One of the questions that we get asked often is can the Beacon system be used to weld Aluminum alloys. The short answer is yes it can, however, there are some changes that will need to be made to the system to accomplish this task.
Supplies that are Required
Item | Material Size | Manufacturer | Part Number |
Polymer Liner, 3.5m includes brass jump liner | 3/64" - 1/16" 1.2 - 1.6 mm | TBi | 328P234735 |
Contact Tip, M8x30mm Aluminum | 3/64" 1.2 mm | TBi | 341P121262 |
Contact Tip, M8x30mm Aluminum | 1/16" 1.6 mm | TBi | 341P161262 |
Drill Roll, U-Groove | 3/64" - 1/16" 1.2 - 1.6 mm | ESAB | 0445 850 052 |
Inlet Wire Guide | 2 mm | ESAB | 0445 822 001 |
Middle Wire Guide | 2 mm | ESAB | 0446 080 881 |
Outlet Wire Guide | 2 mm | ESAB | 0445 830 885 |
Recommendations
When using 4043 material, do not use wire smaller than 3/64" in diameter as pushing through the torch can cause feeding issues such as bird nesting at the drive rolls or poor weld quality due to wire not feeding consistently.
If you are using 4043 material, use a torch that is no longer than 10' long to minimize the chance of bird nesting at the feeder due to increased resistance in the torch.
Setting Up the System
When you are ready to weld Aluminum you will need to make a few changes to the system to accommodate the material.
Change the drive rolls, liner, the wire guides, and load the aluminum spool onto the feeder.
Reduce the braking resistance on the feeder. Since the material is much lighter you can greatly reduce the amount of pressure that is applied to the spool brake. This will allow the material to be more easily pulled from the spool and will make for smoother feeding of the material.
This is accomplished by loosening the nut of the back side of the spool holder
If you will be using Pulse for your process setting make sure that the welder is configured correctly for the wire diameter, material type and gas type you are using, if you are unsure how to do this check out this article
If you are using pulse process you can setup the feeder to provide Profile Pulse, this will give your aluminum weld that stack of dimes look that you would achieve with TIG such as this 1/4" lap joint welded with 4043 on 6061 aluminum sheet.