MIG welding aluminum

[zeekschoppers]

Hey what's goin on everyone. I'm new to this board and welding in general so I have some questions. I recently bought a wire feed MIG welder that uses flux cored wire. It doesn't have a hook up or anything for gas. I was wondering if it's possible for me to weld aluminum with this. Does anyone make aluminum flux cored wire that I could use? I'm majoring in Weding Engineering at Ohio State University but I haven't gotten into my core classes yet, so the only stuff I know about welding I've just learned from reading welding books and web sites for fun. I've always been intrigued by welding and I definitely would like to become certified some day. I just bought the welder because I know that the only way I'll learn is by doing, so I might as well just start and keep doing. But I am getting into doing some metalforming with aluminum, and I was just wondering whether there is a way to weld it with this machine without a gas setup. Any ideas? Thanks.

-Adam

[chip hayden]

i don't believe there is a flux cored aluminum wire on the market for either self-shielding or dual shield welding. the aluminum oxide film is so tenacious you really need an inert shielding gas to keep the oxygen away.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

ZEEKESCHOPPERS..........AH WELCOME ABOARD........I'M NOT AWARE OF ANYONE MAKEING FLUX CORED ALUMINUM WIRE.... BUT TO VERIFY I HAVE A CALL INTO A ENGINEER WITH A DOCTORATE IF ANYONE KNOWS HE DOES........... BY THE WAY YOUR CLASSES SHOULD BE INTERESTING....... CHECK OUT THE HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH OSU AND MANY WELDING ENGINEERS PASS THRU HERE EVERY YEAR................ HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO FIND THE SITE I ALWAYS LIKE TO ASK..................ENJOY........ROCK..
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[tj1]

Alright, it is good to see a studying engineer wanting to learn the dirty stuff of what they are studying. I work with many aircraft engineers that have not ever built one.. HA!! Study hard.. I too just found this forum..

[zeekschoppers]

Hey what's up guys? Yeah I was originally a mechanical engineer but I've always liked the idea of welding. Plus, mechanical engineering at OSU is extremely competitive. You could study 24-7 and get awesome grades, but there's always someone that does a whole lot better. I thought I would go into mechanical and end up doign stuff with cars, but I realized that the type of stuff they do I'm not really excited about. My uncle is a certified welder and I've always liked watching him weld, so I figured why not. Plus the welding program at OSU is the only ABET certified welding program in the country. There are only 2 or 3 other welding engineering programs in the country I think. So, job placement will not be a problem. The money is supposedly pretty good too, but I'm mostly concerned about the actual hands on experience. I worked for the Honda motorcycle plant last quarter and it was pretty cool. The engineers get to do a lot of cool stuff. I would love to work for Harley and tons of other places someday. But I decided to get a welder to just start practicing and seeing what its like. I'm gonna weld some stuff for my dad and start making some of my own tools, like an english wheel. So, it should be fun. I knew that a good welding company was hobart so I figured I'd search and see whether there were any technical article or anything on here. That's how I found this site. Thanks for the info guys.

-Zeek

[R. Nelson]

Re: MIG welding aluminum

Originally posted by zeekschoppers
Hey what's goin on everyone. I'm new to this board and welding in general so I have some questions. I recently bought a wire feed MIG welder that uses flux cored wire. It doesn't have a hook up or anything for gas. I was wondering if it's possible for me to weld aluminum with this. Does anyone make aluminum flux cored wire that I could use? I'm majoring in Weding Engineering at Ohio State University but I haven't gotten into my core classes yet, so the only stuff I know about welding I've just learned from reading welding books and web sites for fun. I've always been intrigued by welding and I definitely would like to become certified some day. I just bought the welder because I know that the only way I'll learn is by doing, so I might as well just start and keep doing. But I am getting into doing some metalforming with aluminum, and I was just wondering whether there is a way to weld it with this machine without a gas setup. Any ideas? Thanks.

-Adam

You can't weld alminum with out gas.