Ok, so I broke down and bought the little set of Alumiweld sticks from the vendor guy at the Englishtown swap. I'm sure at least a few of you have tried this. Is it just me, or have some of you gotten the same results when you get home, that the stuff is total **** and doesn't work at all like it did during the demonstration? What the **** am I doing wrong??? Tried everything, propane, mapp, different torches, different pieces of aluminum, the stuff just doesn't work! Doesn't melt nice, doesn't stick. Now, if I were fabbing something crucial, of course I would take it to a pro, but I'm just looking to mend some little trim doo-dads. What's everyone else's experience with this krap?
I will be interested in others' experiences-I've often been tempted by the spiel and Carlisle is coming up so i bet the E-town vendors will be there.
I've only got it to work on really really very clean worthless stuff. Really clean is key. The stuff I really wan't to fix just melts the part away before it "welds" together. Practice on ****, a lot.
I have had it work ok.. stuff has to be spotless clean though.. use a new stainless steel bristle wire brush that you have not used on anything else.. and dont go crazy with the heat.. not real super hot.. but enough to get er done.. dont put any weight on it once you are done..
Used it on a old intake that looke like it was under the bay for 6 years, to repair carb bolt thread that was so bad , I could not even put a heli-coil in it until i built it up. Worked good, but true it has to be clean clean clean, and not to much heat , just keep scratching it like they show you
"Complete **** or total ****"? What's the difference? Anywho... never was able to get anything better than "decent" results with the stuff. As mentioned above, cleanliness is the key.
I don't know about those aluminum sticks. Like they said above, aluminum has to be super clean or the welds will look like ****. Plus welding aluminum is a lot different that welding steel. Everytime I switch from welding steel to aluminum I take a couple of practice p***es on s**** to make sure that I got the "feel" again since I don't do it that often. It took me a little bit to pick up welding aluminum too. Prolly just messing up cause it's dirty. JMO Later Josh.
Haha, that's the joke, complete **** or total ****, that's the two opinions I have of this stuff. Yes, I have cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned some more. I got 2 stainless brushes with the kit, and used them both. I heated up the aluminum for what seems like forever, using both propane and mapp. I dunno, I have a very strong feeling the conditions or the materials the vendor is using are optimum, and it definitely makes things look a lot easier than they really are. I have welded aluminum before using a spool gun, but that was at welding cl*** many years ago, and I know I'll never be able to afford a setup like that. I was hoping to get an easy way to do this stuff to little pieces of stuff. Ah well, time to take up sandcasting and make NEW stuff!
I think it works great. Use the supplied wire brush, and put the brush directly back in it's baggy to keep it uncontaminated. This stuff does not really work on thicker aluminum as the part wicks the heat away too fast if just using a propane torch. Keep at it.
you dont have to wait for a swap meet for this stuff... your local weld jobber should have it on hand. least they do around here and back in MN did as well i have had different luck with this stuff... depends on what you're tryin to fix i suppose. as mentioned clean is key. but just remember one important thing about this ****.,.. you arent WELDING anything with it. its an aluminum brazing rod, nothing more, nothing less. the better you prep the surface, little scratches and clean... the better the bond is gonna be, and yes i said BOND, again, it aint welding.
Mixed results. I tried the same stuff you did. I even tried it out at the table before I bought the stuff and it seemed easy to work with. So far, I have only had one success where I welded a piece of tent pole tubing to a small piece of cast aluminim. I have never been successful with anything larger or thicker. I stopped and talked to the guy at a swap meet recently. Same guy I bought it from. I told him about my dissatisfaction and he was tellng me you really have to have the part hot before you can work with it. You aren't going to weld on an intake manifold with it with much success. (Heck that was the main reason I bought the stuff) He had a B&S engine block he showed me. He said the base metal has to be about 400 degrees I believe. He said how he welded the engine case was set it in his propane grill for a while to heat it up, then weld on it right away. He said it takes about 4 minutes holding the torch on one spot to get the metal hot enough before you can work, even longer for a very big part. Not practical in most applications, but I suppose it has its place where it can be used with success.
It's funny that this subject came up now, after I had just used it last week after years of sitting in my tool box. I had bought it at a show at least 20 years ago.When I first purchased it, I took it home and tried it... and thought it was total ****. Pissed that I spent the money on this garbage I threw it in my tool box, ignored until last week. I'm doing some mild custom work on the front of my 62 Buick. While trying to do some light br***ing on the inner headlamp housings (which I thought were pot metal), I melting a small section. Aha... cast alumminum.. I tryed the Alumi-weld, thinking what do I have to lose. Well.. I used the same methods I tried in the past. CLEAN real well with the stainless brush, low heat, work it in a circular motion, and was surprised to see much better results. I finished it off with a file and the D.A., and it looks like it was heli-arc welded. Hmmm. It might have alot to do with the type of alumminum alloy it is?
sure ****s that you were a victim of "creative marketing". i'm lucky because i have a local specialty welder that will tell me if what i'm trying to fix can be done. if he is to busy and says i can do it it's well worth running down and buying him lunch. pretty cool to hang around and watch him repair cast.
I've practiced with it a bit, but never actually used it on a good part. I think the key is to get the part hot enough that the rod melts when it touches the part, scratch it back and forth to penetrate the oxide layer. It takes a lot of heat on a big aluminum part. Don't melt the rod with the torch, it won't stick.
fixed a boat prop with it and it stayed together. i was very shocked because my father got ****ered into buying it and could not get it to work,so i gave it a shot it works just like brazing a copper line you got to heat the part so when the rod touches it ,it melts not melt the rod to the cold metal.
I used it on some Karman Ghia aluminum door hinges some years ago.It worked well on them.Like the guys say,you need to use a new stainless steel brush to clean them up first.Anything else will contaminate the aluminum and it won't stick.
i'll take a look at the tube of rod i have in the shop today... "aluminum alloy brazing rod" comes to mind, but i'll look and make sure.
Super Alloy from Cecil Muggy - works *****in on aluminum alloys and great for fixing pot metal too. www.muggyweld.com - I have used it for years and can thoroughly recommend it. Not cheap, but if you want to fix it and fix it one time only...
welder supply places, ask for Harris Welco rod 52, and if you're doing pot metal make sure to get a can of welco flux 52. i got a 1# tube of this stuff at my local jobber and paid less than $20... at a swap meet, fair or other show, i see the muggy stuff is going for about twice that per pound and its the same ****, prolly made by the same company and works just as well... your mileage may vary, see your doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours (heh, she's gonna need a doctor if i get one for four hours)
I think it works great! (if the only thing you need to do is stick old soda cans together and fix holes in them like the vendors do...)
http://durafix.com/ I've tried this brand and so far so good. Propane didn't get hot enough; I had to use a MAPP torch. Used it to repair stripped NPT threads on an old Weiand cast aluminum manifold
I have used literally HUNDREDS OF POUNDS of it. Two different brands, Pesco and Alladin.The 3 main tricks to using it: 1 feather the edge from both sides 2 use a copper or iron back up plate 3 "tin" the edge from both sides, then place the back up plate with it's concave surface against the convex surface of the broken part. Then go at it and get it HOT and flow in the rod. I used it on boat props for edge build up, not joining 2 pieces. But if both pieces are properly prepared and tinned, and placed on a back up plate, I see no reason it shouldn't work. If properly tinned, it'll feather out nicely. But you just about gotta paint it, because it will "tarnish" in time and turn dark gray, almost black. I had (and still have) a Lincoln Ideal Arc 250 amp tig right there in the shop, but I used this rod instead, sometimes building up in excess of an inch on the edge where it was chewed off. Reason being that most boat props are cast of piss poor remelt or whatever. The intense heat of a tig arc tends to bring impurities to the surface and cause pitting in the parent metal adjacent to the weld. Move over and weld up the pits and it pits again, further over. Then when the customer hits something else, back he comes with the prop. "See here, it broke where your weld was porous, I want a warranty job". The brazing alloy and an OA torch don't generate such intense, localized heat, and no pits Dave
Very wise old man I only used mine once when I bought it. I joined a couple 3/8 plates together. Broke the edges with a sander to create a groove to fill, then used a b***ing tip to get HOT. Melts on contact, then you just work it around slowly , keeping the torch on the work piece to maintain a constant heat. It took some leverage in a bench vise to break it apart. I just wanted to see how strong of a union it made. I have yet to use it again, never did try any thing thin.
It worked surprisingly well, but I used a grinder to prep, let the piece get hot, watched for the rod to melt on the piece, then used the rod to sweep off the top layer of dross floating on the melted rod. I definitely made the pieces stick with a strong bond. The hardest part is to keep it from flowing off the work.
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