Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

I dont know anything about welding but my dad's birthday is coming up and we all want to pitch in and get him a welding machine that will weld aluminum. He's been crying for one for a LONG time now so we figure now is the time to do it. It does NOT have to be some uber machine that can weld 4" thick plates of a aluminum together in .2 seconds or some crap like that.

Just a simple cheap starter machine where if you say...wanted to make an aluminum sheet intake manifold with it you could. Max we wanted to spend was about $450 since that's how much we paid for his lincoln mig welder 2 years ago and we figure there's got to be aluminum machines in the same range?

anyone got any brands/model #'s they'd like to toss my way? retail or eBay is fine by me and used if we have to.

thanks guys!

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

Get the Miller 3035 spoolmate spool gun with the SMSC speed controll box. Your dad can hook it to his Lincoln mig and weld aluminum with it. With the bottle of argon It should run you around $450 to $500.

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

A Mig welder can weld aluminum but it take alot of skills. Go with a TIG welder... ;D If you have a lincoln mig welder you can convert it to use aluminum feed wire. They sell a kit for it, I guess it depends which Mig welder you have. Check out their site. And to weld aluminum you need shielded gas too, either use pure Argon or Argon/Helium. Hope that helps.

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

so for a tig welder we would also have to buy him a bottle for the argon? how much do entry level tig welders usually run? sorry for the ignorance on this subject. welding has always been my one auto taboo :P

and thanks for the help so far!

oh! I also think it will probably have to be a 110v welder as he doesn't have a 220v outlet in his garage. Do they even make 110v tig welders??

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

listen to customcoach, he is a master fabber

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

ok, so this is the items that custom was talking about??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WD1V

is this EVERYTHING that is needed? how do I find out if this is compatible with my dad's lincoln welder??

aside from this and a bottle of argon, will I need ANYTHING else to get him or will he be good to go?

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

Yeah the best way to weld aluminum is a tig welder but that is out of your price range. So I would go with a spool gun like custom coach said. you can get the drive rollers for aluminum to convert your mig, but I've heard they don't work too well.

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

smack me if im wrong but isnt this a want ad ? ???

Re:Need a good cheap aluminum welding machine
 

Smacked!!!!

He's asking for suggestions on what he should get, not asking if someone has one for sale.