Welding question!!

[Eagle19]

So I need some aluminum welding done on my boat. I've got a lotos 140 and for the price it's one heck of a unit. I've been dying to get an aluminum spool gun for it and learn aluminum. How hard is aluminum to learn? Also how hard is it to fix if I screw up?

Basically, I can either buy the aluminum spool gun and gas or pay a professional to do it. I know I want to put pods on the boat, build a polling platform, and a removable now fishing deck eventually and I could save a lot of money by doing that myself.

Obviously practice is key, and I've always had a tendancy(for steel it was hard for me to break, but I heard its good for aluminum!) to try and a push a puddle. What's your thoughts? Basically there are two hair line cracks on the boat that somebody covered with fiberglass strips at one point so I need to clean and weld those cracks. But at the same time that's pretty detrimental to the boat floating and don't want to screw it up. I know with steel for the most part you can grind it down/off and try again. Can you do the something with aluminum?

[Thundervee]

Not hard, just practice on scrap aluminum first and yes you can grind it but it will just grind flat you can't really grind the weld off. It's best to use a flapper wheel when grinding aluminum so you don't take too much off.


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[widdler]

Not hard at all just make sure the area is clean that you will be welding. Practice with the same size materials and you will do fine. A little pre heat will help things along.

[Filletem]

I weld aluminum with my Hobart 140 every once in awhile it's not hard, I replaced the liner in my regular lead with a Teflon liner and I use the stiffer aluminum wire and it does good I skipped the spool gun. If your just welding on a boat and around the house for yourself every once in awhile might save you some $$

[cosmiccowboy]

A boats pretty thin. I would use TIG if I was doing it.

[Bisch]

I had never welded aluminum in my life until this year. I bought a Hobart 180 with a spool gun off TBH classifieds. At first I thought I might have got ripped off because I could not get it to work well at all. Then I had a welder buddy come over and set the machine up, and give me a few pointers. I am not afraid to weld on my boat at all now!!! I would get the machine, esp if a bowfishing deck is in your future, and then find someone who can teach you a bit to get you started. Also, like mentioned above, with aluminum your parts have to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cleaner than with steel. You will get tired of taking it to someone else, and as I have found, a bowfishing boat is a perpetuous work in progress! Also, if you go to a welding shop, you can get an aluminum grinding wheel for an angle gringer. Anything made for steel will just get clogged up after just a minute.

Here is the one I did (and am still tweaking on):







Bisch

[Thundervee]

Very nice Bisch!


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[Bad Habit]

Aluminum is easy to weld. Set your wire feed correctly and run the bead. Get some scrap alloy and get all the practice and your worries out of the way. You can do it.

[bboswell]

Get a stainless wire brush dedicated to aluminum work only, when you think your weld area is clean keep cleaning longer!

MIG on dirty aluminum can sometimes make a decent look bead but lack fusion.

[Eagle19]

I had never welded aluminum in my life until this year. I bought a Hobart 180 with a spool gun off TBH classifieds. At first I thought I might have got ripped off because I could not get it to work well at all. Then I had a welder buddy come over and set the machine up, and give me a few pointers. I am not afraid to weld on my boat at all now!!! I would get the machine, esp if a bowfishing deck is in your future, and then find someone who can teach you a bit to get you started. Also, like mentioned above, with aluminum your parts have to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cleaner than with steel. You will get tired of taking it to someone else, and as I have found, a bowfishing boat is a perpetuous work in progress! Also, if you go to a welding shop, you can get an aluminum grinding wheel for an angle gringer. Anything made for steel will just get clogged up after just a minute.

Here is the one I did (and am still tweaking on):

[ATTACH]797666[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]797667[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]797668[/ATTACH]

Bisch

That looks awesome!

[Texas Grown]

Been welding aluminum since I was 18, in a lot of different industries, including the boating industry. Do it almost every work day in the aircraft industry at the present. Not sure where the cracks are your talking about. Think I seen one in one pic on your other thread.

[sqiggy]

you can get an aluminum grinding wheel for an angle gringer. Bisch

Yep. Buy a grinding wheel made for aluminum. The ones for steel will contaminate the aluminum. You won't need a wire wheel as long as you can get the grinding wheel on the part you want to weld.
It's been a while since I've done it, but there are many different "flavors" of wire. Just like steels, you want to match up the wire to the material of your boat. It may not matter much, but might make the welding process easier. I know back when I welded on aluminum train cars, if I didn't have the right wire, it wouldn't weld very good.

[Filletem]

This is the disc you want to use, Called Tiger disc

[Draco]

You did a splendid job on that deck Bisch. It looks exactly like the one I built for you.

[bboswell]

You did a splendid job on that deck Bisch. It looks exactly like the one I built for you.

Uuhhfff