical and you're running the fine line between enough heat for proper penetration and burning through. You'll also need to run argon gas or an argon/helium mix. Assuming your buddy has been using the 130 for mild steel he's probably using 75/25 gas which will not work for aluminum. So unless his unit is set up for aluminum, expect to put some money into getting it set up and burning enough wire practicing to make a decent bead.

It's been years but I've burned a fair number of rods with a TIG torch on aluminum and done a little bit of MIG welding aluminum with a buddies 250 amp wire feed unit. If I was going to MIG aluminum I'd want a minimum of a 200 amp unit with a spool gun.

Hell man you can braze Aluminum also

I veered away from TIG capable after getting some books and figuring that the Miller books made TIG appear 20 times harder than anything else.

I think I"ll rethink that capability if i get that far... generic large enough Miller to cover it all..

Ryan,
I replied to this in the chicken buck thread too. I think if I were you I would either look at outsourcing the welding to someone that has the equipment/experience or I would rivet it and call it day.

I thought aluminum was done DCRP?

Oops. You are correct on DC. I had TIG welding on the brain. TIG uses AC with a high freq box.

Thanks for catching that. Hate to give out bad info on the net because if you read it on the interwebs, it must be true.

I have an AC welder, and I used to weld aluminum (little bit) back in HS. In our shop class we built a dock. I don't know of any welding shops around here unfortunately, that was my first plan but couldn't find any.

I hadn't thought of arc welding it, I'll have to look more into that.

Thin material ?

......"Arc Welding" it is NOT a practical option.

GTC

I started typing that this morning and had to run out for a bit, I'll do a little more looking for someone who can weld it for me even if I have to drive a ways or I'll rivet it. I'm guessing I'll go the rivet route, how do I decide on what kind of rivets to use?

I wish the engineers as the nukes i work in would understand that. idiots spec out a 1/2 thick plate, on the side of a piece of triple strut that has a .1" thick piece of jap steel spot welded on the side, then want you to use an 1/8" 7018 on it. Sure i can do it, but id rather do a double mirror weld lol

No brag, just fact, I've been welding for 40 years +.
My take on this is about the size of the footprint of the attachment points.
With just a few small welds, the flexing of the hull will surely cause the welds (especially aluminum) to crack out, probably not the weld itself but along the edges. This could be minimized by welding the deck legs to a reinforcement plate to spread out the stress points.
If you do not do this to some degree, I would consider the rivet route. Think airplane and most boat construction seams.
If welding, I would choose TIG over MIG, but both would work.
As stated, contamination is an issue, as is the oxide layer.
Good luck with your project.

There assigned mission here in this plane of existence is to torment Millwrights and Welders.

Those old WW boys were GREAT to work with, ....they had actually spent time on tools,...

This new bunch ? .....doorknobs and lunch pails.

I would go TIG

The only thing I would add is invest the $8 in an aluminum grinding disc....and acetone and stainless wire brush for the nasty stuff. I have had very good luck with spool guns if the machine has the arse to push it. Aluminum in any thin gauges needs a close eye as the time it takes for your eye to see the over temp/penetration then brain to tell finger to abort is always just a weeee bit too long.

Aluminum is easy to gas weld.

I've always described welding aluminum like plastic welding two zip-lock bags full of water together. Do it right and you're the hero of your buddies. Do it wrong and the entire project is ruined.

You have a PM Ryan.