Doubling up aluminum mig wire to tig weld

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Hi,I've been tig welding mainly on 1/8" aluminum. I'm looking into getting the consumables to practice tig on thinner aluminum, i.e. 1/16 or less. I happened to find someone who's selling .035" aluminum mig wire (4043) for pretty cheap, except that it's a pretty big reel. I've seen recommendations to use 1/16" or .045" filler rod/wire for thinner aluminum, so .035" is probably too thin to use directly.Has anyone tried doubling up .035" aluminum wire to tig weld? That would make it about 1/16" for a fraction of the cost. I don't really want to get a large reel of mig wire only to find that it doesn't work well (e.g. still burns up, breaks when twisting etc.) no matter how cheap it is. I don't have a mig welder so I also wouldn't be able to use it for other things. Thanks.
Reply:I've used  ER70s mig wire for steel tig welding.. in certain circumstances when you only need a c-hair of filler.  But I don't think I would ever want to do that with aluminum.  Even doubling it up, you would have to move uber fast. And would still probably end up with some cracking.  My suggestion is just go buy some aluminum filler rod.  Don't be such a damn cheapskate.  

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Reply:Your other problem is the aluminum mig filler wire is so thin it may melt before it gets to the puddle. Unless you can really back off and cram very quickly. I have done the same as JohnT and used 70S6 and put a long piece in a drill to twist it. I think tried that twist once on aluminum MIG wire but it kept breaking. Sent from my SM-G996U using TapatalkMillermatic 252 MIGMiller Dynasty 200DX TIGMiller Spectrum 625 PlasmaAltas 12x36 Metal LatheBridgeport Milling Machinewww.psacustomcreations.com
Reply:You've shot yourself in the foot if you do. I can't remember when I bought 10 LBS of 4943 3/32 wire from Hobart. It was years ago, I haven't used it up. Each stick, I rub it with scotchbrite. How you gonna do that with twisted wire not the best metallurgy?Good filler lasts years even for full time professionals. Trying to make do isn't a good plan.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:You don't want to use 035 for 1/16" alum, you want to use 1/16" filler. Alum filler melts away very fast compared to steel.
Reply:Thanks all. I thought that it'd be something like that, that .035" aluminum won't respond well to being twisted. I've been using some ER70S-6 .045" mig wire for thinner sheet metal with good results and Dusty James recommends using some .045" aluminum mig wire , but I couldn't find anyone talking about doubling up aluminum wire! Probably should've figured it out from that.
Reply:Aluminum is more sensitive to cleanliness. Twisting is likely to introduce oxides & contaminates. Twisted is impossible to clean. I want 4943 & 5356 filler.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.