Pietenpol-List: Aluminum Welding
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2002 4:19 am
Original Posted By: rhartwig11(at)juno.com
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Aluminum Welding
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Aluminum Welding
Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Hi Dick,As others have said, check out Ket White's Tin Man site. His welding systemcan be found athttp://www.tinmantech.com/html/aluminum_gas_we ... tem.html.I bought his video, bought some flux (not from him) and tried my hand atwelding some 5052. It is nowhere near as easy as he makes it look. Unlikesteel which begins to glow first dull red then bright red then yellow thenwhite then begins to glisten and look "wet" before it melts, aluminum justsits there sucking up heat from your torch until it nears its melting pointand then "presto!" it's GONE. There is no color change or any visual cuethat it is about to melt. As it nears the melting point, it loses allstrength and the weight of the weld puddle is sufficient to cause thesurrounding metal to fail and the whole puddle just drops right through themetal.I gave up and took my fuel tank across the road to a neighbor who has a niceTIG rig and he welded my fuel tank for me. I did manage to do a litlewelding of the aluminum tubes in my pitot-static system.My advice would be to use the entire system Kent White produces, andpractice a lot before welding something critical. You can get all the extraequipment you need for far less than the cost of a TIG rig. I would havedone that if I didn't have TIG available so close by (and for free).Good luck,Jack -----Original Message-----