welding aluminum

[fshegg3]

my project needs to weld or fuse aluminum 6066 t6 to itself.

 

i need a bunch of these joints and cannot afford a welder.

 

i need to join 1" round stock to .25" round stock.

 

my thought is to drill and tap the 1" round stock and thread

 

the .25" round stock.

 

then, screw the .25" into the 1" and hook up a car battery for

 

about a second; effectivly creating a "poor mans" tig welding

 

machine.

 

will it work? how long to leave it hooked up? am i off base?

 

thanks

[Hal.]

Get a welder ! Do it properly , be safe , be confident your welds are good , barter some time cleaning up a workshop to get it done .

[Hal.]

Get a welder ! Do it properly , be safe , be confident your welds are good , barter some time cleaning up a workshop to get it done .

 

This is if the object is to have good welds and then move on with the project . There is a reason why a good welding machine costs what it does . Using it properly with the right settings and proper electrodes gives quality welds . A bad weld can look perfect and at the slightest tap with a hammer it can easily shear from the mother piece . Welding is an art that needs practice to get knowledge of what is a good weld and what is not . Experiment all you want in safety , rip apart the welds afterwards to learn how to make them strong .

[doG]

Taps come in different size classes or tolerances. If you thread the smaller piece at the maximum thread diameter, tap the whole at a minimum and force the too pieces together you will effectively get a friction weld in the joint that will permanently join the 2 pieces.

[npbreakthrough]

hey buddy,

 

i am a welder, and trust me, welding aluminum is a pain in the ass,

my honest opinion and advice to you would be to get a welder,

 

i attempted to MIG and TIG aluminum in welding school and i hate it, i refuse to weld aluminum

 

but if you have to do it yourself, MIG is your best option

 

trust me you don't want to get into all the crap involved in TIG, sharpening electrodes, switching currents , forming the electrodes into a "ball" using foot pedal,worrying about melting point......etc

all at the same time, it is horrible......that's why aluminum welders make the large amounts of money you don't want to pay them....

 

welding is an art form comprised of many stressful considerations, machine settings, all your equipment safety standards and codes, travel angles , the crap is almost too much to list, plus most welds are tested , even x-ray tested for quality ......

 

as for "poor mans tig machine"......

not a chance, these machines are very precise and for a very specific purpose,.....much more specialized than a car battery.....

Edited July 17, 2011 by npbreakthrough

[Hal.]

fshegg3 , any thoughts ? I watched a few of those people on youtube trying to make homemade welders and it's far from hooking up a car battery to your workpiece and hey presto , a few seconds later all is great . These people are rewiring multiple transformers on mains power , it's not easy and it's dangerous . Tig and mig/mag make an arc and a filler is fed into it to make a bead . What you describe has no bead . Would the metal around the tapped hole and the threaded bar flow together if a high enough current is used ? Why not just use a gas flame and proper electrodes like the following , click here this link is 5.53 MB . Adapt it to your circumstances .

Edited July 17, 2011 by Hal.