[TheForge] OT- welding aluminum

[Andy Gladish]

On the long chance that this will benefit someone:
Once I got pointed in the right direction, started taking things apart to
see if there was a leak somewhere, and there was.
As anyone who has used a standard MIG to push aluminum wire knows, you
frequently have to stop and fuss with the feed mechanism, since it tends to
birds-nest the wire if there's any resistance at all.
I had apparently taken the bushing (that holds the gas in and supports the
end of the liner at the drive rolls) out to look at it and not screwed it in
all the way, gas was leaking out all around, especially since using an
oversize liner leaves little room for the gas to travel down to the gun
assembly, and there's extra resistance.
Gas is flowing well now- thanks!
Since I work alone, sometimes I come up against my own mind when solving
problems- it really helps to have people to think aloud with. Y'all are a
real help.

Andy G.

On Mon, 11 Sep 2006, Andy Gladish wrote:

>
> Yesterday I was MIG-ing some 1/8 Al (yeah, yeah, asking-make that Begging
> for trouble) and suddenly went from beautiful welds to blobs with very
> little penetration...just crusty blobby cruddy stuff that looked like it
was
> squirted on from a can of Molten Aluminum Silly String.
> Tried all kinds of changes in the settings but couldn't get it to
> flow...ideas? Suggestions? Other than, get proper equipment...
> I did wire brush (dedicated SS brush) the surfaces, and it was all new
> stock.
>

andy, when i had this happen after i checked everything it came down to
the shield gas bottle had run out. replaced the gas bottle the next day
and it was back to normal.

> Thanks for any input,
> Andy Gladish
> Guemes Island, WA
>