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Old 02-25-2018, 12:02 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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Default spot welding aluminum ?

I spot welded some scrap .025 thick 2024-T3 aluminum I had into a box to hold file folders. The spot welds seem okay but I had some trouble with the steel sheet I was using sticking to the aluminum. Is there any trick to avoid the sticking ? Thanks ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Old 02-25-2018, 12:40 PM
bobadame bobadame is offline
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Maybe a bit of oil.
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Old 02-25-2018, 03:14 PM
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Steve Hamilton Steve Hamilton is offline
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I had heard that stainless steel was used, don’t know about sticking.
I did try it a number of years ago don’t remember it sticking.

Steve
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Old 02-25-2018, 03:37 PM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Hamilton View Post
I had heard that stainless steel was used, don’t know about sticking.
I did try it a number of years ago don’t remember it sticking.

Steve
I think thin stainless would do the trick. From memory, Jimmy Hervatin posted a short video on his Instagram showing just that.
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Old 02-25-2018, 04:50 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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Sorry guys, I just tried the SS on both of my spot welders and it’s still sticking just the same as steel. Thanks anyway, it was worth a try. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Old 02-25-2018, 05:01 PM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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Maybe reduce the time, or current?
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Old 02-25-2018, 05:07 PM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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https://instagram.com/p/BVsOsoDjL1Q/
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Old 02-25-2018, 05:45 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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Originally Posted by Gareth Davies View Post
Okay, in the video you can see he had to pry off the SS scrap pieces which is basically what I had to do. Not a big deal but it can markup softer aluminum. For whatever it’s worth I only used the steel and also tried SS on one side and it welded fine. Also the copper spot tip never stuck to the aluminum but I don’t think copper scrap would raise the resistance enough for the aluminum spot welding process to work. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Old 02-26-2018, 06:14 AM
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all the aluminium i have spot welded it was using steel between the tips, try using thin copper between the steel and aluminium
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Old 02-26-2018, 11:49 AM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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all the aluminium i have spot welded it was using steel between the tips, try using thin copper between the steel and aluminium
BRAVO………. that worked perfectly ! You only really need to put the copper then steel on one side (to raise the resistance) and it seems to work just fine. THANKS Neil ~ John Buchtenkirch
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