6061 Sheet

George, you can use a small strip of the sheet to add as filler, or 3003 rod. yes you will get some distortion when heating, best to clamp as much possible the tack every 1/2-1" the length then weld solid. the thicker material does take more heat/time to get to welding temps. Good luck! tt

Why are you doing this with gas?

I can understand being cheap, but in this case you are being real impractical.

This needs to be MIG or TIG welded.

I don;t have a TIG Ernie. I've actually been having fair luck with Aluminum and OA after I bought a starter set from Tinman Tech. I don't do Aluminum much and I'm just trying to get by for now when the occasional task comes to hand. In this case, I'm building a strut tower support bar for my son's car. Definitely nothing production oriented.

Thanks Terry. I'm thinking about how to make the jig to hold it. I have the 3003 wire to do the job + the welding flux.

--George

Now that you mention it Ernie, I hadn't thought about it, but maybe my MIG would work. As it stands today with steel, I feel I have far better control with my Meco miniature torch & OA than I do with the HF MIG. Hence, when I was thinking about this current job, I just thought "OA" and didn't consider the MIG.

I suppose it's worth an experiment as I have plenty of the stock to do some testing. I'll give it a try.

--George

Yes but you can rent machines for a few dollars that will do the job much quicker and easier.

Gas welding aluminum is fine for material up to 1/8", but welding a block to 1/4" sheet is pushing it.

I am not surprised that you are getting distortion. I have build some large pieces with a gas torch, but 1/4" aluminum is not something I would try with gas.

Some rules about pushing aluminum wire through a standard MIG machine

1. Keep the gun as straight as possible. Any kinks or loops in the gun cable will increase friction.

1. Use 5356 wire, it is stiffer and much easier to push.

2. Use very light drive roll pressure, this way he wire will slip rather than birdnest if the wire sticks inside the contact tip.

1. Use Argon or Argon/Helium mix as your shielding gas

2. Best of all worlds, use a smooth drive roller (see point #3), and use a teflon gun liner to reduce friction.

1. Snip the wire off flush with the tip every time you take your finger off the trigger. This ads a slight delay before the wire hits, so the gas has a chance to travel the 12 feet from the solenoid valve.

2. Always push the weld, otherwise the weld will look like crap.

One comment below. See #2

That is true, butI read somewhere that the lower melting point of 4043 more than makes up for these two points. Disclaimer...I have not tried it, but I like to keep an open mind and try new things if something doesent work the first time.

I'll give it a shot Ernie - hopefully next weekend depending on the honey-do list. I'll have to see what wire I have as well as your other comments below. I know I can adjust the feed roller tension and I already bought a bottle of Argon that's sitting off to the side right now unopened. Thus, I'm 99% of the way there.

Thanks!

--George

If you have a spoolgun or a push-pull rig, then yes, but if you try to push 4043 tyhrough a standard MIG, you are in for a world of hurt.