I have been shopping for a welder for a month or so, and I was looking at either the Lincoln Squarewave 175, or the Miller Syncrowave 180. Are these two machines capable of welding 1/2" auminum? If not I guess my next step up would be the Squarewave 275 or the Syncrowave 250. Thanks in advance for any help...
John
I would suspect that the 275 amp machine would be too small for 1/2" aluminum also...some figures to look at for typical AC-TIG Procedures for Fillet and Lap Welding Aluminum below.....
3/8" thick-Flat position-2 passes-3/16"filler metal-1/4" tungsten- 5/8" diameter gas cup- 325-375amps - 8 to 10 ipm travel speed
I have tried to weld up to 3/8 material with the Square Wave 175 using an Argon/Helium blend and even with the hotter gas, not enough power....The 175 would be limited to about 3/16" material, and the 275 would limit out at about 1/4, or possibly 3/8, but 1/2" material is pretty much out of the question- move up to the 355 and would be ok.
is MIG welding an option? 1/2" alum. would be welded faster w/ MIG...but if quality, rather than quantity, is desired, TIG would be the way.
By weldit
Date 02-19-2002 17:49
Try using DC straight with welding grade helium. Works well on heavy aluminum using the GTAW process.
John,
A couple questions must be asked before any relevant answer can be given here.
Is GTA really your best choice of process here?
Production AC GTA welding of ½ inch thick aluminum plate may very well require 400-450 amps. A 3/16 to ¼ inch tungsten electrode with a huge water cooled torch and it will still take you two to three passes to weld a butt or fillet. DC- (DCEN) with helium may also be a consideration, but still even that will take massive amperage for the stated thickness.
What exactly are you joining?
On the other hand if you are thinking about repair welds of aluminum castings or components that may be as much as ½ inch in thickness than you may consider some of the machines you mentioned.
A Power Source with nothing less than the standard items of a stock Synchrowave 250 should be considered at the very minimum. The Balance control ability of the 250 and above models makes them far more versatile than the lesser models. Do not lock yourself into any new fangled *AutoBalence control* tig machines, as they will make you sad you did.
Tell us more and we will tell you more
Good luck
Lawrence
You quoted:
On the other hand if you are thinking about repair welds of aluminum castings or components that may be as much as ½ inch in thickness than you may consider some of the machines you mentioned
THat pretty much is what I plan to do, with the exception of getting into some fabrication stuff. I work on motorcycle ad ATV an am interested in making parts for them and Ill be working with mainly aluminum and cromoly and want a visually nice weld, that is why I decided to go with the TIG over a MIG. Thanks for any help.
John
The Squarewave 175 will weld 1/2" aluminum, but it's not very practicle. You need to preheat the part prior to welding and use a gas mix of 75 helium and 25 argon. I've actually welded thcker aluminum (1") with this same machine. It's not the proper method (the preheat is too high for too long of a perio) but depending on the application this may not be a factor. You will be constantly stopping to preheat the material and allow the machine to cool down.
I wouldn't reccomend this machine for that application, but it is possible!
A syncrowave 250 would struggle at best to weld 1/2 aluminum. Also running a welder at the top end in AC causes problems with arc stablity causing you to turn your AC balance to "max dig" so having a manual AC balance control is a must.
The Aerowave is beautiful machine for this purpose but is costly. I don't like the syncrowave 500 because I need lower amp settings as well. But if you don't need the lower amp settings take a look.
Just remember you will never be so unhappy if you get a machine that don't do the job.
