I own a Maxstar 200DX and have no plans to replace it anytime soon (using my $$$ mostly to pay for welding school). I know its possible to weld Al using DCEP but theres very little detailed info written about it (that I could find anyway). Has anyone tryed this? What is your setup? What are the pitfalls...things to watch out for? What can I pratically expect to weld (thickness-wise) using a 200A machine?
welding Al on DC
Jun 14, 2004
2 Replies
I have the same machine.
I have written up the process several times here.
The basic rule is the tungsten needs to be at least as thick as your base metal. This limits you to 1/8" aluminum with a #2 series torch and 5/32" with a #3 series torch since those are the largest tungstens each torch can handle.
If you had a 500 amp tig torch you could weld up to 1/4" aluminum.
The tungsten will ball up rapidly so use the biggest tungsten you can.
On the Maxstar 200DX running DCEP and pure argon it is actually quite a nice weld.
If you only have a air cooled torch it will heat up very fast since most of he heat is slamming back into it.
1.5% and 2% Lanthanated tungstens work best. DO NOT use Zirconiated tungstens, they only work on AC.
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