Fantastic tech articles on here about welding steel body panels and discussions about hammer welding to correct distortion and flatten the weld area. What about welding aluminum panels? When aluminum panels are welded do the panels distort more than steel or less than steel? Do aluminum panels have to be hammer welded? Have seen a some high quality aluminum body builds on HAMB and have an aluminum project in the back of my mind.
Hey, Generally speaking, aluminum can be welded in one of two ways, gas welded , with a torch & flux or using the tig process. The alloy group of 5000 and under can usually be gas welded with good results, above 5000 series, tig process only. Most aluminum body panels were 1100 and 3003 series. Heat distortion isn't any larger a problem than when welding carbon steel, providing the welder is somewhat skilled in torch heat control and correct fit up of the pieces to be welded. Hammerwelding isn't really done when aluminum has been welded, given aluminum's soft nature (1100 & 3000 series) as what little "proud metal" that would be left can easily be forged cold, into correct alignment with the panel. S****ey Devils C.C. " It's time for another Tea Party ! "
Pimpin Paint.....YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!!! Depending on your thickness of alum. also, you can pulse mig it.....the main thing is to not get into a big hurry doing it. Wether with torch, TIG, or MIG, you gotta have the right fitup and the right flux or shielding gas. Before you try to weld your alum. body, or construct one, get some s**** of the same guage and pratice, pratice, pratice. One of the tricks to welding Alum. is its gotta be really clean.................
Screamin' Metal got it right on the money. The metal has to be clean. My father was really good at it, and I remember that he would dip it in a caustic (quickly not to eat up the aluminum) but just enough to get all the contaminants off. Best of luck to you on your welds!
Hey, Unlike welding carbon steel, aluminum doesn't fire a warning shot when it is about to go from a solid state to "oh, ****"! This is for the gas welding process, now. Some small distortion will be expected, as with all welding, be it gas, mig or the tig process, but again not a big factor given aluminum's easy forming nature. A fair amount of pratice will be required to be able to "read" aluminum when welding, to know what you can expect it to do if over, under or mis heated. Any small amount of oxide on aluminum that is to be welded can prevent the weld from flowing, or casue you to burn through the piece you're welding by preventing flow of the molten welding puddle. Iron oxide, from tools used to cut or prep the sheet can also prevent flow of the weld. Absolute clean metal, a good flux, and a filler wire that most closely matches the parent metal you're welding will yield a good aluminum weld. The Tig process is a great, clean method to weld all aluminum alloys, providing you've devoted the pratice to its' mastery. S****ey Devils C.C. " It's time for another Tea Party !"
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