Which is why aluminum parts on planes are very seldom welded - while
6061T6xxx aluminum is very commonly welded for trailers and applications like dump truck boxes, feed trucks, garden carts, etc - and even boats, both large and small.6061 has pretty good corrosion resistance, even when scratches. Generally not used below the waterline (immersed) in large boats, but used extensively in aircraft pontoons and a lot of aluminum pleasurecraft
Well, I've only worked on a few small boats, but they all "felt" (cut/welded) more like 5052.
I don't know about submarines but 6061 is fairly commonly used on masts and spars on sail boats.
Yup :-)
I spent about 20 years in the airplane business and thinking back I don't remember many, if any, welded aluminum bits and pieces.
Which is also used.
Weren't those riveted?
The B-17's wing spars are welded trusses of rectangular tubing, visible where they cross the front and rear of the bomb bay. You can see it against the bulkhead below the hatch. It's clearly different from the riveted keel truss that supports the center bomb racks.
According to this it's steel, though I couldn't tell through the paint.
Those old planes were built mostly by methods suited to home shops and manual sheet metal equipment.
From the 1945 Navy training manual for Aircraft Welding, p.87: "You are not allowed to weld STRUCTURAL PARTS made of heat-treated aluminum alloys. Even if you had facilities for reheat-treating these parts after welding, you still could not increase the strength of your weld enough to stand up to the stresses which these parts must bear."
Then it discusses torch-welding gas tanks. The minimum thickness for a plain butt joint is 0.081", below that it suggests a flanged joint.
--jsw
I can tell from the reply that you didn't look at the link I posted. It was for an amphibian bi-plane, silly duck, er, goose.
Why not glue up some wood and carve 'em down in your spare time? Flap discs and grinding discs work well, but I'm pretty sure you have a couple of draw knives down there.
Yes the grumman was rivetted. So was my big Springbok - but it was also welded in numerous places due to some EXTREME abuse. (it was a former Algonquin Outfitters canoe that had seen many beaver dams, and rocky portages at the hands of less than proficient canoists.) Not sure which alloy it was - but it was HARD!!!! Welded like 6061.
5xxx series of aluminum are work hardening. The more they are abused the better and stronger they get. Many years ago I repaired a canoe that was hit by a snowplow. The chunk I had to cut out acted like stainless steel !
Try
Not in 1945 :-) but when I was in the air force no aluminum structural parts were "weldable", in the sense that we were allowed to weld them. Nor were any aluminum cast or forged parts.
We certified on aluminum on "thick to thick" which was, from memory, probably about 0.081, but of course we TIG welded it (actually Heliarc ) :-)
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