[COLOR= rgb(178, 34, 34)]Hello everyone, I am looking to make some mods to my mountain bike but i can't find a good welder to do it with.....so does anyone know where to find a good plasma/tig unit hopefully in one unit...any help will be greatly appreciated thanks in advance[/COLOR]
Help finding a welding unit??
- Thread starter cycledude101
- Start date
If you are welding Aluminum I would advise getting someone with experience to do it. It is much harder to get the temperature range correct than say steel. You can either burn right through or not get a good weld if the temp is too low I am told that cleaning with steel wool is also a key to getting a good weld.
I would say you can rent a unit at your local equipment rental shop and if you are an expert welder just disregard my comments, otherwise I suggest getting a lot of practicing first on scrap metal or better yet find someone with a lot of experience welding Aluminum.
I would say you can rent a unit at your local equipment rental shop and if you are an expert welder just disregard my comments, otherwise I suggest getting a lot of practicing first on scrap metal or better yet find someone with a lot of experience welding Aluminum.
Do you have any three phase outlets available or are you looking for a little single phase unit? Miller probably has a little single phase that'll do Mig, Tig and stick but as jhuskey pointed out, welding aluminum aint the easiest thing to do and stuff like 6000 series alumium is supposed to be heat treated afterwards if you mig weld.You'll loose a lot of strength - somewhere around 70% to 80% or even more if you're not a great at welding if you don't post weld heat treat.
Before you melt big holes in your frame, head down to the local hardware/supply store that sells all the fun contractor building supply materials etc etc and get some aluminium tubing. You'll probably find that at first the welder makes a better tool for cutting than for joining tubing together.
I've just looked at your machine, and I've never seen this unit before. How much did it cost, and where did you get it? Looks like you did some decent welds to start with. Try looking over the way these welds are done on the bikes in the stores, then make yours as much like them as possible. That is, you'll need to space your "dips" more closely together so it'll look better, but you're on the right track as is. If you have to, you can use smaller diameter filler wire/rod, which will force you to dip closer together and perhaps a bit faster. You're doing good, though. Post pics of your work on the actual bike!
