Aluminum Welding Guide

Storage

• Store all welding wire and base metal in a dry location with a minimum temperature fluctuation. Welding wire should preferably be stored in a dry heated room or cabinet.
• Store metal vertically to minimize moisture condensation and absorption of water contamination between layers.
• Bring all filler and base metal materials into the welding area 24 hours prior to welding to allow them to come to room temperature.
• Keep welding wire covered at all times.

Joint Preparation

• Don’t use methods that leave a ground or smeared surface. For example, a circular sawed surface is weldable while a band sawed surface leaves a smeared surface that may result in lack of fusion and should be filed to remove smeared metal prior to welding. Using a coarse disc grinder is preferable to a wheel grinder, however, if possible avoid the use of any type of grinder.
• Don’t use any lubricants in the joint preparation metal working process, if possible.
• Don’t use chlorinated solvents in the welding area because they may form toxic gases in the presence of electric welding arcs.
• Don’t use oxyfuel gas cutting, carbon arc cutting or gouging processes, or oxyfuel flames to preheat. These processes damage the heat affected area and promote the growth and hydration of the oxide film present on the surface.
• Use plasma arc cutting & gouging and laser cutting.
• Mechanically remove the plasma arc and laser cut edges from 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx series alloys. The melted edges of these alloys will contain detrimental solidification cracks and heat affected zone conditions. Remove a minimum of 1/8 inch of metal from the cut edge. Use mechanical metal removal methods that cut and remove metal chips.
• Prepare and clean the joint prior to assembly. Degrease the surfaces with a solvent.
• Use clean cloth such as cheese cloth or paper towels to solvent clean and dry a welding joint.
• Don’t use shop rags to clean welding joints and do not use compressed air to blow off the joint. Compressed air contains moisture and oil contaminates.
• Stainless steel wire brush the joint only after solvent cleaning. Wire brushing prior to cleaning embeds hydrocarbons and other contaminates in the metal surface.
• Stainless steel wire brush all metal that has been etched. The by-product residuals from etching must be removed prior to welding.
• Clean all wire brushes and cutting tools frequently.