Anyone arc welded with aluminium rods?

[djivesp]

Hey all,
I'm looking at a DC tig/mma welder as I'm finally outgrowing my **** buzzbox arc welder. I've gotten pretty decent with the old stick now and decided to skip mig as I weld outdoors often and I cant be arsed with gas.

I came accross these:
Aluminium Electrode 3.2mm 2KG MMA | ARC WELDING ELECTRODES | Proweld Online Shop
saw this video:
YouTube - learning to stick weld aluminum
and found loads of info here:
Stick welding aluminum

So, it seems you just flip the polarity and this means the electron flow goes work>rod, breaking the oxide layer which is what a AC tig does just at 50hz or whatever.

I've googled and googled it and as usual with the internet most people say it's **** (who probably never done it themselves) and the others brag about their £1500 AC machines, which isn't constructive.
I don't really care about looks, ill be buzzing together 3-5mm ish ally probably.

So has anyone here got any first hand experience with this?

[dewismotorsport]

Yeah i'm coded in aluminium armor, alloy mma isn't easy but with practise does come, I'll be honest the thinest I've done is 7mm so can't comment on 3-5mm but the lodgic is the same it's all in your prep a stainless steel wire brush and some metal de greaser such like acetone or simular (be very careful it has evaporated first) to prep the weld face, also cool down after a couple of runs else metal gets to hot and you then start to burn the metal causing it to go black and ****y looking

[djivesp]

Nice one thanks bud, doesn't sound too bad then really! I'm thinking i'll give this a go although the rods ain't cheap just to have a go :/.

[dewismotorsport]

Just another thought some rods have to be pre heated in the oven first to remove the moisture from them, may only be armour ones but just double check the packet else you may find the welds go slightly porous