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Welding Stainless Steel & Aluminum Tubing
I am on a venture to LEARN to weld Stainless&Aluminium tubing. I am thinking on building a Radar Arch for the V.
I don't know where to start in regards to buying to correct welder for this job. Any ideas are always welcome, I need to purchase a Welder first and foremost can anyone recommend what is consider to be the basic,mid or top end welder for this job? My local access is Sears, Harbour Freight and Northern Tools etc ... 
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#2
02-04-2010, 05:36 PM
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I have a friend that does it for a living(he's in the pics I posted about wheelin), the TIG welder he uses cost about $2500, I asked him about lower priced ones, he siad they won't do the job. I don't think a mig welder will do it either
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#3
02-04-2010, 06:39 PM
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I think you could possibly use a MIG weld to do both jobs. However you will not get a clean splatter free type weld like a TIG weld in stainless. Keep in mind that setting up a MIG weld to do both materials you will have 2 different types of gas mixes and 2 different wires (I'm pretty sure on this).
I think that the MIG process is actually easier with aluminum because the filler material is feed in mechanically (but I could be wrong). I used my MIG welder for stainless last spring. I had to change the wire and gas mix to weld stainless. The work came out pretty good with good penetration but not very pretty with splatter. I made a support for the roof top dingy davit for the Rosborough. I don't weld for a living but have a brother in law that is a high purity, X ray quality pipe welder/fitter.
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Regards Barry 1987 V20 (sold) :( 1996 23' Wellcraft 1991 V20 ;)
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#4
02-05-2010, 11:35 AM
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http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowl...compactmig.asp
Here's a good article about aluminum welding.....if you can get a mig setup your welds will be ALOT prettier eventually. Sounds like you are doing this for the experience so this advice may not be useful but if you are doing it for economies sake I recommend that you get all your material, cut it and fit it getting all your angles right and then take it to a local shop and have them run it off....most of the work is in the fitting and a good welder who already has the machine set up can run it off in not time.
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1986 V-20 1986 Yamaha 150 HP
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#5
02-05-2010, 04:32 PM
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What a lot of the guys are saying that you need to tig them if you want a good lookin job, I would rec a Miller (brand) thre are others but when I was at the Navy Yard they used Millers.
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Tis better to be quiet and thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it!! 1991 V-20 cuddy I/O 350 volvo duo prop, 1998 15ft Grumman 9.9 Johnson  
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#6
02-05-2010, 04:36 PM
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This is something like the unit that I have from Lincoln.
http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Cat...t.aspx?p=42422 My unit is an older model of the one above. You need a dryer type outlet with a 50 amp circuit breaker. Using a 230 volt set up the penetration is much better then a 120 volt machine. It has worked fairly well but it's duty cycle is small and not geared toward production type work. I have welded stuff for the tractors (weight box/front loader/3 point hitch assembly), car stuff like mufflers,gas tanks and trailer stuff. Just started doing stainless steel last year. My brother in law was fairly impressed with job the little machine did as the splatter wasn't to bad. No doubt about a TIG machine will give a much prettier weld however TIG welding is a bit harder for the novice. I actually enjoyed TIG welding better then MIG. It was a lot like oxy acetylene welding with a filler rod. I was never qualified to do TIG it just came to me naturally.
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Regards Barry 1987 V20 (sold) :( 1996 23' Wellcraft 1991 V20 ;) Last edited by inaforty; 02-05-2010 at 04:48 PM.
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#7
02-10-2010, 01:45 PM
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Even a thief needs the right equipment and the knowledge of how to use them to be successful. IMO if the welder was free you would still require a pipe bender, drill press, and a crash course on how to use it all. I am like you. I would love to learn how to use the Tig. I have a portable Lincoln stick welder and access to a Mig and I can put two pieces of steel together but that is about as far as it goes. I have an aquaintance that built a 24' or so aluminum cat boat and did it all with a Mig. I think you need a spool gun attachment to use the mig on aluminum. The cost of the anodized aluminum is pretty steep to be making many trial pieces too. Factor in the cost of those do-overs and it gets real expensive. The advice fo fab it up and take it to a pro seems sound to me.
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