Welding Resources and Tips

What You Need for a MIG Spool Gun to Weld Aluminum

MIG welders are great for welding a wide variety of metals, but one of the best uses for a MIG welder is welding aluminum. Aluminum is a thin metal where you need to control the amount of power you use while welding. MIG welders have specially adapted spool guns for MIG welding that feed the filler wire electrode directly into the torch. However, before you start buying a MIG welder and a matching spool gun, there are some things you need to know first.

Article/Image Source: Miller Electric

Use Enough Power to Weld Aluminum

A solid weld penetrates deep into the metal and fuses the joint together, and therefore you need enough power to make sure you achieve proper penetration. A 230V MIG welder will give you enough power to penetrate the metal. Generally speaking, a 115V welder does not have enough power to melt through the aluminum and provide the proper fusion needed.

Use the Right Spool Gun to Weld Aluminum

Once you know what kind of machine you need to use, the next step is to match up your machine with the right sized spool gun. There are different torches and hook ups that you’ll need to consider based on your welding machine. The most important factor will be matching up your spool gun with the duty cycle of your MIG welder so that you don't get stuck while working on an aluminum project. 

Choose a Wire to Weld Aluminum

When you’re going to weld aluminum, you generally don’t need to think too hard about which MIG wire to use. Most professionals suggest using .030 or .035 in. diameter aluminum wire for aluminum welding projects.

Though 4043 is the most common wire alloy for aluminum MIG welding wires, you can choose between 4043 or 5356 wires. These types of wires can be used to weld the following types of aluminum: 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000.

5356 tends to melt faster, requiring a faster wire speed and more skill to keep up with the rate at which the wire melts into the weld joint. 4043 is the best choice for DIY welders at home.

Store Your Wire Before Welding Aluminum

When exposed to the elements, aluminum MIG wire will oxidize. Don’t open up your MIG wire until you’re ready to load it into your spool gun. Oxidized spool wire can cause an erratic arc, resistance, soot, and affect the feeding speed of the MIG wire while welding.

MIG welding with aluminum can be a breeze with the right spool gun and feeder wire, making clean, smooth welds for automotive, farm, and other welding applications.

Five Tips for Creating Your Own Home-Based Project Welding Workshop

Whether you’re a professional welder, welding student, or just a handy-around-the-house project kind of person, setting up your own home project welding workshop is a fun and functional way to work on your own projects, improve your skills, in addition to making home and automotive related repairs.

Before you fire up your welding torch and dig into your first project, there are a few important questions you need answer, as well as a bit of strategic planning you should undertake before striking out with your new endeavor.

Your budget, the space available to house your welding project work shop, and your skill level are all important factors to keep in mind as you formulate your plans for your new home welding workshop.

The following is a list of five tips that will guide you in creating a home-based project welding workshop tailored to your particular needs:

Budget

If money is no object, well hey, this project just got a whole lot easier – you’ve probably got an extra, un-used garage or large work shed you can dedicate to your new work shop, and you can undoubtedly stock your new welding project headquarters with all the best, top of the line equipment – brand new Miller and Lincoln welding machines all around!

Chances are, however, financial independence is not a reality in your life. In that case you need to sit down and evaluate your finances to determine how much you can realistically afford to spend on your new welding workshop. The amount of money you can spare will ultimately guide most of your decision from this point on.

Location

If your like my grandpa Russell (a farm born raised in Western Michigan now residing on 80 acres with a pole barn larger than his house) and you have the luxury of a pole barn or some other large structure detatched from your home, then you’ve already got the perfect spot for your home welding workshop. If your not as lucky as good ole Russ, you need an alternative space for your project welding workshop.

Though appealing because they are a separate space and detached from your home, small structures such as garden or utility sheds are not a good idea. Hazardous, toxic fumes (a byproduct of the welding process) can accumulate in small spaces very quickly, even with better than average ventilation.

Basements are another bad idea. Your average basement is almost never well ventilated, and just as in a small shed, toxic fumes can build up very quickly, with no where to go. Or even worse, toxic fumes from your basement welding workshop make their way upstairs to your main house, which is obviously a detriment to your roommates, spouse, children, pets or whoever else happens to be present.

Generally speaking, a garage with bay doors (preferably detached from your house, or with at least a breezeway between the garage and main house) is your best bet. Whenever you weld, keep the bay doors open, and invest in some type of fume extractor – you can find a number of low-cost do-it-yourself fume extractor options.

Basic Tools

There are three essential tools every home project welding workshop should have, in addition to a basic welder’s tool kit that every home-based welder should have.

The Home Welding Workshop Essentials:

• Handheld Grinder
• Cordless Drilling
• MIG Welder

Welders Basic Tool Kit:

• Combination pliers
• Adjustable locking pliers
• Adjustable wrench (preferably chrome)
• Ball pein hammer (preferably hardwood handled)
• Wire brush
• Cold chisel (preferably alloy steel)
• Center punch (preferable round head)
• Combination square (preferably cast iron)
• Steel ruler and folding steel ruler
• Solid spring nut
• Tape measure
• Swiss Army or multi-purpose utility knife (the more attachments, the better)
• Welding helmet
• Heavy duty tool box with tray (and you may want to consider a padlock)

Welding Machine

The section above outlining a home-based welder’s essential tools references welding machines but as your welding machine is your home welding workshops most important and most expensive tool, it commands its own section.

A MIG welder is the best welding machine for a home project welding workshop. You can definitely pick up stick welding and oxy-acetylene welding setups for less money than a MIG welder but the degree of difficulty with both of the afore mentioned options is much greater than MIG welding, and oxy-acetylene welding presents a number of safety issues a home based welder should simply just avoid. The relative ease of use in working with a MIG welding machine far out weights the cost benefits offered by any other alternative welding process.

Education

Welding is serious business and can be extremely dangerous, particularly if you don’t know what you’re doing.

If you’re totally new to welding or only possess limited knowledge or experience, I strongly suggest you at least take a basic welding course at a local continuing education program, community college or trades school.

You can also find tons of invaluable welding related resources online. If want to grow as a welder and improve your technique, I recommend you check some of the resources out!

How To Properly Adjust A Wire Feed Welder

A wire feed welder operates by feeding a continuous strand of wire through flexible tubing which is attached to the welding gun.  When the trigger of the welding gun is pulled the welding wire is fed into the weld at a rate that can be adjusted by the welder.  The rate of the wire feed can be adjusted using a spring tension device that allows the welder to set the tension on the spool that will provide them with the best quality weld.  Once the welder has determined which speed of tension is appropriate, the wire should easily flow from the welding gun to the weld area.

To adjust the tension of the wire you should first open the welder.  On many models this can be done by lifting or detaching an external hood located on the welding unit.  Once you have located the hood and opened it you will be able to see the spool of wire located inside the welder.  Your next step is to locate the tensioner.  The welding wire is wrapped onto the spool and is kept tight by a spring loaded device that remains in constant contact with the welding wire.  The tensioner is what keeps the wire on the spool and from getting tangled inside the welding box.

Now that you have located the tensioner you are now going to adjust the spring tensioner until you achieve the tension needed to properly perform the weld.  You will need to locate the thumb screw which will allow you to increase or decrease the pressure on the wire spool.  To increase the pressure on the wire you should turn the thumb screw inward.  To decrease the pressure on the wire you will need to turn the thumb screw outward.  You will know when you have the correct amount of tension when the spring is pressed halfway on the tensioner shaft.  Now that you have set the tension on your welding gun you can now replace the welding box cover and replace any screws that you had to remove to access the tensioner.  You should now be able to press the welding gun’s trigger and feed the wire without binding.

Tips For Welding Square Tubing

Welding square tubing successfully can be accomplished in the same manner in which any other material is welded.  On a standard 45 degree corner, you will use one fillet weld, one corner weld and two flat welds.  There is no preparation work required on the two areas where the corner and fillet welds will be placed other than removing any rust, dirt or debris that may be in the weld area.  Before performing the two flat welds you will need to clean and bevel the metal being used.  The use of a bevel on the flat welds will ensure that you achieve proper penetration on both pieces of the square tubing being welded.

To begin the welding process you will need to cut two pieces of square tubing ensuring that both pieces have one 45 degree angled end.  To do this you will want to set your band saw on a 45 degree miter cut.  Once you have properly set your band saw you will need to clamp the square tubing into the band saw vise.  After both of your pieces of square tubing have been mitered you should now use your grinder with a 4-inch hard grinding wheel to remove any burr from all four sides of each piece of tubing that you cut.  Once this has been done you should now bevel each side of the square tubing that has been cut to a 45 degree angle. 

After you have finished mitering the square tubing you should now place the two pieces of square tubing on your flat work area with the miter cuts facing each other.  Bringing the mitered sides of the square tubing together you should leave a 1/16 space between both pieces.  Next you will need to place a framing square at the corner that you created by joining the two pieces of tubing together at 90 degrees.  Once the framing square has been put in place you are now ready to power on your welding machine.  You should also take this time to also put on all of your welding safety gear.  Once you are properly attired you can now begin welding using a tack weld on the inside point of the mitered corners at the fillet weld.  While welding the tubing together you should continuously check the corner against the framing square to ensure that your corner is still at 90 degrees.  Now you should place a tack weld on the back of the mitered corner and another tack weld on the flat surface of the square tubing that has the 45 degree cut on it.  After you have successfully placed these tack welds you should now flip the piece over and perform the same tack welds on the back.

After the tack welds have been completed the next step is to weld the rear corner of square tubing first.  To do this you should place your MIG gun at the top of the corner and press the trigger, dragging the weld puddle downhill to perform the weld.  Once this has been completed you will now want to spin the two pieces of square tubing and perform the fillet weld on the inside of the corner starting the weld at the top and dragging the weld downhill while moving the MIG gun in a circular pattern to stitch the weld evenly between both pieces of the square tubing.  The 45 degree miter cut should be welded flat by starting the weld at the inside corner and working the weld to the outside corner of the mitered joint.  After this step has been completed you should now flip the tubing over and weld the final flat 45 degree cut side.  Once you have completed all of the welding you can now grind the corners and have a perfect 90 degree bend in the square tubing.

Picture Source: www.weldingweb.com

How to Repair a Welding Cable

A welding cable is used to carry electrical current to a secondary circuit that is used to emit electrical current and allow the welder to create a weld.  A welding cable is very flexible and is typically made of a neoprene covering that protects the bare copper wire inside.  The neoprene cover makes the welding cable resistant to flames and oil along with other materials.  If your welding cable should become damaged from use you can perform a temporary fix that will allow you keep welding until you are able to replace the cable.

The first thing you will need to do is to locate the area in the welding cable that is damaged.  You should also inspect the entire welding cable to ensure that there are no other damaged areas.  If you should happen to find additional damaged areas you should repair those as well.  To temporarily repair your damaged welding cable you should apply a PVC, vinyl or Teflon tape to the area.  All of these tapes are only a temporary fix and if used over time they will become brittle.  Taping the damaged area will allow you to finish the weld you were working on before you noticed the damage.  In addition to taping up the damaged area you should also apply a small amount of plasticizer to the tape in order to make it more flexible and prevent it from becoming too brittle. 

Once you have completed the welding job you were working on you should contact a welding cable company to have your welding cable properly repaired.  Many welding companies offer some type of repair service that will be able to fix your damaged cable.  If the repair can be performed it requires the repairmen to clean out the cable and remove the protective outer liner.  After the protective covering has been removed they will then thread the cable into a new protective cover.  This repair should only be performed by experts; if you attempt to repair the cable on your own you risk permanently damaging the cable of injuring yourself when you try to use the welding cable.  If the cable is too damaged to repair you may need to replace it altogether. 

Keep in mind that any repair you make to your welding cable using tape should be considered a temporary fix.  The tape will allow you to finish the job you started but should be repaired or replaced before you begin work on your next project.