Welding Aluminium for Dummies

[Shawn]

I posted awhile back about a product called alumi-weld. Well, I never did post my results because I couldn't get the stuff to stick. Tonight I had another go and realized that the aluminium I was trying to weld had some sort of coating on it that the brazing rod wouldn't adhere to. I sanded down the two pieces, held them together with a small clamp, applied heat with a small propane torch and applied the alumi-weld

The weld is super strong and looks great, a little bit of filing and sanding was all it took to clean things up a bit. I couldn't be more satisfied with this product and it's ease of use.



The bottom of both handles welded just as you see in this photo, no clean up was required. The top of the handles had a few drips.





I'd be happy to answer any questions but there are a number of videos on Youtube showing how to use the stuff. It cost me around $6.00 for two sticks, I used about a quarter stick tonight.

Shawn

[Matt Olieman]

Fantastic Shawn. "Aluminum Welding Made Easy," thanks to your introduction to this wonderful product.

Thanks Shawn,
Matt Olieman

[Shawn]

It really is "easy" the dummy part was for me for not realizing the aluminium had a coating on it, even after watching the metal smoke and turn black and turning the stuff on my lathe only to see the shiny metal appear!!!

One bit of advice is anyone who is going to try this. It takes some light pressure with the brazing rod to get the metal flowing, once it begins to flow the pressure is minimal. I think the fact that I am using a metal clamp requires a bit more heating as the clamp acts like a heat sink, probably would be easier to use something less thermal conductive than metal if possible.



Shawn