ALUMINUM PIPE WELDING FOR BEGINNERS

TIG. You won't get the strength you need in an aluminum pipe joint with a spool gun. Better for T joint and laps. TIG is really not that hard. Pick up some 1/4" plate and run beads with 4043 filler. Look for a used Thermal Arc 185 or greater. Make sure it works. The last one I bought new was 2500.
A) Practice feeding rod with your off hand while watching TV. Master it.
B) Clean the alum joint areas with a clean SS brush.
C) Hold the torch at roughly an 80° angle to the plate, for best argon coverage.
D) Strike the arc and slowly add heat until the puddle forms
E) Feed rod and start moving
Do things like spell your name. Then make some T and lap joints.

Pipe will obviously be more difficult but, you can do it if you practice. Back purge it if you can.

You might need to wire off your breaker box with a weld style outlet. They sell them at home depot and it's actually pretty simple with some 600 volt SO cord. However, I would suggest you find an electrician who will do it off the clock for some beer.... This is somewhat dangerous if you don't know electricity.

TIG! You may as well start with what works best. You don't get the penetration with the MIG welder. Start with thicker Aluminum and run strait beeds.Then start doing butt welds and move on to lap welds. Doing round pipe takes alot of practice. Use a hole saw to get your fish mouth joints, and be sure if it is anodized...gride back the anodizing. Do some welds and cut the pipe then do over and over. I clean the aluminum with MEK before welding. Aluminum has to be 100% clean. The most important thing is YOU just have to see (with your eyes) when the puddle is ready for filler rod. Too late and you burn a hole, and too early the weld sits ontop. We have a Miller Syncrowave 250 DX with a Miller Coolmate 3. 100% Argon. Welding @ 175 amps for 1/8 wall thickness...18 seconds of post flow. You can always go back over with the torch to smooth out the ugly welds and not use filler. The aluminum will follow the heat. Good Luck!

wanna learn how to weld

take a community college course

otherwise, if you just want to see if its for you,
1) find someone with a welder (craigslist or facebook)
2) agree to purchase the consumables (ie tig electrodes, shield gas, feed wire)
3) you will need practice materials (like scrap pieces from an aluminum dealer)
4) offer to supply them beer and dinner for spending a few hours teaching
5) you will probably want to invest in your own auto darkening helmet. People don't like to share those.

I think most who own the gear really want to share their experiences and their skills. I doubt if you will break their machine.