Welding Aluminum?

[MTB2Live Live4Comps]

Hey guys not really sure where to ask this, but does anybody know much about welding aluminum? I'm thinking about building a custom case by welding/bolting together 90degree aluminum angles (the metal stock that's 1/8" thick, 6 or 8 feet long, and has two edges each 3/4" forming a right angle).

I don't know much about this, but my shop at school has some different types of welders and I wanna learn (i'm going to ask them too).
Thanks.

 

[LesterOfPuppets]

I don't see a question in your post, and don't know much about welding either...so this is all i have to offer...

measure twice, cut once.

i guess you'll have to consider how to attach panels to the frame it sounds like you'll be fabricating. Hinged motherboard plate would be cool, or an easily removed one.

Bike frame builders tend towards tig welding for aluminum, not sure if it matters in this application.

you should be able to make a REALLY sturdy chassis this way.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/alum.asp

 

[AreEss]

Learn to weld steel WELL before aluminum.

Welding aluminum is very difficult, and depending on the alloy used, may be outright impossible. You must use a special filler material to weld aluminum, which increases the difficulty of welds significantly.
Here's some good information:
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/alum.asp
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/tigalum.asp

 

[Silent Assasin]

Yes, because of the very low melting point of aluminum, it makes it extremely hard to weld it without melting it. I'm building my new case also out of aluminum angle 6063. I bought it from www.onlinemetals.com, cheapest place I could find. I knew I didn't want to mess around with welding, I decided to use some metal corner brackets. Apperently it's quite a bit harder to find in the US then I thought. But anyway, I had another forum member from Japan buy and ship me some steel corner bracket that fit perfectly. They are attached with #8/32 screws and look sweet.

I haven't done a whole lot of work on it in the past month, but you can check out my worklog here. This will give you a better idea of how I am going to put it together, and should help you if you decide not to weld the corners.

I also must add, welding corner parts together looks like shite...

 

[pArTy]

Tig welding is extremely hard and add on top of that, that your welding aluminum makes it near impossible. Its really hard to describe how to tig weld but just a word of advice learn to weld beads on sheet metal(steel) befor attempting to make a real weld with it. Once you can weld 2 peices of sheet metal together try it with rods than move to aluminum. It takes a lot of practice. I took iron working 2 tris in a row and got wirefeed mastered and than went to tig and it took me 3 tris to get a good weld on aluminum with it.

 

[Stu55]

Tig welding is extremely hard and add on top of that, that your welding aluminum makes it near impossible. Its really hard to describe how to tig weld but just a word of advice learn to weld beads on sheet metal(steel) befor attempting to make a real weld with it. Once you can weld 2 peices of sheet metal together try it with rods than move to aluminum. It takes a lot of practice. I took iron working 2 tris in a row and got wirefeed mastered and than went to tig and it took me 3 tris to get a good weld on aluminum with it.

QFT. Welding aluminum is quite tricky.

 

[bigbadgreen]

I'll agree that welding aluminum is tough.

there is a different method for attatching aluminum permanently, and that is soldering. With a torch and some silver (jewelry) solder. Not with an iron and electronic solder. If you would like to look into that option I can post more. It's not going to be as solid as welding, but it'll be easier to clean, you can hide your seams %100. there are also some other problems you'll encounter. It's just a different method or a plan B.

 

[Pugger]

Yup welding Aluminium is hard to do... need to move fast and feed the Rods quiker lol

Learn Gas welding equally as hard but cheaper on the pocket....

Plus your talking for using thin sheet and angle if welded fully or even stitch welded will cause the plates and angles to bend warp etc...

ive tryed Tig with aluminium, steel and stainless steel and they aint easy...

 

[AreEss]

I'll agree that welding aluminum is tough.

there is a different method for attatching aluminum permanently, and that is soldering. With a torch and some silver (jewelry) solder. Not with an iron and electronic solder. If you would like to look into that option I can post more. It's not going to be as solid as welding, but it'll be easier to clean, you can hide your seams %100. there are also some other problems you'll encounter. It's just a different method or a plan B.

I was wondering when someone would mention this.

Personally, I prefer lead filling with bolt together, or spot-welding aluminum. The thing is, lead filling? It's a goddamn art. Two inches takes me like half an hour, and then I have to sand and grind like mad to make it not look like total shit. Hot soldering isn't that much easier, mind you. I'm just better at it because of experience on pipes. If you wanna get some good practice in, get a bunch of short scrap flared copper or brass pipe, and practice there. You'll know you've roughly got it when you don't spill solder all over the interior of the pipe. (That's why you use short scrap; to check!)