Im a professional aluminum welder. Ive welded xray aluminum piping and plate for varies applications. I can start by telling you need more voltage.Also it ok to weld downhill only if the weld wont be pressured,strained or subject to vibrations. Uphill is the way to go but does take high skill level using cv. It is however easier with pulse mig.A push angel with high voltage tighter oscillations and faster travel speeds will deliver best results.
I've been around aluminum Mig welding since 1987 building transport trailers, first using Miller's huge "camcorder" spool gun then later using their XR-30 guns, and lots of different makes and models since then. I am currently employed as an outside sales rep for a welding supplier and I frequently teach customers how to weld aluminum. For general purpose welding I suggest 4043 3/64" wire (because of its current carrying capabilities) and at least 35cfh Argon gas flow, and a 15-20 degree tilt back on the gun, always pushing the weld. In this video your fume extractor is creating a draft, which means you will need to add more gas. GROUND is very very important in all welding but is particularly important when welding aluminum, for your test area I would suggest that you find a way to ground each piece that you are welding, I'm sure you noticed those little arc tracks on the bottom of your coupons because your piece was trying to find ground. It will also help minimize burn backs to the tip as you start to increase your heat to get further into spray transfer. Keep up the good work, I'm very impressed with the arc stability of that machine, I haven't seen one run aluminum before but I may need to get one in my store for testing based on what I see on your video. Scott
@@MatiasArezo AC would be for TIG welding. For a spool gun you would use the same machine as a normal wire feed. You will need to change the gas to 100% Argon. You should be able to search your existing wire feed welder and see what spool gun options are available.
So I run a 150 amp spoolgun on my millermatic 211. Welds come out good and shiny. But all around the weld is heavy black soot. I’ve messed with gas and everything else I can think of and I can’t get rid of it. Any and all thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.
@@Froggies505 The black smoke next to the weld is normal, it’s called “smut” and is easiest to clean off after you finish your weld. I would normally keep a stainless steel tooth brush in my breast pocket to clean welds. Cleaning the weld joint of all impurities with a large stainless brush will help reduce the smut from the weld zone.
you probably dont give a damn but does any of you know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account? I was stupid forgot my password. I love any assistance you can give me
@Landyn Nathan I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
7 years later and this video is still teaching.....picked up a Tweco spool gun for my Rebel 215 and was struggling to get good consistent beads. Watched a few other videos, but they didn't really help. Watched this one, tweaked a few setting based on what Bob did, and bingo....good welds, consistent from joint to joint, and still worked in a few different joint configurations. Thank you much Bob!
I love the outtakes at the end. While I appreciate that you have to be professional in the body of your video's, your personality is FAR more entertaining in the outtakes. Thanks for including them.
What you need is a stool with wheels, so you can roll between the welder, welding table, tool bench, etc without standing up. Why walk when you can roll? It saves time and energy. The first rule of welding is "Get comfortable." Right? That's what I was taught!
I was always told to work smarter not harder, what is smart about standing all the time. Especially when doing something that requires steady hands and good coordination, I figure sitting removes a lot of variables.
Bob, Looks good but remember that welding aluminum with a spool gun should be ran with a "spray" transfer. You are starting out fine but increase your stick out to maintain the spray transfer. running downhill can be done with a near perpendicular gun angle. Uphill sometimes is easier as you are not chasing your puddle. Another thing to help is to clean your oxide off the plate before you hit it with the arc. Chris Ingram welding Instructor Dawson Community College.
Wire feed aluminum downhill vs uphill mainly depends on scope; code or non code work. If the work is coded then uphill is your best bet to pass NDT or DT (non destructive or destructive testing). Thanks, Quincy
Thanx soooo much for taking the time to honestly share your skills.My 18yr old son got a scholarship to our trade school in metal fab where they watch your vids.I was certified years ago and now learn vicariously through you and he! Many many thanks
Bob, for my spoolguns I have to hold and unusually larger gap from the tip to the material. Like around 3\4" or so. Turn your voltage up to about 23ish volts. Almost like a spray transfer
Hello Bob. I've welded for 30 plus. I was welder in navy. We learned welding aluminum with spool gun vert up and overhead heavy plate 1/2 an thicker using short circuit transfer and co2 as shielding gas. Never used it since very interesting to say ther least but weld result was good. I've since used spray transfer on trailers and misc and used mix gas for heavy parts or build up on tire molds the gas shield is key. I use to have diagram of weld profiles with different shielding gases. Would like to hear your tale on how gases effect weld characteristics and heat imput
It’s early days for me in this field and for a man of your obvious experience I’m finding your videos very grounded and honest. I’m encouraged by them to experiment and be open minded about the results. Every day’s a school day and we all need good teachers and you are laying out great information which doesn’t claim to be definitive but is clearly setting a high level for a beginner like me to aim for👍😊
Unfortunately Bob has retired. I used to watch him years ago and he was great. I've just come back for a little refresher on Al welding with a spool gun. Good luck on your career and if you can find any old vids with Bob, watch them. He was great. I miss him.
I always wanted to make a Mr.Tig meme of him with either huge bong on a psychedelic background and the text "Dab..Dab..Dab..Dab.." at the bottom or in the dab dance pose that says "Dabbin' on those stitches". But yeah Bob's freakin' hilarious, love the outtakes.
Why would you use the Lords name that way? He died for you so you may have eternal life. He controls your next breath. Think about what your sayin. He loves you Bro.
First time when I am experiencing with spool gun I insist lot of problem during aluminium welding. Now really got a good idea from your demonstration. Thanks Mr.Bob😃
not meant as anything but positive criticism. I know it helped me with my Spanish when I was learning it. The way your comment should read is: "The first time I used a spool gun I encountered a lot of problems. After watching your video I got some good ideas. Thanks Mr. Bob"
In school we did more of a forward whip and pause technique. It kept the weld clean, allowed to move ahead of the puddle for a good tie in and allows for reinforcement. Good for a sort of stack of dimes.
I weld aluminum dump trailers and the best way to get rid of that hole and crater when u get to the end of the weld is pull back a little and make real quick tiny circles in place and you won't get that crater also turn the heat up and wire speed down and you won't get that fisheye as much
Bob thanks. I'm glad I watched this video for the second time. I bought a brand new Lincoln 100s whatever. After watching, I didn't even take it out of the box. I decided to save my money for a pretty nice tig machine and practice, practice, practice. I won't be welding any trailers anytime soon...thanks for the awakening.
Nice quick tip Bob when you do Aluminium also make sure you use the right wire and mention it in the video. On Crater fills try the O motion in the crater. If you can set a post flow or argon it will reduce your crater.
Great episode Bob.For a newby who is about to add a spool gun to my collection, your video gives me great info on where and how to get started. Thanks!
Very impressed! thank you for all your knowledge, thank you for sharing it with all of us. I’m a self taught welder never went to school for a bit of it. I’ve done some pretty amazing things with 3/8” AR plate, and I have welded a lot of other metals and worked a lot with a tig welder as well. Anyway really glad to see where the future of this is going. And thank you again for sharing.
I really get a lot out of your video's, solid information, the nitty gritty answers we need, also that spool gun weld at 6:00 minutes is better than alot of other guys Tig's! Thank You a whole lot!
I'm eager to learn more on aluminum welding I've done some in the past not a hole lot but with the mig gun lately I been getting calls for aluminum welding repairs so I'm starting to invest in the equipment I like the way you explain clearly
I got a job building aluminum dumpsters years ago, and I learned to let the metal bear most of the weight and walk that nozzle like a tig cup. God bless and work safe.
Thanks Bob for the show, spool gun is the only way I have to play with aluminum. My Miller is DC only for tig welding and I have had very little tig practice. Great info.
hey bob, I didn't start liking my spool gun until I started setting up for spray transfer essentially. That fixed lots of things as long as you get and keep moving fast. Also I find it helpful to have a little pull angle going down hill with a little higher gas flow. You can hold the puddle up a little if you are a little cold, and that seems to work. Don't know if that is sound but my spool gun is on too small of a machine really, so necessity became the mother of invention...
you don't want a tight arc with aluminum MIG. but you also don't want so little wire feed that you're constantly burning up tips. put a bushing on the feed spindle and grease it lightly as needed to eliminate chatter and inconsistent feeding. I run an old miller spool gun at elite trailers, my voltage is always set at 26.5 and my wire speed is dictated by hash marks around the dial, I tune it by watching my arc width on tacks and listening for a slight sizzle.
check out Isaac It'll Be Fine on here aka Ike from CarsandCameras he literally sounds just like Hank Hill... and he has an identical twin brother that sounds a lot like him too.
Taught simple classes on welding optimization. Biggest problem? What does voltage do? What does wire-feed speed (amperage) do? Most welders don't know. There are only three controls on a MIG weld and they need to be set in a specific order. 1) wire feed speed increases amperage that provides penetration. 2) Travel speed and angle fills the crater. 3) Voltage shapes the puddle. ( Also, are you weaving to try and imitate a TIG bead? Each time you weave you change the interaction of the three components and can introduce error. )
I weld aluminum channel probably about 3/16 wall thickness. We use 3/64 wire. About 22v 300 wire uphill doing sort of a whip and pause. Then just change the wire down to 260-270 and run to downhill pass. Just faster and quicker whips.
near 20yr ago , truck shop , wespool welded ,heated , aluminum truck boxes (blacktop haulers) with 75/25 ar/co2 and did very well. i think part of reason was , we used MIG regular , so spool gun aluminum was easier transition , worked very similar.
3/16 tread plate. I would run about 20.3 v and 205-215 wire downhill. To get spray transfer I almost always change wire speed. A lot of sparks is like short circuit MIG and = too much wire. Globs = not enough wire.
Can learn to other welders here on their comment. I am a welder here in saudi arabia in refineries,power plants, chemical plants and industrial plants. Keep it up and i salute you all.
I am wondering if your Argon CFH setting might be what is causing the "raspy" popping affect? Most shielding gas systems build up some inline pressure, so the initial flow is usually much higher than your measured flow rate. It seemed like during the first few seconds of the welds you made, the arc sounded pretty good(CFH rate higher due to pressure build up?) Then after welding a little while the arc becomes erratic in sound(CFH has leveled off and may be too low?) I would try setting the CFH at 40 or 50 and see if the arc remains stable the entire bead.
Thank you Bob for another education. Maybe one day soon I will actually take the spool gun I bought in December of 2012 out of the box and give it a try???
I'll tell you my opinion, and I've gotten in lot's of heated debates over this that you should always push your weld. I used to well the BOC trailers. I did lots of aluminum mig and tig welding. To weld the head on the trailer it was 277 inches circumference. It had to be x-rayed and helium leak tested. I hate to say it but you got a lot of people on UA-cam having some experience and are pretending like they know everything about welding and they don't. I been in the trade for 38 years I think in that amount of time I've learned something. When pulling or dragging you always burn into your weld, when pushing you're always pushing it out of your weld "contaminants" hence why you have a cleaner weld. That's my opinion I don't want to get into heated debates I'm sick and tired of all the arguing on UA-cam from pin heads that really don't have much experience. But Hey it is what it is. Like I said this is my opinion.
We use a push pull system on our Lincoln mig welders we weld almost exclusively aluminum 6061 base material 5053 wire we always push the welds and never ever weld down hill
Could you do a video on "troubleshooting" welds with a spool gun I've looked everywhere and can't find anything (good weld and bad welds aka to much heat, not engough wire speed not enough gas flow)
And we never run anything uphill everything is ran downhill just wire speed up a bit and heat down but love your videos I love seeing how other people do stuff and what their technique is
I'll have to try a spool gun before offering an opinion on preference but, aside from quickly laying down ugly beads compared to using a Tig torch and filler rods I don't really see a great advantage. You can't get into tight spots, you still need to keep the wind from blowing your argon away; the gun is an additional equipment purchase as well as more spools of filler to buy and keep on hand. Pound for pound the little spools are the most expensive so you're wrapping up even more money in wire plus now, storing it until you need it. Maybe if it was flux cored I could see a great advantage for welding in the field! As I say, I really need to try it before I make a judgement call but the obvious evidence doesn't make me feel like I gotta have it! Thanks very much for the demo video though. It certainly was worth the time to watch it!!! ✌️
I am NOT a professional welder. Just a DIY guy that had some exposure in my mid teens during high school working at a machine/welding shop. The boss was known as the best helicopter-arc welder around, Aluminum and SS. He had a Miller with a spool gun he used occasionally for longer welds on new work but by far he used Tig, especially for repairs. Seemed he could far better control the heat and the gas saturation of the weld area. I enjoy welding though I am constantly watching and learning. I was taught if it had flux weld uphill, if it was gas purge up or downhill was ok so long as the weld puddle and tie-in interface was controllable and good.
I do straight 90 downhill runs with our push pull pulse mig machines. The spool gun will do it too. I don't go vertical up because with alum it never works. You fight gravity and it ends up looking junky. Which is weird because I can weld overhead all day long if I wanted to with no problems.
Thank you for your input I am brand new and afraid to start learning how to welding, always thinking that I am going to get zapped at any moment, but I have to learn, I like what your doing helps a lot! Thank you Adam in San Francisco California
LoL same here 😂 I'm just starting off with welding as well. For the past year or so I've been reading lots of books and visiting tons of channels on UA-cam for instruction including several that are videos taken straight from vocational training classroom DVDs . There's tons of things to learn for sure . Before I got started the first thing I did was to make sure I had a safe way to do it by building a proper sized circuit ,with a breaker that could handle the amount of current the machine needs and made sure everything is built to code and then some . Only after all that did I think about using it . With all that said it takes practice and making mistakes, learning from those mistakes in order to feel confident and not be afraid to use the machine . First and foremost observe and practice all safety aspects of using the machine and absolutely make sure you have all the proper safety gear you should have before doing anything . Also just as there are really good channels on UA-cam for instruction like this one, there's also some bad ones where they'll take shortcuts or they're not being very safe . If I see someone doing things like that I won't waste my time trying to learn from them.. period . Well anyways good luck with your endeavors on learning how to weld and be safe ! 👍✌️
On the craters I weld at a unnamed big trailer manufacturer 90% spool gun mig always push and uphill vertical what I do is go right to the end of weld speed up travel speed 2" from end of weld hit the end of joint then go back 2" just as fast ( the double pass at double speed puts same metal down) then at very end pull back slowly increasing your stick out to about. 3/4" as u pull away slow tipping the gun parallel. To weld not pulling straight out no fish eyes and your right fish eyes cause cracks every time
I've just recently started using a spool gun. It's not my first time welding aluminum, but I can't figure this thing out. I'll get 2" that's pretty decent, then 4" of nothing but bubble gum. Wire is tensioned pretty well, and draws very smoothly and consistently, I've tried push/pull 90°/20° ect and I haven't touched the settings at all. It's my bosses $200 Amazon special which no doubt is a factor.
We’re gonna be welding aluminum with the new welder in a week or so...that spool gun looks a lot faster than any tig welder....but tig is where the rubber meets the road as far as I’m concerned ! But I will get a spool gun to play with on the bigger tasks..Thanks for another great video !
I love watching your channel. I’m a novice welder and learn a lot while watching. I don’t think your ungrounded gun cabinet idea is a good idea Bob. It would definitely work, but ummm, that is hinting group therapy. 😂
Good info Bob. I bought the ESAB 285, my settings to get the somewhat same result are different. 20 Volts and around 600 for wire speed. that's with .035 4043 on not clean 1/4"
don't think you need any help. found your tuition very informative. have just bought a spool gun rather than an ac/dc tig for now, wanted to know the set up and you answered any questions I had. thx for that
6:45 PRO TIP: finished welding up a huge tank (water, oil, gas, doesnt matter) and realize you have 1-100 pin holes from your craters??? Ivory Soap Other soap may work but I know for a fact Ivory works best. something in it reacts to gas/water/oil and plugs holes right up. just take a piece of the soap (I keep some next to my soap stone for marking) and massage it into the leak. will stop the leak and never leak again. If it works on a vibrating 60 year old chopper tank.... it will work for you. Good Luck!!
Spoolgun with a flex tip is great for truck bodies. For thin stuff tig. But for thick use spoolgun. I always weld down hill so the argon covers the welding material. Most don't like aluminum welding because you have to move faster. They key is the aluminum should look polished after welding, if it is dull or any black check your setting and process, because that means you will most likely have Porosity in your weld. Been aluminum welding with spoolguns for decades. By down hill you are almost 90° to the joint.
At the end of the weld you need to pause for about a 1 count to fill the stop so the weld won't crack. The start and stop are the most important. Pre-heat if needed but be careful, aluminum turns to powder real quick with to much of it. Other then that good weld brother.. keep helping build America 1 weld at a time!!!!!!!
The Miller 30amp spool gun has a two stage trigger for post/pre flow not sure if other guns have this. No wire just gas found this out by accident because of the same issue with cratering.
ty...sir for your vids...i tend to fix things around the house or tad more, and welding isnt one of my strong suits ....But with your help the welds , LOOKing better bi weekly LOL ...thnx again....woring with 150 amp stick&Mig its good for around the house fixings stuff...
I've watched this a few time, and read all the comments, too! You're getting some good ones in here, and also some other shop teachers, and people with long experience. I'm calling for some kind of congress here, where you have a room full of shop teachers, or a room full of people with deep experience on this (or some other) controversial topic... and see if we can advance the state of the art! I bet there's a grant for this somewhere. Anyway, this gives me a lot to go on. An aside about plastic gun liners: I've been saying all along that the liner should be Nylon or some special plastic with good compatibility with Aluminum. Teflon is not great for this! I know this shocks people, but it's true in practice and also in the literature. SO, I just found online a Chinese supplier of welding stuff that has a dozen different type of gun liners, one seems to be nylon/graphite! One is bronze wire... they don't say much and of course what they do say is sometimes garbled or just copied. I'm going to try a few, and see if one can't use a cheap MIG machine and a carefully maintained gun assembly to do routine MIG Aluminum. They had U-groove drive rollers, too.
My experience is to not whip it very slight manipulation, just push it. Your using straight argon its basically spray MIG. Try to use 50 series wire when possible it runs wayyy cleaner and much stronger weld.
more volts = more better on ali in my experience I did some work for electrified rail and we were running up in the 30's with double pulse and it ran sweet with a pull gun not spool.
At times, when i have the luxury, I'll use a run-on and run-off tab at the beginning and end of the joint. This keeps the cold start blob, and crater at the end, in check. Then just peel off the tabs and dress the weld
Bob you might try More volts than you think you need and just keep one hand on the volt knob adjustment while your runing the bead. It needs to spray or sing not pop as you know. You might try Helium or a pulse mig but their not cheap HUH ;
I find vertical down helps a bunch when your doing aluminum sheetmetal like say 12gauge with MIG on the spoolgun...although my Lincoln100SG spits out the wire up and to the left which I don't really like, I don't think there's really any way to get around it because it's coming rate off the roll and only traveling a few inches, so gotta live with the cast.
I've been thinking about getting into welding and possibly doing aluminum truck bodies and trailers. What do you think of the Miller 255 ? I was thinking that the push pull gun was the way to go because it just looks easier to work with and it can use big spools of wire that are more economical.
another way to stop fish eye/ craters is to use run on and run off tabs where they can be used. But still good runs as another guy said increase your heat a bit more.
Bit confused here. Are you using spray transfer here? It almost sounds like short circuit which I thought was a no-no for mig welding aluminum. Am I correct or can aluminum be welded by short cicuit? Thx for the reply
....13:30.......preheat...definitely......and position?....for thinner stuff .120" or so....downhill works....but heavier material...uphill and a little weave action.... I've had stuff like big rings rolled out of 1-1/2" X 12"...ring about 12 feet in diameter, 3 joints at 120 degrees apart....preheat to 200-300 and 'V' both sides to be able to weld 100%...switch from one side to the other to reduce stresses and cover after welding to cool slowly....some sort of lifting device for 'Rockets'....JPL laboratory...
Im a professional aluminum welder. Ive welded xray aluminum piping and plate for varies applications. I can start by telling you need more voltage.Also it ok to weld downhill only if the weld wont be pressured,strained or subject to vibrations. Uphill is the way to go but does take high skill level using cv. It is however easier with pulse mig.A push angel with high voltage tighter oscillations and faster travel speeds will deliver best results.
Good stuff. Thanks for the feedback.
I was wondering about that, how well pulse manages the heat through a spool gun. Will all spool guns work with pulse if the machine has it?
I’d start around 23 24 volts
Does a ground not have to be used or is it grounded through the table? Probably a dumb question but just trying to understand as best I can
@@zachlarson8360 a ground is necessary. It is grounded through the table.
I've been around aluminum Mig welding since 1987 building transport trailers, first using Miller's huge "camcorder" spool gun then later using their XR-30 guns, and lots of different makes and models since then. I am currently employed as an outside sales rep for a welding supplier and I frequently teach customers how to weld aluminum.
For general purpose welding I suggest 4043 3/64" wire (because of its current carrying capabilities) and at least 35cfh Argon gas flow, and a 15-20 degree tilt back on the gun, always pushing the weld. In this video your fume extractor is creating a draft, which means you will need to add more gas.
GROUND is very very important in all welding but is particularly important when welding aluminum, for your test area I would suggest that you find a way to ground each piece that you are welding, I'm sure you noticed those little arc tracks on the bottom of your coupons because your piece was trying to find ground. It will also help minimize burn backs to the tip as you start to increase your heat to get further into spray transfer.
Keep up the good work, I'm very impressed with the arc stability of that machine, I haven't seen one run aluminum before but I may need to get one in my store for testing based on what I see on your video.
Scott
A gall dang gentleman here, sharing tips on a professional level.
Hi how are you ? I have a question, do you need an AC/DC mig to weld aluminum with a spool gun, or only with DC you can do it? Thanks
@@MatiasArezo AC would be for TIG welding. For a spool gun you would use the same machine as a normal wire feed. You will need to change the gas to 100% Argon. You should be able to search your existing wire feed welder and see what spool gun options are available.
So I run a 150 amp spoolgun on my millermatic 211. Welds come out good and shiny. But all around the weld is heavy black soot. I’ve messed with gas and everything else I can think of and I can’t get rid of it. Any and all thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.
@@Froggies505 The black smoke next to the weld is normal, it’s called “smut” and is easiest to clean off after you finish your weld. I would normally keep a stainless steel tooth brush in my breast pocket to clean welds. Cleaning the weld joint of all impurities with a large stainless brush will help reduce the smut from the weld zone.
I hope your students can appreciate how lucky the are to have you as a teacher. I would pay good money to go to a class you teach.
neoc03 lol right!
Lol swinging on them nuts
you probably dont give a damn but does any of you know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account?
I was stupid forgot my password. I love any assistance you can give me
@Shepherd Aiden Instablaster =)
@Landyn Nathan I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
7 years later and this video is still teaching.....picked up a Tweco spool gun for my Rebel 215 and was struggling to get good consistent beads. Watched a few other videos, but they didn't really help. Watched this one, tweaked a few setting based on what Bob did, and bingo....good welds, consistent from joint to joint, and still worked in a few different joint configurations. Thank you much Bob!
I love the outtakes at the end. While I appreciate that you have to be professional in the body of your video's, your personality is FAR more entertaining in the outtakes. Thanks for including them.
I love the fact that Bob welds sitting down; now that's a guy after my own heart.
Makes it easier to film. Camera guy rules!!
What you need is a stool with wheels, so you can roll between the welder, welding table, tool bench, etc without standing up. Why walk when you can roll? It saves time and energy.
The first rule of welding is "Get comfortable." Right? That's what I was taught!
fredy gump Genius!
fredy gump Pretty soon I'll need a gurney!
I was always told to work smarter not harder, what is smart about standing all the time. Especially when doing something that requires steady hands and good coordination, I figure sitting removes a lot of variables.
Bob,
Looks good but remember that welding aluminum with a spool gun should be ran with a "spray" transfer. You are starting out fine but increase your stick out to maintain the spray transfer. running downhill can be done with a near perpendicular gun angle. Uphill sometimes is easier as you are not chasing your puddle. Another thing to help is to clean your oxide off the plate before you hit it with the arc.
Chris Ingram
welding Instructor
Dawson Community College.
The videos on your channel helped me understand your experience level. I knew you had to be a pro to correct Bob so I was in for a treat!
Wire feed aluminum downhill vs uphill mainly depends on scope; code or non code work. If the work is coded then uphill is your best bet to pass NDT or DT (non destructive or destructive testing).
Thanks,
Quincy
Thanks for your post. I went and checked out all of your welding videos so I could see how you know so much that you could correct Bob.
Thanx soooo much for taking the time to honestly share your skills.My 18yr old son got a scholarship to our trade school in metal fab where they watch your vids.I was certified years ago and now learn vicariously through you and he! Many many thanks
I'm just starting off with welding and glad that I found this channel .
230 volts ungrounded, with that evil chuckle and smirk. Good I love listening to this guy. ;-)
Bob, for my spoolguns I have to hold and unusually larger gap from the tip to the material. Like around 3\4" or so. Turn your voltage up to about 23ish volts. Almost like a spray transfer
The black soot can be prevented with cleaning the surface before welding. Also increasing arc length to rid the spatter and crackle sound.
Hello Bob. I've welded for 30 plus. I was welder in navy. We learned welding aluminum with spool gun vert up and overhead heavy plate 1/2 an thicker using short circuit transfer and co2 as shielding gas. Never used it since very interesting to say ther least but weld result was good. I've since used spray transfer on trailers and misc and used mix gas for heavy parts or build up on tire molds the gas shield is key. I use to have diagram of weld profiles with different shielding gases. Would like to hear your tale on how gases effect weld characteristics and heat imput
It’s early days for me in this field and for a man of your obvious experience I’m finding your videos very grounded and honest. I’m encouraged by them to experiment and be open minded about the results. Every day’s a school day and we all need good teachers and you are laying out great information which doesn’t claim to be definitive but is clearly setting a high level for a beginner like me to aim for👍😊
Unfortunately Bob has retired. I used to watch him years ago and he was great. I've just come back for a little refresher on Al welding with a spool gun. Good luck on your career and if you can find any old vids with Bob, watch them. He was great. I miss him.
Bob is slowly becoming a welding meme and I god damn love it.
I always wanted to make a Mr.Tig meme of him with either huge bong on a psychedelic background and the text "Dab..Dab..Dab..Dab.." at the bottom or in the dab dance pose that says "Dabbin' on those stitches". But yeah Bob's freakin' hilarious, love the outtakes.
Steve just Steve yes you have to do this.
Why would you use the Lords name that way? He died for you so you may have eternal life. He controls your next breath. Think about what your sayin. He loves you Bro.
First time when I am experiencing with spool gun I insist lot of problem during aluminium welding. Now really got a good idea from your demonstration. Thanks Mr.Bob😃
not meant as anything but positive criticism. I know it helped me with my Spanish when I was learning it. The way your comment should read is:
"The first time I used a spool gun I encountered a lot of problems. After watching your video I got some good ideas. Thanks Mr. Bob"
In school we did more of a forward whip and pause technique. It kept the weld clean, allowed to move ahead of the puddle for a good tie in and allows for reinforcement. Good for a sort of stack of dimes.
I weld aluminum dump trailers and the best way to get rid of that hole and crater when u get to the end of the weld is pull back a little and make real quick tiny circles in place and you won't get that crater also turn the heat up and wire speed down and you won't get that fisheye as much
Robert Uebinger Or adjust your crater fill time on the machine.
Bob thanks. I'm glad I watched this video for the second time. I bought a brand new Lincoln 100s whatever. After watching, I didn't even take it out of the box. I decided to save my money for a pretty nice tig machine and practice, practice, practice. I won't be welding any trailers anytime soon...thanks for the awakening.
Nice quick tip Bob when you do Aluminium also make sure you use the right wire and mention it in the video. On Crater fills try the O motion in the crater. If you can set a post flow or argon it will reduce your crater.
Great episode Bob.For a newby who is about to add a spool gun to my collection, your video gives me great info on where and how to get started. Thanks!
Very impressed! thank you for all your knowledge, thank you for sharing it with all of us. I’m a self taught welder never went to school for a bit of it. I’ve done some pretty amazing things with 3/8” AR plate, and I have welded a lot of other metals and worked a lot with a tig welder as well. Anyway really glad to see where the future of this is going. And thank you again for sharing.
I like this guy. Laid back & a good teacher. Doesn’t come off as a know it all. Thank You
I really get a lot out of your video's, solid information, the nitty gritty answers we need, also that spool gun weld at 6:00 minutes is better than alot of other guys Tig's! Thank You a whole lot!
Thanks for your videos. Finally found someone that won't settle for "OK" quality work! It's a pleasure learning from you!
2:22 Bob is one of the most unintentionally funny people on You Tube. The guy all ways makes me laugh, reminds me of my grandfather.
Never welded aluminum or used a spool gun, but when I do this video will be watched several times before I start......good job.
We had a job on ship heavy aluminum iv just picked up spill gun n went welds looked good. First time set up fit up cleaning is key to welding
Hi Bob I like to watch you every Monday learn something new every week. I am not a professional welder I learn as I go.
JD
I'm eager to learn more on aluminum welding I've done some in the past not a hole lot but with the mig gun lately I been getting calls for aluminum welding repairs so I'm starting to invest in the equipment I like the way you explain clearly
I got a job building aluminum dumpsters years ago, and I learned to let the metal bear most of the weight and walk that nozzle like a tig cup. God bless and work safe.
Thanks Bob for the show, spool gun is the only way I have to play with aluminum. My Miller is DC only for tig welding and I have had very little tig practice. Great info.
hey bob, I didn't start liking my spool gun until I started setting up for spray transfer essentially. That fixed lots of things as long as you get and keep moving fast. Also I find it helpful to have a little pull angle going down hill with a little higher gas flow. You can hold the puddle up a little if you are a little cold, and that seems to work. Don't know if that is sound but my spool gun is on too small of a machine really, so necessity became the mother of invention...
You can leg out of it too and up onto your base material to keep crater cracks from forming
you don't want a tight arc with aluminum MIG. but you also don't want so little wire feed that you're constantly burning up tips. put a bushing on the feed spindle and grease it lightly as needed to eliminate chatter and inconsistent feeding. I run an old miller spool gun at elite trailers, my voltage is always set at 26.5 and my wire speed is dictated by hash marks around the dial, I tune it by watching my arc width on tacks and listening for a slight sizzle.
When I close my eyes and listen to Bob talk, all I see is Hank Hill from King oOf The Hill.
...minus the Propane accessories. Do you suspect he might have a small urethra like Hank????!!!! LOL
check out Isaac It'll Be Fine on here aka Ike from CarsandCameras he literally sounds just like Hank Hill... and he has an identical twin brother that sounds a lot like him too.
He's way funnier!
Taught simple classes on welding optimization. Biggest problem? What does voltage do? What does wire-feed speed (amperage) do? Most welders don't know. There are only three controls on a MIG weld and they need to be set in a specific order. 1) wire feed speed increases amperage that provides penetration. 2) Travel speed and angle fills the crater. 3) Voltage shapes the puddle. ( Also, are you weaving to try and imitate a TIG bead? Each time you weave you change the interaction of the three components and can introduce error. )
I weld aluminum channel probably about 3/16 wall thickness. We use 3/64 wire. About 22v 300 wire uphill doing sort of a whip and pause. Then just change the wire down to 260-270 and run to downhill pass. Just faster and quicker whips.
near 20yr ago , truck shop , wespool welded ,heated , aluminum truck boxes (blacktop haulers) with 75/25 ar/co2 and did very well. i think part of reason was , we used MIG regular , so spool gun aluminum was easier transition , worked very similar.
3/16 tread plate. I would run about 20.3 v and 205-215 wire downhill. To get spray transfer I almost always change wire speed. A lot of sparks is like short circuit MIG and = too much wire. Globs = not enough wire.
yep
Can learn to other welders here on their comment. I am a welder here in saudi arabia in refineries,power plants, chemical plants and industrial plants. Keep it up and i salute you all.
I am wondering if your Argon CFH setting might be what is causing the "raspy" popping affect? Most shielding gas systems build up some inline pressure, so the initial flow is usually much higher than your measured flow rate. It seemed like during the first few seconds of the welds you made, the arc sounded pretty good(CFH rate higher due to pressure build up?) Then after welding a little while the arc becomes erratic in sound(CFH has leveled off and may be too low?) I would try setting the CFH at 40 or 50 and see if the arc remains stable the entire bead.
Im my experience the popping comes from too much wire feed or impurities popping off the arc. Preheat and cleaning solutions can take this away
lots of argon and a little more stickout also a little steel wool in your nozzle makes a defuser like a gas lens
Thank you Bob for another education. Maybe one day soon I will actually take the spool gun I bought in December of 2012 out of the box and give it a try???
I'll tell you my opinion, and I've gotten in lot's of heated debates over this that you should always push your weld. I used to well the BOC trailers. I did lots of aluminum mig and tig welding. To weld the head on the trailer it was 277 inches circumference. It had to be x-rayed and helium leak tested. I hate to say it but you got a lot of people on UA-cam having some experience and are pretending like they know everything about welding and they don't. I been in the trade for 38 years I think in that amount of time I've learned something. When pulling or dragging you always burn into your weld, when pushing you're always pushing it out of your weld "contaminants" hence why you have a cleaner weld. That's my opinion I don't want to get into heated debates I'm sick and tired of all the arguing on UA-cam from pin heads that really don't have much experience. But Hey it is what it is. Like I said this is my opinion.
Hi how are you ? I have a question, do you need an AC/DC mig to weld aluminum with a spool gun, or only with DC you can do it? Thanks
We use a push pull system on our Lincoln mig welders we weld almost exclusively aluminum 6061 base material 5053 wire we always push the welds and never ever weld down hill
I wasn't planning on buying a spool gun but, I am now after watching this video!! thanks
Could you do a video on "troubleshooting" welds with a spool gun I've looked everywhere and can't find anything (good weld and bad welds aka to much heat, not engough wire speed not enough gas flow)
Yes please
And we never run anything uphill everything is ran downhill just wire speed up a bit and heat down but love your videos I love seeing how other people do stuff and what their technique is
I recently acquired a spool gun and looking forward to playing with it. Very helpful Sir. Thank you
I'll have to try a spool gun before offering an opinion on preference but, aside from quickly laying down ugly beads compared to using a Tig torch and filler rods
I don't really see a great advantage.
You can't get into tight spots, you still need to keep the wind from blowing your argon away; the gun is an additional equipment purchase as well as more spools of filler to buy and keep on hand. Pound for pound the little spools are the most expensive so you're wrapping up even more money in wire plus now, storing it until you need it.
Maybe if it was flux cored I could see a great advantage for welding in the field!
As I say, I really need to try it before I make a judgement call but the obvious evidence doesn't make me feel like I gotta have it!
Thanks very much for the demo video though. It certainly was worth the time to watch it!!!
✌️
Price out a push/pull setup vs a spool gun.
I am NOT a professional welder. Just a DIY guy that had some exposure in my mid teens during high school working at a machine/welding shop. The boss was known as the best helicopter-arc welder around, Aluminum and SS. He had a Miller with a spool gun he used occasionally for longer welds on new work but by far he used Tig, especially for repairs. Seemed he could far better control the heat and the gas saturation of the weld area. I enjoy welding though I am constantly watching and learning. I was taught if it had flux weld uphill, if it was gas purge up or downhill was ok so long as the weld puddle and tie-in interface was controllable and good.
Auto correct horse shit helicopter, ha. Heliarc
Again Mr. Moffett, very informative and extremely helpful.
I do straight 90 downhill runs with our push pull pulse mig machines. The spool gun will do it too. I don't go vertical up because with alum it never works. You fight gravity and it ends up looking junky. Which is weird because I can weld overhead all day long if I wanted to with no problems.
Thank you for your input I am brand new and afraid to start learning how to welding, always thinking that I am going to get zapped at any moment, but I have to learn, I like what your doing helps a lot! Thank you Adam in San Francisco California
LoL same here 😂 I'm just starting off with welding as well. For the past year or so I've been reading lots of books and visiting tons of channels on UA-cam for instruction including several that are videos taken straight from vocational training classroom DVDs . There's tons of things to learn for sure .
Before I got started the first thing I did was to make sure I had a safe way to do it by building a proper sized circuit ,with a breaker that could handle the amount of current the machine needs and made sure everything is built to code and then some .
Only after all that did I think about using it . With all that said it takes practice and making mistakes, learning from those mistakes in order to feel confident and not be afraid to use the machine .
First and foremost observe and practice all safety aspects of using the machine and absolutely make sure you have all the proper safety gear you should have before doing anything .
Also just as there are really good channels on UA-cam for instruction like this one, there's also some bad ones where they'll take shortcuts or they're not being very safe . If I see someone doing things like that I won't waste my time trying to learn from them.. period .
Well anyways good luck with your endeavors on learning how to weld and be safe ! 👍✌️
The last comment about the gun cabinet had me roaring laughing. Just what I needed! Thanks guys
I’ve seen people pre heat with a small propane torch like 150° and spool gun ran pretty nicely
On the craters I weld at a unnamed big trailer manufacturer 90% spool gun mig always push and uphill vertical what I do is go right to the end of weld speed up travel speed 2" from end of weld hit the end of joint then go back 2" just as fast ( the double pass at double speed puts same metal down) then at very end pull back slowly increasing your stick out to about. 3/4" as u pull away slow tipping the gun parallel. To weld not pulling straight out no fish eyes and your right fish eyes cause cracks every time
I've just recently started using a spool gun.
It's not my first time welding aluminum, but I can't figure this thing out.
I'll get 2" that's pretty decent, then 4" of nothing but bubble gum.
Wire is tensioned pretty well, and draws very smoothly and consistently, I've tried push/pull 90°/20° ect and I haven't touched the settings at all.
It's my bosses $200 Amazon special which no doubt is a factor.
In our production shop if we go downhill we point down but if it's thick enough go up
Stephen La France i welded aluminum w mig for 10 yrs before i realized that, makes all the difference for downhill
We’re gonna be welding aluminum with the new welder in a week or so...that spool gun looks a lot faster than any tig welder....but tig is where the rubber meets the road as far as I’m concerned ! But I will get a spool gun to play with on the bigger tasks..Thanks for another great video !
I hope everybody knows to stick around to the very end of the video for some classic Bob outtakes. He's hilarious.
Very good teaching ability, easy to understand. Thanks
I love watching your channel. I’m a novice welder and learn a lot while watching. I don’t think your ungrounded gun cabinet idea is a good idea Bob. It would definitely work, but ummm, that is hinting group therapy. 😂
Brilliant man ❤️👀👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Good info Bob. I bought the ESAB 285, my settings to get the somewhat same result are different. 20 Volts and around 600 for wire speed. that's with .035 4043 on not clean 1/4"
don't think you need any help. found your tuition very informative. have just bought a spool gun rather than an ac/dc tig for now, wanted to know the set up and you answered any questions I had. thx for that
6:45 PRO TIP: finished welding up a huge tank (water, oil, gas, doesnt matter) and realize you have 1-100 pin holes from your craters???
Ivory Soap
Other soap may work but I know for a fact Ivory works best. something in it reacts to gas/water/oil and plugs holes right up. just take a piece of the soap (I keep some next to my soap stone for marking) and massage it into the leak. will stop the leak and never leak again. If it works on a vibrating 60 year old chopper tank.... it will work for you. Good Luck!!
I LOVE a spool gun. I spent many of hours using one in the bed of aluminum body dump trucks. Because they wear faster than steel bodies.
Spoolgun with a flex tip is great for truck bodies. For thin stuff tig. But for thick use spoolgun. I always weld down hill so the argon covers the welding material. Most don't like aluminum welding because you have to move faster. They key is the aluminum should look polished after welding, if it is dull or any black check your setting and process, because that means you will most likely have Porosity in your weld. Been aluminum welding with spoolguns for decades. By down hill you are almost 90° to the joint.
Do the gun cabinet and the tool box, both would be cool!
Use the same push technique on mig and tig . That spool gun is a lot better than trying to push the wire through a mig cable. Birdnest city!
At the end of the weld you need to pause for about a 1 count to fill the stop so the weld won't crack. The start and stop are the most important. Pre-heat if needed but be careful, aluminum turns to powder real quick with to much of it. Other then that good weld brother.. keep helping build America 1 weld at a time!!!!!!!
The Miller 30amp spool gun has a two stage trigger for post/pre flow not sure if other guns have this. No wire just gas found this out by accident because of the same issue with cratering.
That's funny, 230 volts security system. I love that Bob.
ty...sir for your vids...i tend to fix things around the house or tad more, and welding isnt one of my strong suits ....But with your help the welds , LOOKing better bi weekly LOL ...thnx again....woring with 150 amp stick&Mig its good for around the house fixings stuff...
Nice demo! I like to work... and the humor is a bonus, makes it fun to watch
i see that on the 2nd fill (underside) you were at 125IPM (time 5:44) then the ESAB was changed in a later scene to 380IPM. Please elaborate. thx
I've watched this a few time, and read all the comments, too! You're getting some good ones in here, and also some other shop teachers, and people with long experience. I'm calling for some kind of congress here, where you have a room full of shop teachers, or a room full of people with deep experience on this (or some other) controversial topic... and see if we can advance the state of the art! I bet there's a grant for this somewhere. Anyway, this gives me a lot to go on.
An aside about plastic gun liners: I've been saying all along that the liner should be Nylon or some special plastic with good compatibility with Aluminum. Teflon is not great for this! I know this shocks people, but it's true in practice and also in the literature. SO, I just found online a Chinese supplier of welding stuff that has a dozen different type of gun liners, one seems to be nylon/graphite! One is bronze wire... they don't say much and of course what they do say is sometimes garbled or just copied. I'm going to try a few, and see if one can't use a cheap MIG machine and a carefully maintained gun assembly to do routine MIG Aluminum. They had U-groove drive rollers, too.
So humble. Awesome tracher
Love the "Londoner" accent with a southern twang.....give Bob a job on Eastenders...😂
Those were some pretty good welds
Great episode.
Hi bob. That sound is because maybe the wire speed is too high for the voltage. Go down in speed wire and keep the voltage
My experience is to not whip it very slight manipulation, just push it. Your using straight argon its basically spray MIG. Try to use 50 series wire when possible it runs wayyy cleaner and much stronger weld.
more volts = more better on ali in my experience I did some work for electrified rail and we were running up in the 30's with double pulse and it ran sweet with a pull gun not spool.
Love your gun cabinet ideas 👍😂😂
At times, when i have the luxury, I'll use a run-on and run-off tab at the beginning and end of the joint. This keeps the cold start blob, and crater at the end, in check. Then just peel off the tabs and dress the weld
same procedure on structural steel
Bob you might try More volts than you think you need and just keep one hand on the volt knob adjustment while your runing the bead. It needs to spray or sing not pop as you know. You might try Helium or a pulse mig but their not cheap HUH ;
I find vertical down helps a bunch when your doing aluminum sheetmetal like say 12gauge with MIG on the spoolgun...although my Lincoln100SG spits out the wire up and to the left which I don't really like, I don't think there's really any way to get around it because it's coming rate off the roll and only traveling a few inches, so gotta live with the cast.
It's realy good for field work .
I've been thinking about getting into welding and possibly doing aluminum truck bodies and trailers. What do you think of the Miller 255 ? I was thinking that the push pull gun was the way to go because it just looks easier to work with and it can use big spools of wire that are more economical.
another way to stop fish eye/ craters is to use run on and run off tabs where they can be used. But still good runs as another guy said increase your heat a bit more.
Gave it a noice light buff here🤣👌
Bit confused here. Are you using spray transfer here? It almost sounds like short circuit which I thought was a no-no for mig welding aluminum. Am I correct or can aluminum be welded by short cicuit?
Thx for the reply
When working with old aluminum, is there a way to know what grade it is?
I know this is a little late bob but you want it hissing an you get better welds while pushing on both a spool gun an with a python (push pull)
Back the wire speed down a little sounds like your short Arcing always wanna spray
....13:30.......preheat...definitely......and position?....for thinner stuff .120" or so....downhill works....but heavier material...uphill and a little weave action....
I've had stuff like big rings rolled out of 1-1/2" X 12"...ring about 12 feet in diameter, 3 joints at 120 degrees apart....preheat to 200-300 and 'V' both sides to be able to weld 100%...switch from one side to the other to reduce stresses and cover after welding to cool slowly....some sort of lifting device for 'Rockets'....JPL laboratory...
A question.......if you are able to do scratch Tig with a DC inverter stick welder could you use a spool gun with one too?
you bob are the man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!