Pushing aluminum wire through Miller 130

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I usually use my little 130 with innershield wire for portability....but today my wife needs a couple of welds on a saddle rack in her horse trailer. I have a small spool of .035" aluminum, a bottle of argon and a regulator....can I push this .035 aluminum through the 8' gun on my miller? Will it work ok on this (looks like about .105") aluminum for a quick repair? I'd appreciate any advice before I try it this evening!Jim Colt
Reply:usually when you run aluminum wire thru a mig you need to change out the liner to the teflon liner that miller sells, they also have a roller specifically for aluminum. and you need the apropriate tip size. The teflon liner helps the wire to feed without birds nesting since the wire is so soft. Also if you use the same liner that you use for steel the aluminum wire will pick up any residue in the line and make welding more difficult. This is already going to be a difficult task.If you must try without the liner at least use the 5356 filler wire as it is a little stiffer and easier to push. also use a tip that is larger than the wire, since al. expands more than steel.  Keep your line as straight as you can.  clean the repair with a ss wire brush and acetone  before welding. and use the push method for the gun angle.steveBTS Welding
Reply:Steve,Thanks for the response....my LWS guy sold me the 5356 wire for the same reason you said. I tried it...and it seems to work well. I've been hobby welding steel only for 40 years...Miller 130 and an older Lincoln SP200. I practiced on some 1/8" aluminum....seems to work well...gun seems to push the .035" just fine with the standard liner. I'll practice a little while more then attack the trailer. I work for Hypertherm (30 plus years).....so I know a bit more about cutting than welding...it's nice to be able to get help easily when needed!Jim Colt
Reply:As Steve said a teflon liner is the way to go but its only a little one off by the sounds ...what have you got to loose?Clean your liner , and as Steve mentioned keep it straight but also if you can elevate the unit or feeder above your weldment , it helps heaps.Good luck BrettA good guess is better than a bad measurement
Reply:Originally Posted by jimcoltSteve,Thanks for the response....my LWS guy sold me the 5356 wire for the same reason you said. I tried it...and it seems to work well. I've been hobby welding steel only for 40 years...Miller 130 and an older Lincoln SP200. I practiced on some 1/8" aluminum....seems to work well...gun seems to push the .035" just fine with the standard liner. I'll practice a little while more then attack the trailer. I work for Hypertherm (30 plus years).....so I know a bit more about cutting than welding...it's nice to be able to get help easily when needed!Jim Colt
Reply:The newer (Powermax G3 (generation 3)) systems are far more dependable as compared to the older transformer /rectifier/chopper style units. Our most popular today is the Powermax1000 (60 Amp)....which will operate on any voltage from 190 to 600, single or 3 phase.The solid state technology...today we use IGBT's (insulated gate bipolar transistors) as compared to earlier FET's (field effect transistors)....the igbt's handle higher voltage, can handle line spikes...and much higher current...meaning less issues with power supplies. The newest systems also have a ducted cooling system that only allows the (dirty shop air) flow to contact a heat sink....and all important components and PC boards are located in the "clean" side of the power supply. Consumable life is far superior to the older units...since we control the output with microprocessors we can do some tricky current control at startup and shutdown of the arc that promotes less hafnium wear on the electrode and less erosion on the nozzle.I have a Powermax1000 that I use on a PlasmaCam cnc table...and a Powermax30 on the same cart with my little Miller mig...for convenience.Jim
Reply:Hey Jim, I don't wanna hijack. I would like to get your definition of "chopper," that you mentioned above. My Lincolns say Chopper technology on them.....What is it?Yeah, yeah, I know you are a weldor too. But, are you a good one?
Reply:A chopper is actually a transformer type power supply....with a "pulse width modulator" (chopper) that  acurately controls the output current. These types of power supplies are very good technology...yet are larger and heavier than inverter type power supplies...due to the physical size and weight of the main transformer.Inverter power supplies actually have a transformer also....but the transformer is fed with about 16 khz (16000 cycles per second) square wave power (as opposed to the transformer/chopper above at 60 hz (60 cycles per second)AC)......if a transformer is operated at a higher frequency it is far more efficient....can be sized sconsiderably smaller...which makes the inverter system smaller and lighter.Hope this sheds a little light on the subject!Jim Colt
Reply:Originally Posted by jimcoltA chopper is actually a transformer type power supply....with a "pulse width modulator" (chopper) that  acurately controls the output current. These types of power supplies are very good technology...yet are larger and heavier than inverter type power supplies...due to the physical size and weight of the main transformer.Inverter power supplies actually have a transformer also....but the transformer is fed with about 16 khz (16000 cycles per second) square wave power (as opposed to the transformer/chopper above at 60 hz (60 cycles per second)AC)......if a transformer is operated at a higher frequency it is far more efficient....can be sized sconsiderably smaller...which makes the inverter system smaller and lighter.Hope this sheds a little light on the subject!Jim Colt