tig welding tinnie advice please

[gutzy]

the fatherinlaw is getting one soon and my eyes lit up.
Ive been wanting to put a few mods in my boat and this sounds like the time to do it.
Is there any special things I should know before I put in stuff like a floor(wood at present), rocket launchers , storage under floor?
I know weight is a factor but is there anything you could recommend?? ;)

[finga64]

First make sure the tig can do ali.
It needs to be an AC/DC one not just DC.
Other then that can't wait for the pictures :) Go to town young fella #:)

[fishingjew]

My question is have you ever used one before?

[gutzy]

no but the inlaw is a panelbeater by trade and is gunna help me on this project.
Cant wait and will show pics as soon as its done ;D ;D

[the_baker]

OH YEAH go sick mate #;D

[lippa]

tig welding ally is hard!!! the substrates have to be perfectly clean. where is a boiler maker, to tell this bloke, how to do it properly???????

[blaze]

clean ever thing you weld with a STAINLESS wire brush (make sure this brush is not used on any other steel). Clean, clean and clean as any impurities cause problems. A tig will start at about $3500 just to weld 3mm plate, 3 phase unit for any thing thicker. Not that hard to do if you have basic welding princables. Practice and practice and then some more practcie. Not welder my self but have a go at any thing. Have fun
cheers
blaze

[Owen]

Gutzy,

First have a look at these sites.

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/gtawbook.pdf

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/tigalum.asphttp://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/tigalum.asp

If you're in Gladstone, you're welcome to drop into work & I'll give you some pointers.
Or just PM me. It'd help if you tell me what make & model machine you're getting.

cheers,
Owen

[Noelm]

tig welding aluminium is not all that dificult if you have the correct equipment, best advice for you is to go to your local TAFE and enroll in a night tig welding course, I have done one myself and can tig weld quite well, even god enough to fix holes in very thin boats, but as stated the key is cleanliness if at all possible, which on a boat is usually not all that easy, because of the salt and corosion but not too bad if you take your time.

[ozscott]

I have done a TAFE course on Tig. DCing allow sucks in a very big way if your a novice - it can be done if your good though; I have seen it first hand. The best way to TIG if your not doing it all the time is use a top end AC/DC machine on AC and pulse on - this way you can feed the filler rod with each pulse stiching nicely. If you bugger it up, it can go very sad very quickly though - too much heat into the job for example can make the allow look like plastic thats in the oven! Best to leave it to the pros unless you have plenty of practice on similar guage alloy before.

The big thing with TIG is cleanliness.

Cheers

[whichway]

I want to get some welding done to my seats on my little tinnie which are filled with foam. Will TIG welding set fire to the foam inside the aluminium seats?

Whichway

[Owen]

I want to get some welding done to my seats on my little tinnie which are filled with foam. Will TIG welding set fire to the foam inside the aluminium seats?

Whichway

Probably
Depends on how close the foam is to where you're welding.

cheers,
Owen

[ahoj]

whichway-- you can do that but wait--- i will send you Insurance broker first

[OISTA]

Go to a scrap metal yard, buy some aluminium (same grade and thickness as your hull) and practice practice practice. You know when you have got the correct current flow when your arc is a nice conical shape and quiet, except for the hum of the welder. Make sure you get the correct welding rods, aswell as electrode (that sits inside hand piece) and keep it sharp and clean. You don't need a huge flow of gas if welding indoors, 12-16l/min should do.

Clean the surface with a stainless brush. Any marking out should be done using a scribe. Weld only in small sections at a time, as to much heat may make things warp. And practice, when holes in alloy get blown out due to over heat they are very hard to make like new again.

The best bet may be for you to fabricate the components yourself (saving money) and taking them to a fab shop to weld to the hull (possibly saving money).

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE :)

[Ally_Jack]

I'm doing mods to my allycraft at the moment, bow mount for the minnkota, casting decks, raising the floor etc etc.
The tig you need costs heaps, I'm lucky we have one at work that I can borrow, and the set up part is hard. We don't weld much ally at work, so we played with scrap for a long time, setting the machine up before starting to weld bits together, and then welded to the boat.
I'm a fitter and turner by trade, and I got our best boily's to help set up the machine before I started playing. There was a fair bit of scratching heads and reading manuals but it's all good now.
But if your buying new unit, the guys should be able to help with that
Also, invest in a lot of flap disks (sanding disks for grinders), They are the best way of cleaning the ally up for welding, run it over all the surfaces you want to weld, even the new stuff.
But when you get it right, it's definately the best way to weld, looks way better than mig.
A picture of the finished product :) :) :)

[the_baker]

Hey Ally Jack you reckon you could keep the pics coming of the boat with the work you are doing to it .



cheers Dave

[Ally_Jack]

No worries Dave,
I was half way through the bow mount when I though about some pictures just to keep for myself. Here's acouple of the mount, the vertical up welding was a challenge, haven't done much of it in a while.
Waiting for the 60 ltr cruisetank to turn up next week, then I can start on the main floor area

[Ally_Jack]

Another

[Ally_Jack]

Finished