Why Does spool gun ALum work ?

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Hi Sparky,I have a Horbat 25 Iron mand Mig gun. WOrks great , no complaints and it is quite easy to work with.Question... Horbart sent me a 25' cable assembly spool gun.  THe new interface was a BIT kludgy but it work out ok.  My question is. The weld box is made for mig only and it does not have HF (or mine does not). Why can it do a good job pushing the spool gun and welding pretty thick Alum parts. Some Smoot but not a whole bunch, thought we had to have an A/C weldor and then use the AC wave form for the cleaning of the oxide layer ??What gives ??Thanks    WWoW
Reply:The DC+ portion of the wave cycle (electric arc going from the base metal up into the aluminum mig wire) is what breaks up the oxide layer, and this is how the MIG spool gun needs to be set up.  In an AC TIG, the DC+ portion of the waveform only occurs for a specified time frame for each cycle, which is what prevents the tungsten from completely melting from the heat input going into it, because it is meant to be a non-consumable.  In mig this is not a concern because the electrode IS the aluminum mig wire (consumable) gets deposited into the base metal. 1st on WeldingWeb to have a scrolling sig! HTP Invertig 400HTP Invertig 221HTP ProPulse 300HTP ProPulse 200 x2HTP ProPulse 220MTSHTP Inverarc 200TLP HTP Microcut 875SC
Reply:This is something I've been thinking about for a while.  Thanks for explaining it.  Does this mean aluminum TIG welds have tungsten mixed in the weld and MIG aluminum welds are cleaner and stronger?  Maybe the tungsten/aluminum alloy is stronger than pure aluminum?
Reply:The tungsten is "Non consuming" Therefore none gets deposited in the weld.
Reply:If I remember correctly I belive mig welding was invented to weld Alu faster. I've found hat Alu mig will create a stronger weld then tig
Reply:Originally Posted by abecIf I remember correctly I belive mig welding was invented to weld Alu faster. I've found hat Alu mig will create a stronger weld then tig
Reply:Originally Posted by abecIf I remember correctly I belive mig welding was invented to weld Alu faster. I've found hat Alu mig will create a stronger weld then tig
Reply:Originally Posted by abecIf I remember correctly I belive mig welding was invented to weld Alu faster. I've found hat Alu mig will create a stronger weld then tig
Reply:Lol I should of said it will in most cases create a stronger weld it's doesn't create the same heat effect zone as tig
Reply:Originally Posted by FifelakerThe tungsten is "Non consuming" Therefore none gets deposited in the weld.