I am an apprentice at an Aluminum boat building company but I can give you guys some direction. Ps, I'm Australian so I don't know if you's use the same measurements etc. TIG ally is typically 12 litres/minute gas flow while Mig is always 18. That is an extra 50%. You HAVE to push the pool, no weave or circle, just step quite quickly or straight run. No vertical downs. 1.4mm wire on everything. And typically don't need to preheat unless like 10/12mm plate (5000 series) or extrusion (6000 series). We only mig 3mm and higher, any smaller we just tig. You'll find a synergic pulse machine works much better too. Fronius tps270 are one of the best push pull on the market. With one of these, a good welder can make the beads almost as good as tig.... they're just expensive, worth it though. Hope i have helped.

I love the way you show how to play round with the settings in real world so amateurs like me can relate to this video and learn ALOT. THANK YOU

Basic knowledgde after 25 years in the welding business. Argon-teflon liner-right contact tip (1mm mig wire you need contact tip 1.0A or 1.2mm regular). Do not tighten the feeding wheel clamp to hard (you should be able to stop the wire roll with one finger, but this is individual from machine to machine), alu is soft and flattens if you put to much pressure. And this will cause a nice curl of wire in your welding machine. Do not use a longer gun cable then 3meters (unless you have a push pull gun), and try to keep the cable as straight as possible. Push the welding pool and keep moving faster then you do on steel. If you have the sound of frying eggs like on regular steel. You need more power, or less feeding. Tig is way more controllable on thinner materials. But will never compete in speed with a good mig setup. A pro tip is to run the wire through an earplug (just stick it through) before your feeding system. Try this and you will se a lot of deposit on the earplug after a couple of minutes of welding. This alu dust on the wire is one of the main reasons you liner will cause problems after a while. And if you do as you did and put the material flat on a thick metal surface it could cause problems with penetration, as alu is a excellent heat conductor. And alu needs heat to get a good weld. And as other mentioned, always clean the surface on alu just before welding.

Thank you for posting a 'raw' video. As a new amateur mig welder, this is a great video and the comments below are really helpful to many, like me who are just starting out. Please keep posting.

really good video, and a great attempt. I am an aluminium mig welder on rail vehicles. We use top of the range miller machines with push pull guns and still have lots of issues with wire feed. Watching this video I would say you need more amps/wire feed, but without a push pull gun you are probably at the limit of your wire feed with the soft aluminium wire. Hence why it just melts back to the tip the more power you put in. You definitely needed more amps for your beads, there should be no need to play the pool. You should be able to string it as with steel. As someone else said mig isn't good for less than 3mm. Another thing to note is that rollers for aluminium should be round rather than v shaped (the groove).

Thank you very much for the time and suggestions. I am proficient at stick and might but I have wanted to try mig aluminum and I was worried about not having a spool gun. Thanks again

Went trough two branded spoolguns, but after seeing your video I bought a new teflon liner for my lincoln 210 mp ,a U shaped feeder roll,5356 wire and a cup of water to cool the tip after each pass : 3 rolls of 5356 and five cattle gates later I changed only two tips and never had more fun welding aluminium!!! Just remember: minimum tension on the feedrolls to avoid birdnests....and 5356(because it is stiffer )

Cool vid, thanks for showing your learning in progress!

All these people recommending different welders to use like this isn’t a sponsored video or anything. It’s like “This video is sponsored by Blue Demon. Today I’ll be using the Lincoln Electric C300.” Come on guys lol.

I love how you learn with us and having us follow your thought processes. Thankyou

Love that you show a view behind another camera with a helmet. It really helps. I just learn as I go/need. I am not trying to be a welder. Just like building.

Just what I needed to finish my project. Thanks, good video.

Great video, thanks. I used a standard gun for a while then went over to spool gun...no comparison, definitely the way to go. It`s all about speed as you say. I use it to repair castings where pre-heating is even more important otherwise they are more likely to crack after cooling. I must say I`ve never tried 0.090" with it! I must give that a go, never thought of MIG as a sheet aluminium technique.

Great video. Thanks for sharing man

I have a Millermatic 350p and the beads and the overall usage is so simple and in the right hands looks like it was tig welded now so many newer machines run way better.

It's been 20 years since I welded aluminum... with a spool gun... but one thing I remember is that it really needs to be clean. I was using a wire brush just before welding, but wiping it down with acetone would probably work too. Your preheating may have just been providing some cleaning action. I could be way off though. It's something to experiment with. I'd be interested in the results. I've been putting off buying a spool gun for a long time. Maybe I don't need to.

really good project, thanks

I have had a go at welding Ali with my Mig with mixed results. So if you get the time to do more videos like this it sure would help. My son is an aluminium welder and they tig where you can see it and Mig (for speed) where you can’t, but I only have a dc tig so Mig is my only option but I have a lot of learning to do. BTW your videos are awesome

Your the man Justin! That's exactly what I have to do. I only have a 110 Lincoln mig and a big bottle of straight argon. Thanks bud!

Deciding how to get into welding for the first time. Great demonstration and information. I learned much; thanks for posting.

Great video. He is right in thinking you should be able to mig weld with a standard mig torch. Teflon coated hose is said to help. 6 foot hose seems a good compromise. A spool gun can cost almost as much as a welding machine and they are so bulky, the spool right in your way. I am assuming he is using tri mix gas here, argon, carbon dioxide and helium. The helium gives better penetration, but gives hotter temps witch you have to watch out for. I think his results were excellent. There is also the alumiweld soldering process, witch just needs a soldering torch and aluminum rods, witch his sponsor, blue demon makes great ones that cost about a buck apiece and look like they do a great job welding aluminum.

Thanks! Better than so many other vids with triple subscriber base. I am trying to mig aluminum and having so many issues. This really helped.

Thank you, very informative. I got some tips that I never thought about it.👍👍👍👍👍

Awesome. Thanks man. Love your shop. I like a lot of room to move around...

Nice video and we all probably learned a few things from your detailed set up and trial and error. It is something I want to play around with as well. I now have a TIG machine that can do aluminum, but as someone said, for heavier stuff, this could be a lot faster. Well done!

Great finish boss! The SYN feature on this machine is preprogrammed for ferrous material which is the most common use of the machine, thus why it wasn’t reacting correctly for the aluminum wire. 👍🏼👍🏼

Thanks dude, just got a bottle of argon and rolls of 4043 & 5356 for my first dive into aluminum MIG (had a spool gun), so will cut my chops trying to fab rib racks for my smoker! Oh, and the comments will help immeasurably as well, thanks for those.

Very helpful. Thanks!!!

If you need more heat in the metal and your wire is spattery and balling all over the place, switch your polarity!

We weld aluminum pipe on substations, I’ve only been at it for a year and a half. But I love it.

Great video, I've stick welded in the backyard off an on for 30yrs, but never tried Mig or Tig. until now, I bought a Cigweld Transmig 175i second hand and the fabricator that sold it to me said yes you can weld alumin, just change the liner and tip and put the correct roller in, he had spare rollers to suite 1.2mm alumin wire. At the local Cigweld store when I enquired about liners and tips they said its impossible to mig weld alumin!!!! and that I needed a A/C D/C unit!...... and then tried to sell me a new unit (entry level at that) for $2,000 AUD. I went to another welding outlet had similar advice, could be done but needed to but a spooling gun for $500!..... Now, after watching your video Justin I can see its totally possible.

You are now my mentor. Off soon for my first job.

Thank you for your video. You are a good instructor..

That was just fun. Thanks 😊

So nice to see a video of reality, I do not feel quite as bad anymore. You make great videos! thank you for showing this all the way

Good video that I can relate to. A couple of things also worthy of note: 1) Use a teflon liner in the MiG gun, this will allow the wire to slip easier through the cable and crucially not leave sticky bits of aluminium in a steel cored MiG gun cable. Its relatively easy to swap to a teflon liner for each application so there is no great need for separate guns. 2) Use at least a size larger tip to the wire you are putting through. Aluminium wire will expand as it heats up causing it to stick in a size for size tip. 3) Check the feed rollers carefully as aluminium wire is very sensitive to the pressure on the rollers. Get the rollers to just feed with the minimum of pressure as It is extraordinarily easy to end up with a birds nest in the machine. 4) The material must be scrupulously clean. wire brush the material only with a stainless steel brush.

I like that you did the trial and error to show us that we are not alone.

Thanks for the lesson

Another tip without a spool gun use a teflon liner for your mig whip

Very helpful , thanks

Enjoy the learn as ya go approach, pretty much what I'm used too :)

Try to go larger diameter on your contact tip. The wire heats up and expands inside the tip.

I bought a mig welder with the spool gun because I couldn't reach the area with the tig welder of the Mercury boat motor support that I was trying to repair. But I didn't preheat it and the weld was worse than fido's butt. I sold the boat. Thanks for getting out there and sharing the failures many of us have then getting through the task by trying something different.

Really good vid. I hope I can pick up mig aluminium welding as well as you seemed to.

Hi. Aluminum welding. A Teflon spiral may also be required.

Informative, i should've seen that preheat coming. My dad had a buddy that would weld cracked cast iron, he would usually heat the part in a fire prior to attempting the weld. Alloys like the preheat

Thanks for the video buddy

Nice work! MIG welds will always look disappointing when you're used to TIG but I think they use aluminum MIG on Ferrari and Lamborghini chassis so it can't be that bad!

Very interesting video. Thank you for sharing

You earned my subscription doing this 🤓

Preheating aluminum goes a long way especially on a small low power welder, mostly the first inch of weld . GREAT VIDEO Thanks William Orange county, ca.

Very relatable. God vid. Thanks

Most definitely super cool 👍😎👌 Paul ✌️

I just MIG welded aluminium for the first time today. Actually it was the first time I have Mig welded any thing. Just bought new machine. Why? For speed and I'm having to weld a lot of 10mm plate. I've Tiged a lot of 6mm plate but my machine was maxed out and everyone I speak to are amazed I haven't blown up my tig welder after 2 1/2 years. I had to weld 30 ali posts onto 30 10mm weld plates today. I'm amazed how fast it was. I've still got a way to go to make the welds pretty.

Turn gas up? To what setting are you changing every to to? Wire speed , volts ?

Great video. I'm setting up to do the same thing with my Everlast MTS 221Sti. I general do TIG aluminum. But I'd like to see if I can push some .035 5356 through a 3M whip after I put a Teflon liner in it. I appreciate all of the trial and error you did, which should cut my experiment time significantly. By the way, I did try doing this once with no success. Even though the Everlast had an aluminum setting for synergic MIG, I welded the wire right to the tip! On a side note, that wasn't Teflon tape I saw on your gas line was it?!

Very cool video Justin. I'm a 100% tig guy, but this was interesting to see different techniques. Thanks for sharing.

Great job!

PERFECT !!!

thank you for sharing us this video جزاك الله خيرا

Hello, I'm enjoying the video. I always liked the red vice on the table because it was so pretty, but I'm so curious. Can you tell me which company product it is and how many inches it is?

Thank you, I was just thinking can you use a mug in a pinch, And yes you can!

The black soot is due to using 5356 filler. What is even more impressive is how the mig process forces you to go faster and when using 5356 I can tell your welds won't be cracking when cooling when they should with TIG moving slower. 5356 is a very difficult filler to use with TIG. You have to move very fast with light penetration or else the weld cracks. To much penetration with 5356 and when the metal starts to solidify unevenly it cracks. That's why most people use 4041 filler with tig due to its eutectic properties.

do you have the right polarity? because you said you tried fluxcore before

When welding aluminum with mig, it’s always best to push rather than pull. You could also get a push/pull gun setup or spool gun, either work great.

Nice find👍

Niceeee im excited to try this tomorrow hehe had exactly the same problems today high wire speed with low volts

Never welded aluminum with mig, just tig high frequency. Took a test for a job Thursday and it isnt as hard as tig. So anyone worried about there weld test. I believe in you go get it done boss

Pretty colors! Did you switch the welder to DCEP? Apparently that's better for removing the oxidization. Would also put more heat into the part if I'm not mistaken. Awesome results, either way! My only critique for the video would be to show more close ups of the welds after you finish. :)

Was thinking the aluminum was having trouble cause the table was helping cool the aluminum. Had a buddy trying to weld a piece with similar thickness and as soon as he removed it from the table welded perfect. Guess it was acting as a heatsink. Aluminum has a lower melting point. Nice video seeing trial and error. Exactly why your changing a specific knob and reason for it.

Thanks buddy, it worked for me, that's all I have is a Lincoln SP-100 with 110v. I think we may be neighbors, I moved to Statesville from Md in 2008 to pursue my dream of working for a race team and although that never panned out because of health reasons I have had the opportunity to help fabricate a few late models for Hickory and Bowman Gray

Do you know anything about Mixed ACDC function like on the Weco? I'm trying to wrap my head around it

Great Vid. Learned something at 84 years old hacker. 🐻

Good stuff bro

fine explanation and video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OTC makes the best aluminum mig welders by far. i used one for 3 years. Those welders have more settings and options than any Tig ive seen.

You may also need to consider using a Teflon liner and using Ally rollers to feed your wire ...

What aluminum alloy and what filler did you use?

Can you tell me the machine settings you had on the last run

Can I mug weld with my 304 xmt and that mig gun you using? Or I can use my regular mug gun?

The secret to aluminium mig welding is to have the amps turned up high enough so you get good edge wetting but you need fast enough wire feed to avoid burn back... essentially a spray arc method... If your wire feed is at maximum your welder is insufficient....

What about ground clamping directly to the piece and sitting it on a piece of glas fabric so the heat stays in the piece?

A quick pre-heat with a torch might be helpful to allow for better penetration. The AL is just sooo conductive that the heat disappears instantly, so some pre-heat can take the edge off.

can you mig weld aluminum on any mig welding machine with Argon and aluminum mig wire spool?

Very informative! So no need to change the liner on this 140 msi ? Been thinking about buying one . Liked and subbed

Run it mainly as push pull Just a few tips that I know about from doing

Thank you!!

Beaut. Enjoyed that. What size ferol or wire diameter. ?

im a welder and im also new to Alloy welding. i just got problems with the wire twisting at the feed end every 10 sec into welding. the wire are 0,9mm alloy what did you use? i came up with a trick to make it not twist around. i losend the pressure screw allot so everytime it would twist the wire just stops moving insted of twisting and the 2 feeding wheels will slide on the wire how do you guys get around it?

More heat and wire speed this is why they tend to use spool guns to mig aluminum pre heating the metal was a good idea also cleaning aluminum is extremely important just like any welding

The finished weld bead with wire feed used on aluminum, rarely looks like one done on steel. Preheat helps a lot. In a sense, using tig is a method of preheating the direction of the bead. Make sense of the use of the process.

Thank you so much I'm gonna try this on my hobart 140. Aloha. Will update you.

Thank you

Does the work bench not have an effect on the heat?

On TIG it is preferred to go AC, is this the case with the MIG machine you have or are you DC?

what was the aluminium grade you used?

Only tip I can give from my experience is NOT to do circles, or go back over the weld. Get the puddle going and flow with it, I found by trying to get a ‘stack’ or a ‘pretty’ weld, you pull the contaminants into the weld beads and extra wire is deposited. Just by getting going and go fast I get some really good welds with mig.

Nice! What’s the name of that torch? Seems handy.

Have been wielding aluminum with a mig for a long while. This video shows folks not to be afraid of it. The mig spool gun makes it very easy (with a little practices). Just wanted you to show us that wonderful 67 that is in the background. Or is that a 68, she is beautiful.

Surprised the old liner didn't contaminate the aluminum. Cool video.