Welding Tips and Tricks

I am new to the forum and have questions about welding aluminum. I have been torch, arc and mig welding for years but I have never welded aluminum. I find myself needing to now learn and am wondering about equipment. My primary machine is a Lincoln DC250 with an LN7 wire feeder that dates back to the early 80's. I have talked to Lincoln and was told that a spool gun cannot be adapted to the LN7. I have been around long enough to know that almost anything is possible with the assistance of Walt Disney's mouse. For what I need to do I believe that a spool gun is my best choice but I do not want to purchase another machine because for what I need to do it will be more cost effective to pay someone to do it than to do it myself. I would rather do it myself if I can modify my present equipment as it is probably not the last time that I will need to weld something aluminum.
What about the low temp aluminum soldering rods? The current project is a small tank that needs to hold less than 20 psi of pressure. I have never tried to use them and am curious about the learning curve.

oldguy44 wrote:I am new to the forum and have questions about welding aluminum. I have been torch, arc and mig welding for years but I have never welded aluminum. I find myself needing to now learn and am wondering about equipment. My primary machine is a Lincoln DC250 with an LN7 wire feeder that dates back to the early 80's. I have talked to Lincoln and was told that a spool gun cannot be adapted to the LN7. I have been around long enough to know that almost anything is possible with the assistance of Walt Disney's mouse. For what I need to do I believe that a spool gun is my best choice but I do not want to purchase another machine because for what I need to do it will be more cost effective to pay someone to do it than to do it myself. I would rather do it myself if I can modify my present equipment as it is probably not the last time that I will need to weld something aluminum.
What about the low temp aluminum soldering rods? The current project is a small tank that needs to hold less than 20 psi of pressure. I have never tried to use them and am curious about the learning curve.

Yes the low temp rods would be the least expensive if the tank were not under pressure.
AC is used in TIG/MIG welding aluminum. Also a Helium/Argon mix for gas helps.

For a small unusual project, I would just hire it out. Or you can probably send it to somebody here on the forum and then they would do it for you for nothing if you paid the shipping of the parts.

Air tank or hydraulic?

original post is over a month old and he hasn't been back in a month.