Shopsmith Forums

dgale wrote:I have no great welding expertise but it's always been my understanding that TIG welding or MIG welding with an aluminum spool feed was the only way you could weld aluminum...I always understood other approaches (Oxy Ace, Arc etc.) were way too hot for aluminum and you'ld basically just eat a hole through it...again, just my likely naive understanding of aluminum welding .

Not impossible, just more difficult to get good results.

With the oxy you have a narrow window to heat the workpiece and the rod (at the same point in time), which gets narrower the thinner the workpiece. So yes, much higher odds you'll burn through especially around 1/4" or thinner.

With arc welding, you get a "dirtier" weld because of having to stop and replace rods that get consumed quickly and slag/spatter.

JPG40504 wrote:+ S&H:D

You Misspelled S&H:D. It's spelled SH*** and you don't want to handle it; messy stuff; somewhat like what is coming out of DC today but not as squishy, stinky and impossible to get a hand on.

So, what's wrong with $34.00 S&H:D? Beats Shopsmith by two bucks. That's enough to buy a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck at Trader Joe's.