Setting up my MM251 for Aluminum

[MtotheIKEo]

Belay the comments on the last half of my post. Somehow got confused and thought you had a MM175. Going from a 251 to 210 isn't much of " Trade Up ".

Dennis

I had to read what you said a few times. Im putting off the idea for a while. I would not do enough aluminum to justify the cost.

[fun4now]

tailshaft56

i was thinking you must realy like your MM210 to say it was a trade up from the MM251

[Tailshaft56]

Belay the comments on the last half of my post. Somehow got confused and thought you had a MM175. Going from a 251 to 210 isn't much of " Trade Up ".

Dennis

[Tailshaft56]

Bare in mind it helps to keep the lead as straight as possible if you try the teflon liner. As for the spoolgun you might want to consider trading up to a MM210 as you can save a good chunk of money on a package deal.

Dennis

[fun4now]

The aluminum heats up and expands in the tip so you are drilling them out

yep thats why i sugjested geting a tip 1 size bigger than the wire if he tryed it with his standerd gun. i supose you could do the same with the spool gun if they didnt have the aluminum tips in stock at the time you needed them.

[wireguy]

just went thru this a month ago. Bought the spool gun , use pure argon,
and make sure you get the correct contact tip that was the biggest problem.
The aluminum heats up and expands in the tip so you are drilling them out. There is a special tip for aluminum in the spool gun book or you can search on this site when I was on back in December and everyone helped me.
When I got the tip correct it worked fine never had another problem
good luck

[fun4now]

good point he could probly rent the spool gun for about what it would be for the lineing.

[jeffscarstrucks]

You might want to talk about renting the gun and tank as a learning tool to decide if your person wants to proceed. If he picked up the tab you would both find out if it is a worth while venture. Good Luck, JEFF

[fun4now]

wile i like the ideal of going all the way or not at all, keep in mind that the $100-150 would buy you the argon tank and liner, witch would alow for another small aluminum job at no $$ to you neaning the next $150 get's put in a cookie jar and befor ya know it ya got a spool gun.

JMHO

[MtotheIKEo]

I pretty much decided that I cant afford to setup for aluminum right now. I want to do it right the first time, and using a spool gun seems to be the right way of doing it. I would only make 100, maybe 150 bucks welding his stuff up, and thats not gonna even dent the 7-800 for setting up

[Merc69]

Years ago I was involved in fabrication and welding aluminum awning frames. A spoolgun was invaluable in that type of fabrication. If your aluminum work is small or at least where you can move your welder close, then the teflon liner would work fine.

I may wind up doing this type of work sometime in the near future, and will have to buy a welder capable of structuraly sound and cosmeticly pleasing. As this is a production setting, the fine folks at Miller suggested a 350P with the pulsing and a push-pull setup.

Good luck and I personally recommend the spoolgun...just my opinion

[Stick rod]

I have no personal experience with running aluminum wire through a regular mig gun, as I use a spoolgun, but I would think using a heavier wire (like 1/16 or better) would give better results than the 035 or 045. Just a thought.

Very true.Larger diameter will feed better.Still partial to a spool gun or the other alternative is a push-pull set-up.

[MtotheIKEo]

You probably already know this but it can be easily overlooked or forgotten when you weld steel all of the time: use a "push" rather than a pull as it relates to gun movement when using a MIG on aluminum. I only point this out because I still have to remind myself once in a while! Good Luck, JEFF

I have never MIG'd aluminum, so thanks for the advice.

[jeffscarstrucks]

You probably already know this but it can be easily overlooked or forgotten when you weld steel all of the time: use a "push" rather than a pull as it relates to gun movement when using a MIG on aluminum. I only point this out because I still have to remind myself once in a while! Good Luck, JEFF

[fun4now]

5356

5356 is a harder aloy and will help it push threw

and slowly the brain awakens

also keep in mind the 5356 will produce a darker bead then the 4043 will, so if a good colar match is needed you should stick to the 4043 as it will colar match better. but be a bit more apt to birds nest. try to keep the gun liner as strait as possible, the more bends in the line the more likly it will birds nest.

also you might do a serch on here for "aluminum" to get a lil more imput on the prep required for aluminum, its a fickel thing and clean is a big deal. never use the same stuff you prep steel with to prep your aluminum. ss wire brush(steel wire brush is BAD) and new scotch bright pads and whatever else you intend to prep with grinding disks and flap disks if needed. any lil bit of steel on thease and you will get realy bad results so it would be best to just get a new setup just for aluminum and keep it on a seperate shelf or box so you dont get them mixed up.

if this is a job for dady you might try to get him to spring for the bottle. setting up for your first aluminum can get a bit $$$ as you need to get a second set of all your prep stuff as well as a new bottle, if its just a 1 time thing you could always farm it out. ofcorse once you get set up the first time after that you will be set for future jobs without the high start up $$$. always nice to add to the toy box