I'm [hopefully] going to be bringing a couple tall bikes to the playa with me this year and am looking forward to constructing them. I have access to a MIG welder. I'm wondering if i'll be able to weld newer aluminum frames together easily, or should i be looking for older steel frames to use?
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 2:15 AMwith a mig welder you cannot weld AL. steel only. If you are working on a tall bike project, why not use a bunch of kids bikes- like 12/16/20 inch sizes? they are abundant and free.
tom -
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 5:42 AMBe sure to sand/grind/remove the paint around the weld area. Stinky & BAD for you to breath while welding. -
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 9:30 AMBail on the aluminum plan unless you are planning on racing and then I still don't recommend it. As you build your machine you will want to add bottom brackets and bearings and miscellaneous parts that are probably made of steel and it is way easier to weld than to make brackets and bolt things together.
Also, field repairs at the burn will be virtually nil with aluminum. You can find steel welding on almost any block of the playa but aluminum is a bit too exotic for that.
Don't get me wrong, I am shopping for a mig and spool gun combo myself for working with aluminum but that is for some specialty things and some racing applications. It is fun and sexy but steel is much more readily available.
As a final note: I have become a huge fan of using innershield wire instead of the mig with CO2. The welds are not as clean looking but you can weld thicker material and in way more awkward positions than you can with the MIG. Usually this just means changing out the wire and reversing the polarity.
Good luck,
Captain Chuck
Inspiratum 2008
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 10:28 AMRe: "with a mig welder you cannot weld AL. steel only"
According to my MIG kit, I can but I need aluminum wire and a pure argon shield gas (not the CO2/Ar mix like for steel).
Even if it's possible, iit should not be hard to find cheap steel frames to start from. Plus, it's also cheaper to buy steel pipe and fittings if you want to do something funny and don't have the parts in scrap.
My recommendation is for steel. I've always wanted to play with aluminum but have yet to find a reason.
Fuck you, I love you,
---Jason Olshefsky -
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 2:14 PMcool, thanks for the comments. Looks like i'll be going with steel frames.
I can't wait to start building...and riding it. I saw a couple people on tall bikes in the streets of Austin, TX a couple days ago and it cracked me up. -
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MIG welding aluminum
Thu, March 20, 2008 - 5:14 PMIt is possible to strap on an argon bottle, change the wire to aluminum and change your MIG over to weld aluminum. Keep in mind that it takes more heat to weld aluminum so what you could weld with your MIG you will find that your penetration will not be as good on thicker materials. Also, the softer aluminum wire does not like to feed up the stinger like steel does and it can kink and ball up and cause misery. I am looking to buy a MIG for aluminum pretty soon and I will use a spool gun to get around that problem.
Captain Chuck
Inspiratum 2008 -
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Re: MIG welding aluminum
Fri, March 21, 2008 - 11:07 PMFirst I was like, "huh?" It takes more heat to melt steel than aluminum. But that's per-unit-mass, right? Aluminum wicks heat away faster than a ho takes yo money, so I guess it may actually take more heat.
That whole not-feeding-correctly seems like exactly the kind of problem my otherwise finicky Hobart would do. Good advice.
Fuck you, I love you,
---Jason Olshefsky
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Fri, March 28, 2008 - 10:55 AMFWIW there's a wealth of info to be found over at the usenet group: sci.engr.joining.welding. Look for postings by Ernie. His homepage is also a treasure trove of good info: www.stagesmith.com/Metal-links.html
Oh, and I'm assuming you've got a copy of Atomic Zombie's book? If not get one! Everything you ever wanted to know about hacking bike frames in one big hunk: www.atomiczombie.com -
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Fri, March 28, 2008 - 3:12 PMand chunk 666.
and black label bike club.
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Sat, March 29, 2008 - 4:24 PMyeah, i came across all those websites/bike clubs when looking around at bike ideas. Some cool shit out there.
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Thu, April 17, 2008 - 12:42 PMGo with steel. You can braze it with oxy -acetylene torches like older bike frames. Easy to repair. Wire welding (mig) of steel is pretty straighforward also. You have a fair amount of latitude in amperage / heat on your weld. Aluminum is a challenge. The amount of heat between barely stuck together; a good weld where everything is fused together; and oh crap! a big melted glob on the bench is pretty fine. It takes quite a bit of practice to get it right, and every combo of thicknesses; and tube vs. plate is different. Like mentioned earlier a spool gun is the only way to go with aluminum and they can be fussy too. They are not cheap either in addition to the cost of the mig welder.
Don't worry too much about weight....the playa is flat. -
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Re: welding frames steel v. alum.
Thu, April 17, 2008 - 2:04 PMyeah, i'm def. going to be using steel frames now. I've got one bike w/ a pretty solid frame and am looking for another one of a similar size. Then the cutting and welding begins. Can't wait.
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