Hairbrained Idea?

[ozzie34231]

I have a little Sears 105 Amp MIG machine and it does wonders on steel. It says 20% duty cycle but I 've used it for hours at near capacity amps at 75%.

Anyway I tried some aluminum wire and it does feed okay but trying to get an arc on even thin material is a joke. The wire just welds to the base metal.

I can't afford a real TIG machine right now. Now comes the hairbrained idea. I have a 225 amp AC stick machine. Can I disconnect the MIG machine electrodes from the unit and feed the stick macine output to the MIG torch?

What would be the result? Would I have a better shot at welding some aluminum? I'd have twice the amps, ac which is better for aluminum, yes? And an Argon shield.

Jerry

[Aksess]

I have a lincoln sp100 I use to weld aluminum just fine with. The secret is change the liner, go with the smallest aluminum wire you can find .022 I think is what I use, and pure argon gass.

[Mac T. Knife]

In general, it wouldn't work,,, Mig machine power supplies are a constant voltage supply, with varying amperage depending on wire size, wire speed, and the distance between your work and the contact tip. Stick machines are a constant amperage, variable voltage. There are wire feeders that can be hooked up to a stick machine,,,, but they have built in a wire feed speed control that tries to maintain a set voltage by varying the speed of the wire feed.

[tigpro]

use a aluminum rod for the stick machine? if the weld doesn't have to be pretty you can get a good weld with an ac stick machine with practice. that's what i had to do till i got the syncrowave 350