Need some advice on aluminum....

I've never really had to work with aluminum, mostly a steel guy, but I'm working on a 66 Benz for someone that has an aluminum hood. It's cracked and bent on the underside near the hinge and needs to be pulled and repaired.
I've tig welded aluminum a few times but don't own a tig machine. They don't make a spool gun for my mig....I'm looking to avoid buying a new mig with spool gun as I usually don't work with aluminum and this job wouldn't pay for it...

So, any suggestions?? Can you stick weld aluminum? Anyway to bond it together without welding that will be strong enough? Weld supply suggested I buy a new mig with all the bells and whistles ofcourse, but I'm trying to avoid it.

Thanks!!

 

Well, yes they do make aluminum rod for a stick machine, but holy cow does it suck! I also would never even think about using it for body work. I think I would sub out the job. Get everything all prepared then bring it to a weld shop and have them lay a bead with their TIG machine. That would be alot cheaper option than buying a new MIG or TIG machine.

 

I hate subbing out work...but I think it may come to that. Thanks!

 

you do know that you can gas weld aluminum
try looking here for info and more help
http://www.tinmantech.com
good luck

 

I don't know if this is any help, as I have no experiance at all in aluminum body repair, but when I worked at an automotive A/C place we had aluminum rod for the oxy-acetelyne set-up to repair the aluminum A/C hoses. I remember we didn't use flux, or it was on the rod already, and when the repair was done it looked like pure aluminum and the color of the weld was identical to the fittings.

 

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=520 nof="LY"><TBODY><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD height=29 width=490>from http://www.tinmantech.com

Aluminum Welding Article
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top align=left><TD width=520>
Aluminum Welding
Using Oxy-Fuel Welding on Aircraft Aluminum Sheet
from Experimenter Magazine, April 1996
See TM Technologies Aluminum Gas Welding System
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Sub it out to a TIG welder and you should be in good shape.

 

Yes you can gas weld it.

Aluminum gas welding kit $275
4-5 hours to learn to gas weld aluminum $200-$250
$475-$525

Or.....

Bring it to someone that welds for a living $35-$80

If you are going to be doing alot of aluminum welding, then yes you could invest in the gas welding outfit. But for a one time thing why waste your money? Just my opinion.

 

I would find someone that could tig it.

You guys know that it is only spelled ALUMINUM in the US because of a 'Typo' on a flyer promoting AluminIum??

Doc

 

if you use a short whip on a 220 volt 180 amp mig and you keep the whip fairly straight you can push .035 aluminum wire though a small mig machine. make sure you keep it in short bursts not more than about 1/2 an inch at a time or you will overheat the tip you will be able to weld aluminum np I have done it many times make sure you have lots of extra tips they clog fast and you will need to use argon for your shield gas

Paul

 

My advice......sub it out for this job........it's customer's car and that is not the place to learn a new, doable, but challenging skill. I have attended classes for gas welding aluminum and it is arguably the best method for body panel fabrication and/or repair.

Properly done, the bead is almost none existent, at least compared to other methods, and the metal remains annealed and workable. Done poorly, you may end up with big holes were the parent metal has melted and fell to the floor.

If you are a restoration shop it would probably be a useful skill to develop, but doing so on a Mercedes hood would be risky, in my opinion.

Ray