I saw a little while ago on American Hot Rod, they made a car out of almost complete aluminum. Other than like the gear box and the engine almost everything else was made out of aluminum. I saw the body work, which was absolutely gorgeous, and I noticed they welded all the aluminum pieces together and the finished product was just the bare aluminum. I was curious how do you go about making the seams were you weld the pieces together look like one piece? Well thanks for any answers.
-Nebruin
Grind, grind, grind... Sand, sand, sand, sand, polish, polish, polish, polish, polish, polish....
Oh yeah, and perty good tig welding, to start with. Ackshooly, they proly used aluminum *mig*. Lotsa skill.
Dat's dat asshole Boyd Carrington or sumpn. Sold dat aluma-tub (his words) on the scam Barrett Jackson auction ordeal for $300K, I think.
These reality scam shows are poster children for never ever ever ever working in a mom&pop shop, unless yer still in high school, or a journeyman tradesman w/ a very long fuse.
Very careful welding, usually with a TIG rig, and then grinding the joints with various grits of flap wheels, etc, until the desired finish is achieved. I saw the alumiminum roadster series, but don't remember them actually welding and grinding the joints. A number of years ago I worked in hospital construction and we had a stainless steel fab outfit come out and modify some stainless countertops. The work they did was amazing. They cut a countertop in two and added a piece into it to make it longer. All the welding was done with TIG, of course, and then the joints were ground with flap discs and then finished with flap wheels until the brushed finish (a #3 finish, IIRC) was acheived. I studied the countertop after they were finished, and only by looking parallel with the surface could the joint be seen.
There are a couple of good books on the subject, which you can find on Amazon with a search. You may also want to look at Kent White's site,
O/A is the traditional welding method used by carriage-builders (that is, custom car-body makers, in England through the '60s and during the '20s and '30s in the US) for making aluminum bodies. I believe most who are in business today are real specialists, doing restorations and so on, since a lot of the aluminum-body circle-track-racer business has gone away. Through the '70s, there were a number of such shops in the US, building Indy cars down to the fractional midgets. Some are still around. I have read that some use TIG.
It's an interesting specialty. Since there were a couple of fairly popular books written about it back in the '70s and '80s, you can find the info you're looking for. Kent White is one of several who are making a living off of teaching people the craft.
-- Ed Huntress
Years ago ( '65) my shop teacher had a bug eyed Sprite. He made a fast back hard top out of aluminum. Some of us students actually helped gas welded the seams. The key point is to remember is that the metal was pure aluminum so it was easily worked with a hammer and annealing was a simple application of the torch. From what I could see it was the ideal material to work because it was so soft compared to steel. As a side note the rear window was going to be a piece of plexy. The original plan was to simply drape a hot sheet over the back to match the shape of the top then cut the opening after the plexi was shaped. The aluminum buckled from the heat of the plastic and they had to go to plan B, making a second wooden mold. Randy
How did you gas weld alum??
Go to that TM Tech site I listed. You'll see descriptions of it. Take Kent White's advice on the special goggles. I hear they're worth it.
I've done a little of it, but my work looks like it was done by a blind man. My uncle was really good at it. You should see the aluminum-and-stainless fighting chair he built for his fishing boat. All O/A, both on the aluminum and on the stainless. It was a work of art. However, when I sat in it, I wasn't sure if I was about to fight a fish or get a haircut. d8-)
-- Ed Huntress
Usually gas welding. Kent White aka "The Tin Man" has been mentioned. Another practicioner and author is Ron Fournier.
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