Re: Aluminum welding/brazing.

Cass wrote: (clip) If you can solder, you can weld aluminum as all you have to do is watch the base and filler metal for fluidity and not go any further than what is required to melt them both. ^^^^^^^^^^^ What you say is correct, but one problem you may not have encountered yet: aluminum is "hot short." This means it has no strength when it is hot, and an unsupported piece could fall off if you are not careful. It's really disgusting when it happens--I know! :-(

Reply to
Leo Lichtman
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Reply to
Elia Levi

Cass,

did you fusion weld the aluminium or braze it with an aluminium brazing filler,there is a difference, but I agree with you, they are both easy ( when you know how ).

Harry

Reply to
Harry Culshaw

I don't know the alloy. It was a piece of scrap plate.

I am not delaring victory as every situation will be different. I merely said that welding aluminum is easy or I should have said that, with the extremely tiny bit that I have done, it was a piece of cake.

I have a lot to learn about welding aluminum and I look forward to it.

My entire thrust in making my posts about welding aluminum is to tell others that it is not a big deal. I had refrained from attempting it for sometime simply because a few folks here in town said that it was very difficult.

Hopefully, others will be encouraged by the limited success that I have had.

Cass

Reply to
Cass

Peter,

It helped me. It may not help you or others but I have developed an eye for when metals reach the temperature of melting. It is more difficult with aluminum and I have had extremely limited experience with it but I can tell when it is close to the temperature of melting. Maybe I have a crystal ball, who knows?

Cass

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Reply to
Cass

You whatch for it to just start to go shinny, then the puddle comes.

Reply to
newby

Thin material is *much* harder to do than thick. Try this:

I learned to weld aluminum with O/A. I got some 4043 bare rod and some aluminum flux from my welding supplier and went to the dump and picked up some discarded folding aluminum garden furniture. These are usually tossed because the corners failed. I cut out and welded in some gussets in the bottom corners. The welds were pretty ugly at first but "practice makes perfect". The ones I *really* screwed up, I simply returned to the "supplier" but the good ones are better (stronger, more stable) than new. We have a dozen or so folding chairs that I repaired over 20 years ago. Nowadays, I do the welding with TIG.

Reply to
Ted Edwards

I am looking forward to trying some thinner stuff. I have a project using thin stuff that I need to weld so, I can use the practice before I screw my project up.

My next aquisition will be a tig machine. Here in Houston, one would think that they are for sale (used) all the time but they aren't.

One fellow here had an Miller Dialarc 850 and he wanted 850 for it but I will wait until something cheaper comes along - if ever.

Cass

Reply to
Cass

I always watch for a 'change' in appearance and know that the metal is about to reach melting temp.

Cass

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Reply to
Cass

"Peter" wrote in news:bg2hnk$ed$ snipped-for-privacy@titan.btinternet.com:

If you do a lot of soldering, especially PCB repair and SMT work, you watch the solder very closely as it goes from solid to liquid and back.

If you are repairing a PCB too much heat can cause many problems.

Reply to
Dev Null

I assumed everybody knows welding ruins the temper in the heat affected zone. I was more concerned about the cracking tendencies of the 6061, even when using TIG.

It is unfair to say gas welding aluminum is easy without evaluating the strength and quality of the joint. After all the big issue with welding aluminum in general is that the oxide doesn't melt and it doesn't float, so it tends to get trapped out of view inside the joint.

Reply to
Tidris

Unfair? What a joke!

It was easy for me when I did it and I am not going to send it to any national testing laboratory for their analysis before I say it is easy again when I try it again.

Now, if the next time I try it and I find it hard at that time, I will say so, too. I will not do any stress analysis before I say that it is hard.

Fair.......hmmmmph!

Cass

Reply to
Cass

I you are saying it is easy to make an aluminum weld of unknown quality and strength, I can live with that.

Reply to
Tidris

Yes, I am saying that. Actually, how many of us really know the strength of any of our welds?

Now, I can weld steel fairly well and I hope to get as good with aluminum. With practice, I am sure that I can.

All that I am saying is that my first try with welding aluminum turned out very well (for me) and I would even trust it to be fairly strong. I was welding 1/8" plate or sheet and I welded another 1/8" plate perpendicular to the first and I couldn't break it loose. My next attempt may be a joke.

Cass

Reply to
Cass

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