Aluminum Irrigation Pipe

During the winter, sometimes there is water left in them and they freeze and crack open. The aluminum is so thin that when I try to MIG, it eats right through it. Can I set the parameters such that it does not work, but the metal is slowly dripping onto the pipe. This is a very sloppy to do, I know there must be a better way.

Part of my job is irrigation pipe welding aluminum. I managed to mig used, but it is a bit tricky. Heat the main problem, either much or not enough. Now I only use TIG as it locates the heat gives good penetration and good welds. If you can TIG weld Oxy is fundamentally unchanged. Make sure the area to be joined was polished and cleaned. Preparation of the weld zone is equally important that the weld.

TIG is the way to go and call some local welding shops, they will help

It is not possible to weld properly using aluminum MIG TIG or MAW. The only way is to stick using special rods. thin aluminum! ha waste of time. Try using gaffa tape for a decent seal.

TIG could help the thin aluminum, but the heat is the problem as you pointed out. thin aluminum just will not heat. In addition, TIG is expensive. On the other hand, they weld aluminum lawn chairs and patio furniture set ...

Call some local welding shops and see what they recommend.

Sometimes an ugly weld that does not leak is pretty good.

Are you using the correct cable in your MIG to repair the aluminum? The only way to properly weld aluminum uses aluminum wire and argon gas as 100% protection. It is usually better achieved by using a spool gun that you can join a high-frequency output on some welders MIG.

But if this is not an option, you can use a coil of aluminum wire in a MIG regular, but you lose a lot of son by pushing him so far by the whip to the gun, so the aluminum wire is very fragile and easily subject to kinking the line. A tip: always break the glob of aluminum at the end of the wire each time before resuming welding, he Ampere much less to do early melt and will not bend the cable or burn through too easily.

Additional Information:

If you visit this site, it might have some additional tips that can help you.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/alum.asp

It is an easy way - get an aluminum block and begin welding on this point and move quickly for a time of thinning and return things to pack to leave the thin cloth to freshen up before returning to weld a little more and go over the back of the block is the method I used to weld thin material and most of the time it works and make sure you use spool gun for this, they are designed for setting welding aluminum --- weak, but moderate speed wire