Wheelchair ramps.

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Guy wanted a set of short ramps made for his two level deck. Wanted to be able to remove them when not needed and be lightweight. Figured aluminum would work just fine. Tacked everything up with TIG and then switched to spoolgun.My nemesis. Didnt do TOO bad. Only bird nested once and burnt back into the tip twice. He is gonna paint the surface with truck bed liner. So I roughed it up some for him. One is 6" high 35" long. Other is 4.5" high 42" longGratuitous weld bead pic. If you cant fix it with a hammer, it must be an electrical problem."Boy, everyone starts with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before the bag of luck is empty."-Grandad circa 1990ish
Reply:Great work! I sure the customer will be more than happy with those. They will hold just fine.I have never welded aluminum and never used a spoolgun but... If we were talking MIG welding steel, I would say that the bead in the close up picture is a tad cold, not wetting well into the material. But I repeat that I have no idea about aluminum welds.Mikel!
Reply:I'm a hobby welder and currently have MIG only, and have been only welding steel.  I've thought about a spool gun for aluminum but then I need another gas bottle as well.  If I had a big project to do with aluminum I would consider going for it as then I would have the equipment for future projects.  The only aluminum I did years ago was TIG and it was of course more difficult than steel or stainless.  Is the aluminum MIG fairly easy to learn if you have been doing MIG on steel?"All of this and some of that's the only way to skin the cat!"
Reply:Originally Posted by BipestuffI'm a hobby welder and currently have MIG only, and have been only welding steel.  I've thought about a spool gun for aluminum but then I need another gas bottle as well.  If I had a big project to do with aluminum I would consider going for it as then I would have the equipment for future projects.  The only aluminum I did years ago was TIG and it was of course more difficult than steel or stainless.  Is the aluminum MIG fairly easy to learn if you have been doing MIG on steel?