al stick

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has any here ever done aluminum stick welds?? i know it's possible but probably a pain.StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:yes and yes ..was told to clean material prior to welding with ss brush and preheat as i recall 300 degrees could be wrong on preheat .................travel fast....... and i hope your eyes are good.....(you may blow through)......... cause i,m not sure what you,ll see.......used linc 300d....... electrode+ this was on noncritical welding......... hope some experts will jump injim
Reply:There's some good info on the process on HoFart's Welding 101 section.It's not something you want to get excited about doing.Appreciation Gains You Recognition-
Reply:Viper.....Alum. stick is very "do-able".  As with any welding process, it takes some practice.   It doesn't run like steel !Probably, the most dramatic difference you will notice is how fast you have to feed the electrode into the puddle.   It almost feels like you're "pushing" the stick right into the puddle.   Don't take this to mean a faster travel speed though !I've found better results when keeping the stick fairly perpendicular to the line of travel, in other words, don't give it a lot of "lead angle".   And make sure you use ONLY D.C.+ (reverse polarity)....NOTHING ELSE !    And, of course, as in all Aluminum welding, make damn sure the base metal is painfully clean !With a little practice, it works just fine !P.S.....Heavy sections will benefit from a little pre-heat.I'll be the LAST one to let you down !
Reply:hmm, i think i might get some rods and try it out, never hurts to be able to cover all aspects of welding!!StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:marko..your right about the rod cosumption only used it a couple of times never got a grip on the stuff ..btw..is it supposed to be kept in a rod oven?jim
Reply:with all the already good comments here I'll just add my two cents, I found that the preheat made all the difference in the world on thicker stock.I was able to weld light gauge AL tubing with stick (my TIG is DC only) after a little practice at blowing through - without preheat. Thicker parts (3/8 thick trailer door hinges, they were) didnt repair well at all without the pre heat.  I tried both ways as an experiment.  They cracked in the HAZ from cooling too fast I suppose ??With the preheat everything was OK, I used a little wider angle on bevel (about 70-75 degrees) than I would on steel too.Have fun and be patient.Regards,Larry
Reply:James...I don't keep my sticks in a rod oven...I DO however keep them in an airtight rod container from the moment I open the original package....(and I keep those containers in the house, not out in the shop).I'll be the LAST one to let you down !