millermatic 252 cobra mig aluminum setting

[FABMAN]

guys,
what would be your recommended setting for running a millermatic 252 with the cobra push-pull gun with 5356 .035" wire welding 1/4" 6061 to 1/4" 6061 ?

i have no experience with arc spray transfer, and was curious if that is something i would want to do on this thick aluminum ?

i have welded tons of thinner aluminum with this machine and gun, like 1/8" material, with never any fusion problems.

i tested some material today with settings of 23v and 620 IPM wire feeds and although they seem to hold well, it looks to be too cold of a weld on the starts....

just curious what settings any of you might have experience with on this...
thanks much

[Portable Welder]

Fabman, I'm surprised your asking this question since you have been around so long.
This machine will do 1/2" aluminum very easily so 1/4" is a breeze.

Take some 1/4" scrap and do a little testing and see if you can break it in the vise, this will give you some destructive testing experience and a piece of mind of just how strong it is.

Set your voltage and as you are welding adjust your wire speed knob until you get the desired arc.

Be careful not to starve it for wire thinking your going into a good spray transfer, I will always take it to that point and give it a little more wire and try to get the balance of it has zero spatter to just a little spatter.

Good luck.

[FABMAN]

thanks much for the tip.... since im not familial with spray transfer i want to be safe... im welding now and its not breaking, but im pretty sure im not in the spray transfer mode... i will try your suggestion on adjusting the wire feed... fo some reason, im currently getting better results when pulling the gun, instead of pushing... im getting a much smoother appearing bead....
on spray transfer, i m assuming i wont really see the wire coming out of the tip ?
thanks much again for the help....been welding full time for 6 years, but for the past 2 years we have been really slow and they have me doing other things like press brake and cnc machining, and havent mig welded aluminum for a few years.... always cautious...

[FABMAN]

ok, i wound up running it at 28V and 800% IPM... needed it hotter and this does it. it gets the 1/4" aluminum nice and hot now.... burning up some tips from time to time, but the welds now look like they should, not cold..
thanks