Alu Soldering

[harryskid 193]

Any one ever tried this, sorry its in German

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

cant see that lasting long on moving parts and certainly wouldnt try it on suspension components for obvious reasons. if you welded some steel together with a mig welder and you ended up with parts stuck together with "birds*it" it wouldnt last 2 minutes. to fuse metal you have to melt the 2 faces together this soldering is just glue'ing em together i would of thought

Edited July 1, 2012 by Slo

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

I'm sure it would be OK for certain things, but you are effectively gluing the alu together using another metal as a jointing agent. The joint will only be as strong as the bond between jointing agent and the alu. When properly welding alu, the joint is as strong as the parent metal.

[pugpete1108 62 1 Cars]

is that like ally braizing? i did have a go at this some time ago but its bloody tricky.

 

ally melts real quick

[harryskid 193]

I was thinking it might have its uses for sheet metal. I don't think i would trust it on main structures!

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Saw this sort of thing demoed at a recent kit car show. The butt joint between the two pieces of ally 'welded' together was stronger than the original material - we had a go at it till the ally failed, but the joint was intact.

 

Was wondering if it could be used to fill in curb gashes in the various sets of alloys I have - don't own a TIG, which would be the accepted method.

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

This was the stuff

 

http://durafix.co.uk/

[harryskid 193]

This was the stuff

 

http://durafix.co.uk/

 

Looks good i think i will give this stuff a try!

[Rippthrough 98]

It's fine for panelwork and radiator repairs etc, don't use it for anything else though!

[harryskid 193]

Found out a bit more, this was developed by the Yanks because of the Afgan war where transporting normal welding gas was too dangerous. Low heat, like butane is not so bad for field repairs and the guy tells me it is very strong. I have placed an order for some and can't wait to get started. I can weld and being a heating engineer i can solder so i should get on alright with it. My first job for it is a custom made oil catch tank for my rally car. Wish me luck!

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

 

Was wondering if it could be used to fill in curb gashes in the various sets of alloys I have - don't own a TIG, which would be the accepted method.

 

kinda like the old 'lead loading' they used to do before filler etc came about

[Rippthrough 98]

Found out a bit more, this was developed by the Yanks because of the Afgan war where transporting normal welding gas was too dangerous. Low heat, like butane is not so bad for field repairs and the guy tells me it is very strong. I have placed an order for some and can't wait to get started. I can weld and being a heating engineer i can solder so i should get on alright with it. My first job for it is a custom made oil catch tank for my rally car. Wish me luck!

 

Not sure where that came from but the stuff has been around under various names for many years before the war...

[harryskid 193]

Given it a go, it works but its strange stuff to use. The rods are quite thin and every thing must be clean, also its a bit trickey to judge the temp of the alloy and you must not use the flame to melt the rod!. Remember it s soldering not welding. The stuff is as strong as they say and would be good for broken lugs ie Alternator lugs could be rebuilt or holes in gear box casings and also can be used for mending bad alloy threads.I overheated a work piece and blew a hole in it and the stuff filled the hole with no problems.The rods i used don't go very far and they are 18" long and quite expensive. I bought 10 and a small stainless tinning brush for £32 and soon got through them. On the up side though i'am pleased with how they work and will get some more for those sort of repairs i've said and like every thing the more practise you have with it the better it gets. Some thing use- full for the work shop and remember you only need an ordinary blowtorch so it would even be handy on board a service van!

[Uberderv 6]

I have used it before to connect boost pipes together, block holes in inlet after EGR removal and make an adapter flange.

Can get pics if anyone would like to see them

[harryskid 193]

I have used it before to connect boost pipes together, block holes in inlet after EGR removal and make an adapter flange.

Can get pics if anyone would like to see them

 

Good to learn somebody else finds it usefull !

[Neil_xs 0]

Have heard about this stuff befor but have never seen an end result. Think I will stick with tig welding for now untill it's been out for a bit longer and seen more end results.

[kee 22]

very interesting, as said above it's very similar to brazing and plenty of spaceframes have been stuck together by the power of brazing in the past.

any pics of the work you did harryskid?

[harryskid 193]

very interesting, as said above it's very similar to brazing and plenty of spaceframes have been stuck together by the power of brazing in the past.

any pics of the work you did harryskid?

 

Not to hand but i might get some at the week end!

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

@ Jeff / Uberderv - do you think this would work well with building up damaged alloys?