MIG Welding Aluminium

[Karl Robbers]

6mm will be the limit of that machine. You can fudge that a bit and probably handle the odd bit of 10mm if you preheat the material first to lessen the heatsink effect.
I didn't realise you were building a boat, I thought this was for your tinnie.
The boat looks good so far.
Given the way you handled the 1.6 ally on your video, I reckon that you could comfortably use 3mm for your upcoming projects unless you actually need the strength of the 4mm. A word of advice though, make sure you buy a bendable grade of 4mm such as 5356 as 4mm is often a non bendable grade and this would limit your options if you need any folding done. 3mm and below are generally sold in bendable grades.
When you need wire next 5356 or preferably 5183 will be what you want.
Keep us posted.

[gazza2009au]

6mm will be the limit of that machine. You can fudge that a bit and probably handle the odd bit of 10mm if you preheat the material first to lessen the heatsink effect.
I didn't realise you were building a boat, I thought this was for your tinnie.
The boat looks good so far.
Given the way you handled the 1.6 ally on your video, I reckon that you could comfortably use 3mm for your upcoming projects unless you actually need the strength of the 4mm. A word of advice though, make sure you buy a bendable grade of 4mm such as 5356 as 4mm is often a non bendable grade and this would limit your options if you need any folding done. 3mm and below are generally sold in bendable grades.
When you need wire next 5356 or preferably 5183 will be what you want.
Keep us posted.

hey karl, i recently sold the tinny mate and am now building the composite boat ive just realized i need a ladder for the back so im thinking of welding an aluminium one along with the bait board and live bait tank

i dont need 4mm but i thought giving the area to weld the outside corner joint 8mm over all would be better than 6mm to give me a little more meat to work with, but 3mm sheets are much easier and cheaper to obtain

i have a roll of 5365 on hand will this be harder or easier to weld over the 4041 im currently using?

[cwcarter]

Use 5356 wire Gazza, its better suited to what material you'll be welding. So is 5183 but it normally costs more.
I think Karl meant use a bendable grade of 4mm such as 5005/5052? 5083 grade plate is bendable using the correct radius dies.
You will probably find that you will need to use higher settings for the 5356 wire then what your using for the 4043.

[Karl Robbers]

That's correct, I was referring to the 4mm plate. As Cwcarter said the 5083 needs a radius bend to prevent cracking and thus doesn't lend itself to general fabrication quite as well as 5356.