wedling aluminium

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I'm kinda new at welding.  I have a great old Dialarc 250-AC/DC. I also have Oxy/Acty rig for cutting and welding.  I would like to try my hand at project that would entail joining some aluminium in various sizes. the smallest would be about 1/8th inch up to 1/2 inch thick.   Do I stick weld with the special(expensive) aluminium rods? or use the torch and flux weld it?  I know that cleaning the oxide off before hand is critical--what else do i need to know?  Thanks in advance.Skybow
Reply:You can do the thinner stuff with A/O. I used to use Allstate Silcor rods with the flux inside. Don't know if Allstate is still in business. If you can find a pair of cobalt blue safey glasses it makes thing real easy. American Optical used to make them but I heard that OSHA stopped the sale of them. I kept 3 pair rat holed all these years. The blue color kills the orange flare from the flux.Use the stick electrodes for the thicker material. Preheat it or you will get a lot of spatter and poor fusion until the material gets hot.
Reply:If you are new to welding I would  not start off with the aluminum rods. They are very hard to master, especially without experience. The stick rod is not the best way to weld aluminum, that would be tig or mig. I would think the torch would be the way to go if you aren't experienced with stick welding yet.You should get good with 6010, 7018, and then go for the aluminum rod.
Reply:Nuts and bolts. Simple, effective and easy to master.  Ok, I have to agree that mig / tig is really the best way to go if you want to weld it. What are you trying to make? May be one of the guys near you will chime in and offer to help. You are just a tad bit out of my area, but I'll try and help if you want to drive out to philly. BTW you can also braze aluminum if I remember way back in the dark ages when I learned gas welding and brazing. I used to do a lot of steel brazing for small projects before I got my mig because it was a heck of alot stronger than my gas welds.
Reply:Yes, I agree that TIG and MIG are the best ways to weld aluminum. Since the question concerned a Dialarc and A/O that is what I responded to.Yes, you can braze aluminum. Quoted from "The Science And Practice Of Welding" by A. C. Davies. 'The flame is adjusted to the excess acetylene condition with the white acetylene plume approximately 1 1/2 to 2 times the length of the inner blue cone.The rod can be of 10-13% silicon-aluminum alloy melting in the range 565-595 degrees C compared with 659 C for pure aluminum."
Reply:With the equipment you have available oldtimers advice is sound and well tested. The first time I used the sticks I called him on the phone and asked for his advice before I even attempted them. I was using 1/8th electrodes on everything from 16ga to 3/4 with most of it uphill to get the job done. It was successful and is still holding almost 3 years later. Mig and tig are both preferable methods on AL, but sometimes you have to work with what you have. If you are planning to weld 1/2 AL with a tig it better be a monster, and even then dc tig will give better results. I've done 1/2 with a 400 amp Miller tig on ac and it was definitely all the machine and I wanted. I switched to dc almost giving my boss a coronary, but it went away as soon as he saw the result and how much faster I was able to do it.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.