SpotWeldingAluminum

Greetings Chris, I have almost no experience spot welding. But, goofing around with microwave oven transformers with rewound secondaries putting out about

3 volts open circuit I was able to stick together aluminum sheet about .060 thick. Heat was applied 4 times for about 2 seconds each time. They stuck pretty well. So borrow that unit and give some scrap pieces a try! Eric

"@@houston.rr.com" wrote in news:lnvrc.11955$ snipped-for-privacy@fe2.texas.rr.com:

Apparently the folks who built my airplane didn't know your welding supplier :-) The aluminum door skins are spot welded, and have held up for

58 years.

Rob

I have never spot welded aluminum but have heard it isn't easy. I was told that adding a piece of thin galvanized steel under each tip helps a lot. Increased resistance may increase heat or something. Don Young

Land Rover have been doing it since 1946,but I don't know how.Interesting to find out.! les

Aluminum can be spotwelded, but it is not easily done with a spotwelder designed to weld steel. The problem is the low resistance of aluminum. A spotwelder for aluminum would be designed for lower voltage and higher current.

That said, it may work with a regular spotwelder. But I would hate to buy a spotwelder without knowing. If it were me, I would try using a Mig welder with a timer and a cup designed for spot welding.

Dan

I have one of the Miller spotwelders and have stuck alum to alum many times. It may notbe as stong as it should be, but what I spotted helpd up fine for what I was doing. Spot welder is a pretty handy item, however they really need a stand orone of those balance type holders from a cable, as they are certainly pretty heavy. Visit my website:

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