Help with spoolgun aluminum welds

[zoama]

Well are you welding with 5356 yet?

I tig welded my boat stringers with 5356. My spool gun has to be sucking air somewhere because I've been through every setting systematically several times with the same results. It can't be the gas since I use the same bottle for tig.
I haven't been out to the shop for a while since my best friend and fishing partner got out of the fence and was run over and killed by some a-hole who didn't bother to stop.

[DaveO]

Sorry to hear about your best friend and fishing partner.

[Rambozo]

My condolences, as well.

[Rugar]

That sucks Zoama. Sorry to hear that.

[everlastsupport]

Yea, that does suck. I lost mine a couple years ago. Due to my age opted for no more. But you are probably young and will get a new fishing partner your old one will approve of. Sorry to hear about it and down here they would not stop either.

[zoama]

Yea, that does suck. I lost mine a couple years ago. Due to my age opted for no more. But you are probably young and will get a new fishing partner your old one will approve of. Sorry to hear about it and down here they would not stop either.

I'm 50, she was 2. It's illegal to hit a dog and not stop here in South Carolina. I only wish they had stopped to give me a chance to save her.

[everlastsupport]

I'm 50, she was 2. It's illegal to hit a dog and not stop here in South Carolina. I only wish they had stopped to give me a chance to save her.

I have you by 7 (I figured a lot more). I know it sucks though. Crazy here, you hit a duck and there is a fine. Not sure if anything for a dog.

I know when mine was hit it there was no hope though. Private road and all but it still happened. I wish you well. Hang in there. 1 year, 2 year 10 years. All hurts.

[Kempy]

I tig welded my boat stringers with 5356. My spool gun has to be sucking air somewhere because I've been through every setting systematically several times with the same results. It can't be the gas since I use the same bottle for tig.
I haven't been out to the shop for a while since my best friend and fishing partner got out of the fence and was run over and killed by some a-hole who didn't bother to stop.

I have being reading this post on spool gun and aluminum welding on mine it was the gas flow was to low on tig welding at was set to 25 to 30 SCFH @ 50 PSIG for aluminum and had to go to 50 to 55 SCFH @ 50 PSIG for the spool gun to get it to work with 5356 but 4043 does work a lot nicer. Sorry about you fishing buddy, had my buddy for 17 years still miss the old girl after two years had a heart attack, dog have them too.

[zoama]

I hate to throw money at problems but I could not make the other spool gun function correctly. It sucked air and had erratic wire feed speed. I tried and tried but couldn't correct those problems.
I purchased the same basic spool gun from Mundaka but it has a much nicer one piece lead, same as a regular mig gun and uses common Tweco front end parts. I changed them to the screw on 23 style that I use on my Profax mig gun.
My skill isn't there yet and I'm guessing at pulse settings but I at least have a starting point now. I also learned from an old Esab chart that 5356 needs lower voltage and higher wire speed than 4043.
Here are a couple of pics I took about two months ago when I got the new spool gun and started testing again
I've been working a lot more lately so I haven't had much testing time but I think I'll catch on quicker now that the spool gun problem is solved.
If anyone would like to share pulse settings for .090 aluminum I'd love to test them. I might even learn to weld in a straight line.

[everlastsupport]

I hate to throw money at problems but I could not make the other spool gun function correctly. It sucked air and had erratic wire feed speed. I tried and tried but couldn't correct those problems.
I purchased the same basic spool gun from Mundaka but it has a much nicer one piece lead, same as a regular mig gun and uses common Tweco front end parts. I changed them to the screw on 23 style that I use on my Profax mig gun.
My skill isn't there yet and I'm guessing at pulse settings but I at least have a starting point now. I also learned from an old Esab chart that 5356 needs lower voltage and higher wire speed than 4043.
Here are a couple of pics I took about two months ago when I got the new spool gun and started testing again
I've been working a lot more lately so I haven't had much testing time but I think I'll catch on quicker now that the spool gun problem is solved.
If anyone would like to share pulse settings for .090 aluminum I'd love to test them. I might even learn to weld in a straight line.

I will get the starting range my son uses. We do 4043 all the time and look great. No spatter. We have never got it to spray with aluminum either.

[zoama]

I will get the starting range my son uses. We do 4043 all the time and look great. No spatter. We have never got it to spray with aluminum either.

Any luck finding those settings? Do you use different settings for 5356?
The forum has that jumping cursor problem again where midway through typing a sentence the cursor jumps to the line above.

[Kempy]

Any luck finding those settings? Do you use different settings for 5356?
The forum has that jumping cursor problem again where midway through typing a sentence the cursor jumps to the line above.

With 4043 .047 it work very well on my MTS 250 V23.2 wire speed and amps 276 100% argon set at 22CFM no smoke nice clean weld on a aluminum .25 and .375.

[zoama]

With 4043 .047 it work very well on my MTS 250 V23.2 wire speed and amps 276 100% argon set at 22CFM no smoke nice clean weld on a aluminum .25 and .375.

Thank you for the tips but 99% of my spool gun work is .090 aluminum sheet and tube. I need pulse to prevent heat buildup from burning through.

[everlastsupport]

Any luck finding those settings? Do you use different settings for 5356?
The forum has that jumping cursor problem again where midway through typing a sentence the cursor jumps to the line above.

I just.got.back.My.space.does.not.work?WillmailLeon. .Trying to get it back were I had it.But.goingfast

[zoama]

I will get the starting range my son uses. We do 4043 all the time and look great. No spatter. We have never got it to spray with aluminum either.

Any new developments?

[everlastsupport]

Any new developments?

He said the main thing is he has to run the AMP/speed knob all the way up. Also little over 1/4" is all he can do wit 4043 .030