Can aluminum be arc welded with rod?

Yes you can stick weld aluminum. It works, and I have done it. It is far from my first choice for aluminum, but it does work.

TIG welds everything metal.

Many TIG welders also have a stick functions. The Miller Synchrowaves have both TIG and stick along with choice of AC or DC.

You can gas weld aluminium just fine.

Brian

There is no better way to weld it. Or stainless. Or pewter (yes, I've done it). Or any other weldable metal.

I have a Thermal Arc 250GTSW TIG machine which I use for almost all my welding. (I occasionally have a job for my small O/A rig.) And, BTW, my TIG is the nicest, smoothest stick welder I have ever used. This is handy when I have an outdoor job and it's breezy.

Ted

I have the Thermal Arc 190GTS and absolutely love it. I do mostly TIG but am trying to learn stick welding. I only wish that it was AC also. The auto-sensing power supply is nice when I want to do a light job and only have 110 volts available. As I get older I really appreciate the light weight. :-)

I have never pushed it to its limits but expect that I will soon. I need to weld some 3/8" steel plates with beads about 4" long. Do you think this machine will handle it? I suspect that I should use stick for this, but would appreciate advice.

Alan

Thanks for the great input. Gives me a new direction to go on. Ronnie