Does anyone have any advice on welding or brazing aluminium? I am building an intake manifold for my 4-banger and I have everything done... except the welding part. I tried a couple of local fab shops, but the cheapest quote for the job is about $200... which is more than I have invested into the parts! They say MIG welders will do it, and I have a Hobart 135, but I have been told by several welders (including Hobart) that MIG welding Aluminium without out a spool gun is about as much fun as ripping your fingernails out with rusty Vice Grips.. So I have been looking into brazing it together... any thoughts, suggestions, or welders in the Houston area with TIG that want to help a brother out?
can you post pictures of it? or e-mail them to me? maybe i can help? i dont know how complex it is but maybe you can ship me the parts I'll weld and ship back for cheaper then 200 but like i said...i need to see it first my e-mail is hotrodav8@aol.com Zach
why don't you just get aluminum rods to weld with for your torch instead of brazing. You can probably pick them at any welding supply. I have some from when I torch welded some alum. sheet metal together for a project. Just buy enough to practice with first.
I use my DC arc welder and special rod. It works very well although it looks terrible till you grind it out but the metal becomes part of the parent metal and it is indistinguisable where it was welded. You need to hold the rod almost vertical and feed it very fast. A little practice on s**** is advised . have also heard that the special rod that works with a hd propane torch works very well and is easy to use. Lots of it on the net. I was always skeptical but a fellow I have known for years and trust what he says says he tried it and was very impressed. It is very strong so he says. Don
If you are going to be near Red Oak in the near future, I'll give you my address and will TIG them for you. RO is just south of Dallas on I35E. Between I45 and I35E.
Thanks Guys. I have looked into the Welding rods, but I don't have an [SIZE=-1]Oxyacetylene torch. The head flange of the intake is 0.5 thick, so I don't think the propane will heat it up enough, since it is all 6061 T6, which makes a great heatsink... I could maybe preheat it on my Gas Grill....? Oldspert, man, I wish I was closer, that is a good 4 hour drive.... [/SIZE]
I have some experience with welding aluminum with a MIG welder without a gun mounted spool - it is difficult, but it can be done ! Use a BIG tip - several sizes larger than the wire - and practice a lot - you will get used to "bird"s nests" of aluminum wire. And you also need a tank of Argon gas....So by the time you're done, it will be cheaper to get it welded somewhere!
I have gas welded aluminum in the past and it can be done and look ok. But it gets a wierd orange glow as the flux melts and it is hard to see what you are doing.
Blair the trick is to have the correct color lenses. I had a pair of trick green ones in Australia years ago but I guess that the current hot set up is a cobalt blue color. Once the flare from the flux is neutralized you can see the metal get bright and shiney just before it turns into a molten puddle on the bench. Roo Man
I am a great welder...except for aluminum. the ONLY sucessfull aluminum welds I've done were when I took Welding in college. I've tried Spoolgun MIG, stock, and O/A. havent had much luck with any of them. I just decided not to make things from aluminum and everybody's happy
you dont need a spool gun. just aluminum wire and argon gas. welding aluminum with mig is easy. i welded sheet aluminum for over a year with mig.
Man, I have heard horror stories about bird's nests.... the real problem is that my Head flange is 0.75" thick plate, so keeping it hot enough is the hard part.
hi blair, i`ve read that the glare your describing really tears up the eyes, need to use goggles made for aluminum o/a welding. gary
Man, I've used those aluminum rods w/propane torch. Seems to be damn strong, as I've drilled and tapped it. You can buy this stuff online, or at carshows. Technically, I would say it is more like a brazing or soldering process, but it's easy to do, and it is pretty damn strong. If you got leftover material from your project, give it a try and see if your happy with results. Good luck....Ole Pork
Never tried the special rods with propane .............. might have to look into that. I think gas welding something that thick would be quite a challenge! That said, I can O/A weld sheet aluminum, no prob. I **** at TIG welding sheet aluminum, but the thicker stuff is no problem! Stick welding is used rather extensively on aluminum. It's strong and it works. Want to MIG weld it without a spool gun? Either get a shorter lead for your gun or be careful of how the lead is laid out. If the lead is coiled up on the floor, yep, you are likely to have problems. Move the welder further away so the lead is straight, problems will be lessened. The little felt "lube pads" the go on the wire inside the welder help, and, as suggested by FMS427 (even though he hasn't posted an intro), a big tip helps too - don't want the wire to stick anywhere, because the drive roller will tear the soft wire up in a hurry! Gary, don't know that the orange glow tears up the eyes so much, but it does make it damn hard to see what you're doing! The blue lenses help alot! Good luck and let us know how it turns out! Tim D.
I've had mixed results, but I have used them. When it turned out well, it turned out really well. I didn't realize how important flux was though. On my better welds, it flows like solder and was harder than the parent metal when I tried to grind it down. I usually didn't have to grind it down though because it flows. I just used a propane torch. This was usually light metal and small pieces. I haven't tried it on anything of much m***.
I picked up some rods (US FORGE self-fluxing ones at Sears Hardware) and gave it a go on some s****. Propane can't heat the metal as fast as the aluminium I was using can **** the heat out. I tried it on some thinner s**** and it works. But after it cooled, it wouldn't hold the pieces together, and I did the stainless steel brush to remove the oxide before trying to weld it. For right now, and considering it is an Intake manifold for sidedraft throttle bodies, I can't risk any vacuum leaks. I found someone to TIG it for me, a fellow HAMBer is willing to help me out at a price I can afford. However... I would love to learn how to do this, I hate having to farm work out on my projects! I want to do it myself.
Trust me.. I am starting to think I should have used mild steel... I could have welded it myself.. it may not have been pretty, but I could have done it.
What happened to this banger intake? Did you man up and ship it to someone to weld it for you? I want to see it as I have to do the same in the future except with a 28 chevy head. Thanks.
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