Does the Spot Welder TIG Trick Work on Aluminum? 

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I respect Justin even more because despite knowing a ton, he still isn’t so ego filled that he isn’t open to potentially learning new things. He’s truly an expert in his field.

I really loved the '3-Arm' technique in the beginning......made my day seeing that....

Well when you put it that way... That makes a LOT of sense. Also explains why I struggle at times to tack my aluminum pieces together. I've learned a lot. Now about those pink gloves....

Nothing to add just an obligatory algorithm boost for the channel 👍👍

hey Justin, Recently ,a very very long time friend, since 1963, was rebuilding a 1960's era Land Rover, can you say new Aluminum Quarter Panel ent from the UK to the US, way up in West Virginia, I am in Florida ......anyway, there were places that were impossible to get to while putting the new Quarter Panel in.... I suggested to him that he do MIGMAG [GMAW for the AWS crowd] spot welding.... I had never done this with aluminum, carbon steel yes...long story short, it works, but you have to be spot on with the volts, wire speed, and time, your ground/work lead is super critical too..... and of course, you need to modify your contact tips to be shorter if you do not have the proper nozzle ... he did not, as he is using a 1970's era Linde CV machine, [we don't need no stinking inverters] in the past, he had drilled a Gazillion holes and Rosetted them, and the blending was very tedious, my Pal love beating himself up on these old Land Rovers and Jags....you know the type... anyway, I did the initial testing, and we shot photos back and forth, we used 4043 and of course 100% Argon...... Hope this may help some of your viewers.....Paulie Brown in Orlando

looking forward to each video!

Tell us about the pink gloves.

I really appreciate these lessons. Thank you Justin!

I'm glad you tried it with filler as well, as that was my next question. I'd assume another issue with this technique is that the shielding gas can't get between the two layers. That means the lower layer will be instantly oxidizing as you're trying to weld it, leading to that crap weld quality and no bond strength. Oh... I just got to the end of the video where you say this. You covered it better including discussing the arc breaking through the oxide layer though. Good stuff!

This was very interesting, best explanation I've heard.

Hey Justin, great effort.

Respect for trying Justin 👍🏽

Love it! You're the man Justin

I love the trial and error and learn by doing!

I did guess this is why before you stared. So thanks for your previous teachings. Something has sunk in.

Good video, thanks!

Great video! Thanks for sharing. I love working with aluminum.

Now that was worth watching....very interesting. 👍

That right there was a good explanation for the aluminum to describe the oxide layer. It was a good experiment too with aluminum that's the best in depth exercise I have seen.....

Hi Justin interesting topic I too was looking forward to the result and now I know it confirmed what I though would happen but I have like you never tried it now I won't waste material and gas trying it. I do like all these videos.

Good stuff.

Has anyone asked about the pink gloves yet??? Hmmm. I think inquiring minds would like to know about the pink gloves. Lol. Please tell us about the pink gloves…. Love all the videos thank you for all the content you provide us with.

Would like to see other 8nstructional videos inregards to stick and MIG welding with both 110 and 220 and actual spot welders

Thanks for the video. Every interesting. Do not weld do not have a machine. Was wondering what if you turned the ac balance very high to cleaning and then did a spot weld? If you have lots of ac cleaning maybe it will go thru both pieces. Love experimentation.

Hey Justin thanks for the video. I have tried to do this as well in the past and it just simply does not work. Sometimes you get a drippy spike of aluminum that falls through both plates. I’ve also tried “plug welds” but the aluminum from the top plate always melts away extremely fast. The surface tension of aluminum is weird when it melts

Hell yeah your back 🔥🤘🔥🤘👍🤘

Awesome. Is it possible to weld beer can thick size aluminum doing something with polarity?

Very cool. For fun you could also run some tests with various alloys. 2xxx, 5xxx, 7xxx?

My first project after very little practice with my primeweld was trying to make a box in aluminum. Very small. I tried and tried to tack it the autogenous(spelling) way. And failed miserably. Lol now I know why! I knew of course about the oxide but wasn't thinking that way for tacking. Some booth at PRI was pushing them pink gloves hard lol.

what would be interesting to test is to use a backing plate so the weld doesn't fall through, which enables you to have a pool where both sheets mix. however that only works if the oxide floats up to the surface for the arc to deal with, otherwise it gets trapped and causes cracking. also i think 5 series is the only one that can be autogenous welded.

Thanks for the proof 😄

Justin I was already thinking about how you did not clean the coupons to remove the oxide before trying the spot weld. - had you done so might the spot weld have worked? stainless steel bush of both surfaces and some solvent clean with something like acetone.

So when are you releasing the video explaining the pink gloves

What table are you using in that video?? I like it

Thanks Justin, It's been awhile, must be a busy bee . :)

Would drilling an 8mm hole in the top piece help? Then you're just having to break up the oxide layer on the bottom piece

I wonder if some kind of flux cream could be applied between the two pieces that would dissolve the oxide, and protect the base aluminum would make this possible.

Are the Defiant Metal Pink Gloves the autographed Larry Flynt models?????

I spot weld aluminum with my - spot welder. Obviously I can’t do butt welds, but otherwise it works well. The problem with spot welding aluminum is the conductivity. Both when TIG welding and spot welding, the conductivity prevents the heat from staying concentrated. Because of that, you need more heat than with steel. That means that the amount of heat can be so much that the low melting temperature results in melt through. It’s a fine line between success and failure. Steel is far more forgiving. Additionally for TIG is that many aluminum alloys contain magnesium. That makes welding it more difficult. Aluminum welding alloys help to counteract that. And yes, the oxide layer is a major problem for TIG welding, though it actually helps when using a spot welder.

What is the copper on your table used for?

Can you use TIG for tin and 6mm steel?

4:15 as John Candy and Joe Flaherty from SCTV would say, 'That Blowed Up Real Good'

Nice, you think it would change anything if you steelbrushed the surfaces and quickly tried again?

Still watching, but I can say that I used spot mode on aluminum and it works. The time needed is about 200 ms and the current should be 2-2.5 times higher than normal.

What if you put flux between the two aluminum plates to deal with the oxidation?

It is all in the oxide layer. Said before the end

Awesome comment! 😊

would it be fair to say that the argon was only accessible from the top surface and the "airspace" between sheets added to the contamination/oxidation?

Wonder if sanding or wiping in Naptha first would change those results 🤔

Could you drill a small hole in the top layer and use filler to fuse bottom layer and inner edge of the hole in the top layer. ? Or maybe that defeat the purpose of hands free feature of spotwelding

Do they make spot welders for aluminum

Might have some success if you brush the oxide layer off and set the machine on dcen instead of AC. Alot of old heads like to weld aluminum on DC for work holding equipment.

hi! can you made an hole on aluminium top plate before spot weld it? thnks

Id assume that the oxide in between the pieces prevents them from melting together.

Would like to hear the story on the pink gloves. When I was in the shop, I painted a lot of my hand tools pink. Because nobody is going to accidentally abscond with a pink ratchet.

I must learn the real reason for the pink gloves now... 😆

Your '3-Arm' Technique was the 'Bomb'....go grab a cold one on me....Paulie

What if you drilled a small hole in the top sheet

I wonder if it would work if you gave it a quick hit with an abrasive where the contact is going to be, and put a dab of flux paste in there? Might be worth trying, just for the novelty of seeing if it is possible. But at that level of effort, you're probably better off punching a hole in one side and joining them with a plug weld.

Could part of the problem be the oxide layer? How can the AC balance perform the cleaning action between the two pieces? I think this has something to do with it since the oxide layer takes 3 times the temp to melt.

Couldn't rosette welds work in place of spot welding aluminum in this case?

If you didn't say it , I was going to... remove the oxide.

Dammit. That’s why my lap joints wouldn’t work. I’m trying to make a custom aluminum hood. I was quoted $8k for the labor and figured, $8k will get me a lot of learning something cool and yields “I did that” in the end.

I'd definitely like to know the story behind the gloves and love the experiment, but wouldn't it work a little better after first drilling a small hole in the top coupon? I know that's not technically a spot weld, but...

The pink gloves: Is it so dudes won't steal them? I had fellow techs that bought pink tools to prevent fellow techs from constantly walking away with them.

The pink gloves got me curious. Pray tell.

Hey, Justin brush some acid flux between the two aluminum sheets where the spot weld will be humor me do it

I figure the pink gloves are to reduce the likelihood of someone else walking off with them, since too many guys would be too insecure to wear pink gloves. And/or it's part of breast cancer awareness.

You could probably file off the oxide layer from all the contact points, it might work better but I'm pretty sure it won't .

Instead of burning through as is ordinary, why not try drilling a 1/8" or thereabouts hole through the top sheet, then make a small plug weld?

first thing i thought was "oxide layer"

Try squishing a flattened piece of flux rod between the sheets, see if that works????

Or make a Triple skip Sign Wave. 😉

so i assume plug welding could work.. i guess..

Arn't you suppose to clean the Aluminum and heat it up somewhat before you doing any going of the metals😮

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