If the machine does not have hi frequency you have nothing to worry about! Try running in reverse polarity to TIG weld it. Aluminum does not give a whole lot of visual clues, compared to steel, to know when your puddle is going to drop out so be careful. I've welded 12ga aluminum sheet when I was 20ish with a pulsed mig setup and it worked very well. With a simple spool gun I weld 1/8" think aluminum. I have welded lighter aluminum 16ga ish to something heavier. Welding light material to heavier stuff I find easy because the larger material acts like a heat sink and you concentrate your heat there bring it over to fuse with the light stuff. I don't do a lot of aluminum welding with a MIG probably a week scattered throughout the year. A person can probably weld thinner successfully with the material on chill blocks or strips.golfpin wrote:Rednek.
thank you so much for the reply, the part that staggers me is about the metal in my legs!!!!!!!!!!never new about that so at least I am informed. The machine does not have hifreq. it is a scratch start type, I was a very experienced welder able to weld sheet aly wiyh oxy/actlyne but old age and the fading eyesight have taken there toll. Thank you again for your trouble but obviously the info re the metal in the legs has put a different slant on things. Perhaps you could help with this question how thin a metal can be welded with a Mig type machine?
Golfpin
BadDod,BadDog wrote:I've got pins, rods, screws and plates all over my body; and I've never heard of (or experienced) a welder interfering with them. Doesn't seem to me the effect would be sufficient unless maybe I coiled the leads around my leg. Radiated power drops with the cube of distance, so it doesn't seem much risk.
That's what I was told in school, I've never been around hi frequency TIG welding and was not allowed in the class when it was being done. My instructed had said that in the 90's they had a student in the class get a pretty good burn from that. I can't comment any further than that, that's just what I was told.