Setting up s3 for aluminium

[Woody.v8]

I've got some 8mm aluminium to weld and my T220 tig isn't going to be man enough, has anyone got any tips/advice on setting up my s3 mig to do aluminium and will it do a nice neat weld?
I've done a bit of aluminium with mig years ago so will need a bit of practice,
I take it I will need pure Argon, smooth liner and different drive rollers.
Will pulse/double pulse give better results? And am I wasting my time with a normal torch instead of using a push pull or spool on type torch?
Cheers.

 

[Dcal]

Calling @Hood

 

[Munkul]

Teflon or plastic type liner. You will need a brass neck liner, even a watercooled gun starts nipping the wire if its just plain plastic.
Leave the liner long, DON'T cut it at the connector. Take out the capillary tube after the feed rollers, and trim the liner right up to the rollers in V shape.
Don't buy binzel "A" Tips, they're way oversized. Use 1.2 tips for 1.0 wire and 1.4 tips for 1.2. That works for me.
There's a thread in the lorch section i started called torch spares, it has a lot of info about running ally on the S3.

 

[Hood]

You should manage fine with a shortish torch without having to go to push/pull or spool gun (not sure which the S3 will support, if any) The main thing with a normal torch is not to be too long, 3m should be fine, 4m should be ok but longer will likely cause problems. Main thing is try not to put too much of a bend in the torch when welding.

You need a teflon or polyamide or similar liner and you want that liner to go right to the rollers through a brass guide tube.

You are better having heavy duty contact tips designed for aluminium as they have more meat to them and an oversize hole.

Best getting Alu rollers as they have a U groove and will not deform the wire like the V groove for steel would.

Definitely use pulse , it makes positional welding much easier. Double pulse also works well but I usually reserve it for outside corners and pipework.


Welds can be very nice for a MIG, won't be as good as Tig but can be not too far behind.

If your welder supports it, unlikely but you never know, I have a 15m mechafin/lorch nanofeeder that I would sell, assuming you need the reach.