Loving Aluminum

[stixman55]

Not too long ago I bought a new Lincoln 180 Mig welder for doing a bunch of hand rails at some condo units. Well, next thing I know they want me to make repairs on there AL hand rails for the decks at some of the units (a lot of the welds had cracked over the 25 years they were originaly installed). I never did Al before so I studied up on it... bought some Al to practice on (As well as a tank and some Argon gas) and now some 14 decks later.... all I got to say is I LOVE IT! They said that Al was hard... BAH! It's a little trickey at first but after a couple of welds... it's a cake walk. This is something I'm really enjoying! Been teaching the wife and my step daughter and now there hooked. Anyway...I'm SOooooo glad I took this project on, besides... its makin me a lotta pesos:p

[LarryM]

Just so you know there is a lot of aluminum work to be had around boats and marinas I have done alot of boat repair work in the past. I like aluminum because won't rust, and you don't have to paint it.

Larry

[RainsFire]

I've never mig'd aluminum, but tig is fun.. just be careful with moving fast enough, but yeah.. other than the initial, wow.. this is a different metal! feeling.. its easy :)

[Hillbillysmith]

Aluminum is not hard to weld by any means. What alot of people are talking about in the way of difficulty is getting the penetration you need and not damaging the material. MIG welding aluminum is very easy especially thicker sections. Try TIG welding an edge joint of 24GA aluminum... Now THAT'S not an easy task!!

-Hillbilly