Welding Aluminum

[henleyhale]

Man I'm jealous, I've got a mig I'd rather be beaten than have to look at the mess I've made with it on aluminum. Congrats, and no shame In making a little money with it. Heck I pay for boat gas with my bellows tools and gimble puller, I reckon that will pay for plenty of gas especially if no one else is around.

 

[astor]

very nice! I like the idea of the finger trigger, that could come in handy.

 

[Decker83]

Very nice job on the skeg.. Sitting in the floor and all out of position makes it hard enough to weld without having to use the foot pedal..
Kinda hard to get the Admiral to help push the pedal for ya..:laugh: The finger button on the torch works great..

Now I know I should have waited and let you practice on my boat..

 

[budski]

Looks great Glen, you'll have that tig paid for in no time,

 

[dozerII]

Thanks Guys

 

[bruceb58]

Curious why you didn't take the drive off to do the weld!

 

[dozerII]

Curious why you didn't take the drive off to do the weld!

To be honest I never thought about taking it off till after I was done welding, and then said to myself that would have been easier on the bench. I worked for large Muffler shop chain here in Canada for many years and welded in some very strange positions with out even thinking about it, so that probably had something to do with it.

 

[bruceb58]

You should check out this thread:
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...29-lucky-broken-skeg?t=282896&highlight=lucky

 

[dozerII]

You should check out this thread:
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...29-lucky-broken-skeg?t=282896&highlight=lucky

Great thread, Bruce that guy was lucky that's all he broke.

 

[bruceb58]

You may already know this and may have done it on your weld job, but make sure you do what he does and bevel the edges of the 2 pieces you are welding together.

 

[dingbat]

Fortunate you didn't blow anything electrical on the boat. Seen more than a few electronic ignition modules toasted in my day

 

[dozerII]

You may already know this and may have done it on your weld job, but make sure you do what he does and bevel the edges of the 2 pieces you are welding together.

You bet I beveled them to 45 degress.

 

[dozerII]

Fortunate you didn't blow anything electrical on the boat. Seen more than a few electronic ignition modules toasted in my day

Disconnect the battery, make sure you have a good ground, and no problems.

 

[bruceb58]

Disconnecting the battery probably doesn't help much since anything electronic is grounded to the block and hence the sterndrive.

If you wanted to be sure, disconnect the connectors to the ECM and the distributor or take the drive off. Since your boat is a 76, not likely any electronic anything on it anyway.

People that weld on things that are susceptible to electronic damage typically use lift start rather than high frequency start. My welder has that option.

 

[dozerII]

Disconnecting the battery probably doesn't help much since anything electronic is grounded to the block and hence the sterndrive.

If you wanted to be sure, disconnect the connectors to the ECM and the distributor or take the drive off. Since your boat is a 76, not likely any electronic anything on it anyway.

People that weld on things that are susceptible to electronic damage typically use lift start rather than high frequency start. My welder has that option.

You are correct the only thing I would call electronic on the boat is the fishfinder, everything else is pretty old school.