Joining Aluminum without a TIG

Ahh, then about like one of those 5hr energy drinks. :)

Resistance is futile ... my furnace is a 5 gallon steel bucket lined with castable refractory , my crucible is a piece of 4" exhaust pipe with a bottom welded on . Burners made from off the shelf plumbing parts . Biggest expenses are the refractory mix and an adjustable regulator . Makes some of those "impossible" jobs a piece of cake . Like a model airplane or boat muffler ...

I think my flux was probably by Forney, that's the brand of welding stuff the hardware store sold. I welded aluminum once using a carbon arc torch on my AC electric welder. It worked but I didn't do it enough to get skilled, just got a couple of pieces to stick together.

I like how the TIG works compared to my other experiences. The aluminum gets a bright clean molten puddle. My other aluminum welding experience is that the aluminum gets molten inside of a skin that is not molten, kind of have to poke the rod through the skin and weld the aluminum underneath. Note I haven't tried anything other than TIG since learning about cleaning with the SS wire brush and alcohol, I'm sure a good cleaning would help the results with oxy/acetylene or carbon arc.

RogerN

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How about reworking a CO2 cartridge?

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Weight. Not a bad idea, otherwise.

Flux is necessary for welding ally with torch -- or carbon arc.

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I guess I'd have to ask "why aluminum". Back in the day we used to build expansion chamber exhausts with very thin brass sheet, soft soldered. for both .29 and .19 cu.in. engines. Granted these were for control line speed but still ....

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb (jdslocombatgmail)

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Uh, because that's what you get with a new motor these days?

Gee, that seems like such a solid reason...

I'll consider that. Aluminum looks niftier, though.

(Damn my news provider for dropping messages)

My understanding is that aluminum oxidizes so readily that _any_ process that isn't shielded is going to have that oxide layer.

That's why flux is necessary.

Update: the local welding shop has an aluminum soldering kit and aluminum brazing flux, but was out of aluminum brazing rod. They had some zinc-alloy rod that may or may not have worked with the aluminum brazing flux, in a size way bigger than my job.

So I got the soldering kit.

I'm going to see how well the soldering process works -- if it seems almost but not quite strong enough then I'll try brazing, if it works a charm I won't change.

I'm not a machinist or a weldor, so I'd make something that could be simply bolted together.

Good Luck! Rich

That's Plan B.

But brazed or soldered looks cooler, and should be lighter.

I've got about 3 lbs of AluSol sitting in the garage - flux cored solder for aluminum.

As you have an OA torch it seems to me that if you use a reducing flame the aluminum will have less of an opportunity to form an oxide coating and may solder easier. Expert opinion anyone? Art

AFAIK that would only slow things down. Keep in mind that aluminum is so electronegative that it'll reduce rust back to iron, and produce enough heat in the process to melt the iron to steel (think "thermite welding"). I don't know if it can reduce CO or CO2, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Aluminum can be gas welded. Its tricky. You have to get the right kind of flux nd the correct filer rod for the alloy you're working with. Preparation is important, as is adjusting the flame correctly. But it is do-able.

[C'mon, Rich. You're at least a wannabe machinist if you're here on Wreck.Metalheads.]

Yeah, screw "functional". Just make it -look- cool! ;)

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

If I were going out and buying new material for this project I'd probably do just that. But cost _is_ an object, and I have boxes full of surplus parts from a former employer that are all nicely machinable aluminum in unknown alloys (well, probably 6061 and some 2xxx alloy or another). Since I have no clue about the weldability if the various bits, and I'm not interested in spending money on a bunch of new bits, soldering or brazing is the process of choice.