Aluminum Mig Welding Troubles

[RedneckPiper]

I read into and discussed in detail the requirements of welding aluminum with my Hobart 135. I changed the gun liner to the teflon coated, got a new bottle of straight argon, even bought new tips. I have the same problem over and over again: the wire (.030 4043) does the "bird nest" repeatedly right in front of the drive roller and tensioner, sometimes while trying to feed the wire through the gun. I checked the liner for kinks, made several tensioner adjustments, tried different speeds (75 - 90) same results. I tried to manually feed the wire into the gun, and it seems that there is a spot 3-5 inches from tip exit that the wire seems to hang up. If by chance I am able to get the wire to feed through, I have been able to run a few beads on some practice pieces, and after a successful bead when I stop and try to start again, birdnest. No other parts have been changed other than the liner and the tips. Stumped is my word of the day.

-Bobby

[Jerry]

Hellooooooo Redneck, I have a limited amount of expertise in aluminum mig yet I know that 5356 is a stiffer aluminum wire and may help. Keep tension as light as possible to drive thru and try. But I also wonder are you sure that the liner was cutdown at the correct size and the end of it filed or cleaned nicely, for the liner must go all the way to the end of gun.

Hope this helps see ya.

[morpheus]

you might get some tips out of this thread.

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1566

- jack

[Arc Burn]

I struggled with that for a day or two.I got 2 words for ya-spool gun-You will be suprised how easy it is with a spool gun!

[RedneckPiper]

Troubles Minimized

Well, after a little more investigating and experimenting, I found that running both .030 and .035 tips worked... but I got better results by "forgetting" to turn the feed speed back to "90" as recommended by the books and running at 45. Although this may not seem like much of a problem solver, I was actually able to do multiple tacks and run some pretty neat beads. If the tip sputters once, instant birdnest. Other than that, I actually did pretty well. I am going to try the 5300 wire next. I have never seen the backside of an aluminum weld, and not 100% sure that I'm doing it correctly, but if I weld 2 pieces together (edge to edge flat) and then try to break them apart the metal bends and the weld does not. I guess it's not bad for a beginner.

Thanks for the suggestions!

-Bobby

[bjdenommee]

I had the exact same problem last year, and I would have to agree the only way to stop birds nesting is Spool Gun.

Its bad enough to have to shut down to clear the nest but what really kills me is the waste of wire.

Good Luck
Bernie

[Hobart Expert Rock]

REDNECKPIPER...........WELL WELCOME ABOARD.......... I'M GLAD YOU MAY OF SOLVED YOUR PROBLEM.........THE 5300 SERIES WIRE WILL BE STIFFER AND HELP SOME....... UNFORTUNATELY ALUMINUM WIRE WELDING IS HARD TO DO AND HARD TO LEARN.. YOU CAN AUGMENT THE LEARNING CURVE BY USEING A SPOOL GUN......... BUT IDEALLY PULSE ALUMINUM IS SLICK........ TIG IS ANOTHER METHOD BUT LABOR INTENSIVE.......... TRY CUTTING YOUR WELDS APART WITH A SAW AND SEE WHAT KIND OF PENETRATION YOUR GETTING............HANG IN THERE YOU WILL GET IT FIGURED OUT............ POST SOME PICTURES IF YOU CAN THAT WILL HELP US DIAGNOISE YOUR PROBLEM........... HAVE SOME FUN WITH IT......................ROCK.............
[email protected]

[Scott V]

Homework!

RedneckPiper,go to this website to see what you are up against.Lots of good info there.In their catolog they have a tip polisher to help with the feeding,and this is with a spoolgun or other better feeding setups.With aluminum every thing has to be right or it's a mess.I should be reading this also,even with a good understanding of mig aluminum welding.

http://www.alcotec.com/techpage.htm

[morpheus]

can he run a spoolgun on a HH135 ?

- jack

[morpheus]

Originally posted by aweaver
Jack,

There you go again, clouding the issues with the facts!

Of course you could add a spoolgun to the HH135, but the adder would cost twice what the HH135 did in the first place. Great idea for a production shop, but impractical for a home user.

sorry just didn't really think a spoolgun on a 135 was very practical since it would cost so much if purchased new.

- jack

[Hobart Expert Rock]

WELL OF COURSE YOU CAN PUT A SPOOL GUN ON A HANDLER YOU USE THE SGA 100 CONTROLLER AND THE3035 SPOOL GUN..... $$$$$$$$$$$........... ARE INVOLVED BUT YES YOU CAN DO IT......... HOPE THIS HELPS................ROCK/........................... [email protected]