Aluminum Casting Repair Question

[Meltedmetal]

I have some aluminum castings in 713 aluminum with some slag holes in them. The holes are not visible until after we shot blast the castings. They vary in size from 1/8" diameter to maybe 1/4" x 3/8 and 1/8" to 1/4" deep. I am looking for suggestions to weld them up. The end result must be cosmetically good but structural strength need not be extreme. Section thickness is from about 1/8" to 5/8" but the whole casting weighs less than 4 lbs. Any suggestions on wire type,process type and or specific welding tips would be greatly appreciated.

73 de Meltedmetal

[ja baudin]

http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/support...art-2.pdfLooks like 5356 might be your best choice for filler. This chart only gives 710 and 711 aluminum base material. Do you have a machine capable of welding aluminum, if so what is it?

[ja baudin]

http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/support/upload/Aluminum_Filler_Alloy_Selection_Chart-2.pdf

try this one.

[aametalmaster]

I would mig them with a spoolgun. If you can get to the backside of the hole maybe block a piece of steel there for a backer and weld over it. Been doing that for 35 years...Bob

[Meltedmetal]

Thanks for the interest and info. 713 is mostly alloyed with zinc,copper and Magnesium 7.6%,.94% and .44% respectively so it is probably similar to the 710 and 711 and the 5356 looks like a good choice. This is going to be an ongoing affair for me as this is for a recurring order and it may take me some time to get properly equipped. I have tried some with oxy-acetylene with some success but it is very slow going. I have tried some with flux coated stick rods with somewhat less success.
I have several arc welding machines. A few ac stick machines, a Miller CP750E that is mostly used for arcair cuttting and some steel stick welding. I have recently come into possession of a Linde VI-800 with wire feeder and a Miller Deltaweld 300 with wire feeder on a robot arm.(neither is set up yet) I don't have the robot arm home yet so I don't have the details of the feeder. I was considering using the Deltaweld dismounted from the robot to Mig weld with a spool gun. I am inexperienced with mig welding and spool guns. Can I use a smaller (read cheaper) spool gun than the spoolmate 200 series that if I recall correctly is recommended for the Deltaweld 300 given the intermittent nature of the job? Ideally I guess the proper gun would insure the versatility of the setup. One last question what about mig versus tig? Although I'd have to start from scratch with tig. Thanks for reading.

Mm