| The Breakroom > The Water Cooler |
| Welding anything from the crack of dawn to a broken heart! |
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| John Rudd:
I remember my apprentice days at ICI...I had a Honda 175 at the time and blew the engine on it on the way home from work one night.... After stripping it down it appeared that a bit of welding was needed.... Duly armed with cylinder and cranckcase, I took the parts over to the Nylon workshops where they welded the tote bins... Now these tote bins go on the back of a wagon and are around eight feet tall and 4 feet square...and......made form aluminium... The welder there used aluminium sticks like ordinary ms welding rods to repair the tote bins... After a packet of cigarettes, he had successfully welded my engine bits...(to no avail coz the liner was damaged too) So, I've seen ally welding rods that electric weld like mild steel rods do....even down to the slag over the top of the weld... Not sure what sort of a setup he had mind..... :scratch: |
| PTsideshow:
Here is my answer to the question on Aluminum solder flux or flux less and why from another forum? It would depend on if you could tell which brand it really was. As with most things of that nature what you see isn't what you could be getting. First it is a question of what you are trying to repair? I have both the flux with and the fluxless and have used both to good results. One brand that is sold is A-16weld rod it is an Aluminum & Pot Metal repair rod flux less sold at events (auto, motor cycle etc) thru out the Midwest. There have been hundreds of Aluminum Solders invented, the compositions are in order of the largest % of material Tin,Zinc,Silver,Aluminum, Copper,Bismuth,Phosphor Tin, Cadmium, Lead, Antimony. The problem with the "proprietary flux" statement is it probably is advertising hype/BS. As with welding aluminum, whether TIG, oxy/fuel, or wire feed or the soldering of the same. The biggest problem is the cleanliness of the surfaces you are joining. The oxidation is extremely resistant to removal. And it starts to reform as you are cleaning it off. Various substances have been suggested through the years as a flux out of all of them. Stearin(by product of processing beef ) a glyceryl ester of stearic acid, derived from animal fats. Replacement for tallow in soap and candle production. It only helps the solder flow and occludes the air on the surface. It doesn't help in any of the cleansing action. The use of Phosphoric acid as a flux will attack and remove some of the oxide film. But the side effect of using it is that after the join is made it is very difficult to remove completely the flux form the parent metal and join. A reaction generally develops with the Phosphoric acid flux, the parent metal causing subsequent corrosion and deterioration of the joint can occur. Weakening the joint. In general use, therefore aluminum soldering is best carried out with out the use of flux. So as most of the ones, point out, use only stainless steel brushes, or aluminum oxide flap discs, or sanding cloths Never used on Ferrous material. As this will cause contamination of the join. Using a scraper of stainless steel a single tine of a stainless fork works good. To scrape the beneath the surface of the molten solder! This way the oxide is mechanically removed and the molten solder covering the cleaned parts, preventing air and oxidation. And not over heating the join area. As most of the aluminum solder melts around 650'F to 720'F You will have to practice, practice, practice and clean, clean, clean! If you have seen the demo's of it at the shows, something to remember the guy doing the demo. Does this for a living,12/16 hours a day 3/4 days a week! Sure they are going to make it look easy! The stuff at the state fairs and most of the shows demo's and expo's is all imported from China,from the same manufacturer, comes in 50 pound boxes. I use the flux less A-16 rod all the time for most light applications, were there will not be any stress, or weight on the join. It has a tensile strength lbs.sq/in 37,800, Shear strength lbs. sq/in 34,000 You can PM me and I will send you the contact info for the A-16 rod. In full disclosure, the guy that sells it is a long time friend and has been doing our North American Model Engineering Society Exposition each year. I do not receive a commission. Hope this answers the questions about the aluminum/pot metal repair rod. |
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