aluminum brazing soldering using alumiweld welding rods
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Harbor Freight aluminum brazing or soldering. I don't really know what this process is called. it's called alumiweld so maybe aluminum welding. harbor freight oxy fuel acetylene set
Best instructional video on these things yet brother, keep it up...! Thanks!
#1 Clean the base material - stainless steel (not brass) brush, acetone
2. Your torch tip is way too small, making your heat too concentrated in one small area. Use a "rosebud" tip to distribute your heat better.
3. Learn about things that you can use as "heat sinks" (even a damp rag), to wick away the heat of a new joint from weakening a previous joint.
Enjoyed the completely honest video - everyone is a noob - many times during one's life. We grow from those experiences.
It's nice to listen to someone that is pleasant. Typically whenever someone discusses joining two pieces of metal, no matter what the process, they like to be A#1 assholes. It's as if everybody is an idiot, except for themselves. And we are all lucky that they are sharing their infinite wisdom. I learn a lot more from this guy than the typical self proclaimed expert. Thank you.
Jeff Gardner I agree with you
Agree 100% It's called "the gringo syndrome"
Better cleaning of the pieces would have helped along with flux. Also, no matter whether you're brazing, welding, or soldering, clamps are a necessity. Other than that, you're doing hell of a job. Keep practicing like we all do.
I like your honesty,thanks for sharing your learning experiences!
thanks for showing us what we will do wrong and how to correct it.. well done
You are getting some unkind comments, pay them no mind. Easy to critisize but thanks for showing us. Coincidently I was looking at this at harbor frieght a couple of hours ago for a boat repain, thanks.
Thanks for showing your learning curve. That is more instructive than just showing the final success. I'll do my first aluminum 'brazing' tonight.
This stuff looks good for home use.
Till now, you would have to go to someone who can weld alloy, but this makes it look easy as long as you do not overheat the metal your putting together.
I will now have to look on the internet andvsee if I can buy it in Australia as it has 100 and 1 uses, good video.
nice video. showing the mistakes helps so much. thanks
Soldering: below red heat
Brazing: at or around red heat
Welding: melting the base pieces together
Thanks for the video.
It was helpful seeing someone make mistakes and for what it's worth ~ it takes a lot more guts to show your mistakes then to show someone doing it perfectly. So I appreciate you showing it from the beginning and NOT knowing how to do it to getting it down pretty well.
Thanks
At least he took the time to make this video. You "experts" should go elsewhere or show the rest of us how its done by making your own video.
I have used a product called alu-sol. Same deal. It was rubbish so i just learned how to fusion weld alloy, this may be useful for hobby use but it is more a solder joint than a weld.
Thanks for sharing - will be trying this for the first time.
Thanks. I found this looking for a way to solder my alum radiator.
You never need to push back and forth thats bs, you gotta take youre time, watch the material and do it at the proper rate where the material fills up properly in one pass
Good stuff! Thanks! About to give it a shot!
I think the whole point is that you can braze with aluminum rods at a lower temp using hand held propane.
@stinkypantsAZ you can use a jig saw or recripocating saw and cut up aluminum easy. Even a thin hacksaw will cut aluminum easily. Otherwise you need plasma.
@booya445 it does not weld steel to aluminum or anything. I think it only works with aluminum and galvanized steel for some reason but thats it. I could be wrong about the galvanized steel though look it up.
I don't mean to harsh but first it's soldering, not soddering! Second, try using a clamp. you'll find your work does not move all over the place that way. Even some simple wire will hold the work in place
Solder always follows the heat and with aluminum, it's important to keep your base material super clean. This rod is great for repairing/building up boat stems and outboard motor skegs etc. Terrific video, it's always tons of fun playing with new new toys. I like the way you worked your way through the learning curve, thanks for the share. :- )
Thanks for sharing! You first attempts parallel my first attempts, but I used a propane torch.
The guys at my local welding supply told me that my acetylene regulator will connect to my grills propane tank but it doesn't burn near as hot as acetylene .
Thanks for showing how to do it incorrectly. Makings mistakes is part of learning, and your willingness to show and discuss what you did wrong, in the beginning, will likely help people more than simply showing an edited 'perfect' process.
Well done.
Very nice. Thanks for taking the time to share.
Their has to be come gas given off, how do you think it will allowed the rod to stick to Aluminum which forms an oxide layer.
aluminum does not rust (convert to iron oxide) Aluminum will, including the aluminum content in the alumiweld corrode due to aluminum oxide. it doesnt really discolor the metal like rust would, but it'll pit (make ugly holes that can deteriorate the strength) the metal. Note aluminum corrosion takes longer than Iron rusting, unlike rust, aluminum corrosion can be effectively stopped
propane is hard to get enough heat, use map gas
After watching your video I was able to make a perfect fillet on test pieces of aluminum with Alumiweld on the first try. I was then able to sucessfully fix some cracks and holes in an aluminum boat. Great video, thanks!
How are your repairs holding up ? I may be doing similar repairs to this aluminum boat i just received.
KingBain Pretty well. I was able to seal up some cracks in the bottom where the side met the bottom. You do have to clean the area well before brazing. I used a stainless steel wire brush in a drill and an oxy/propane torch for heating. Practice on some scrap aluminum pieces first. Follow freddy's lead from the video to get the technique down. It will hold well if you heat the aluminum so that it melts the braze rod and wets well to the metal. Some people have used a small stainless brush in the molten alumiweld to get better wetting but I did not need to. I did coat the brazed areas with epoxy to seal any pinholes as well as some other places that had pinholes. The boat I repaired really was in rough shape and I've got it down to one small pinhole which I just now need to find to seal it but the Alumiweld areas are doing fine.
John Roamin
Hope you drilled the ends of the cracks.
Try heating the two pieces up before you place the rod to it
Thumbs up!!!! I have a jon boat with a couple holes in it. That would be awesome fix. I've seen these before like on T.V or something but they were like $30-$40. I don't deal alot with aluminum so wouldn't want to spend that much on them but $15.00 or so looks to be well worth it.
Thanks Freddy keep up the informative vids and I'll keep watching. I like your humor too "come with me if you want to live" bwahahaha
The first time I tried brazing aluminum it was identical to your attempt, but the best way to getting a good weld... PRACTICE!!
hey freind i noticed your not debreading or scratching the oxide of , you need to do this to get the advertised durability , thanks for posting and if you did mention this and i simply missed it
then pardon my confusion
@jaratt85 it was sitting in a big junk pile with rusty metal on it leaking rust juice all over it for years.
@wingedabgel did you have the audio on? This is the first time I ever did this. I could have edited this video to look like was a pro but I don't care if people know I don't know.
The bigger the glob the better the job!
How about the HTS-2000 stuff? Cost more, I just ordered some of the Harbor Freight stuff because it's so cheap just to play with. Maybe I'll get the HTS stuff too and do a comparison. The HTS-2000 stuff claims to be stronger...I have no clue.
@hdl13 i know it would be good for that. they use it on aluminum cans on some videos.
The technique is just like with soldering pipes. Just heat up the product. Test if it is hot enough no flame and when the product starts to take the rod. Just apply the rod. And keep clean while heating the flame creates oxidation. It needs to flow. As a heating guy in the Netherlands I've seen so much bad soldering. It takes some time to learn soldering. And this is not anything different. And never apply the heat to the tin or solder or braze.Always heat both materials and have them touch.
I bought these rods from Harbor Freight and tested it out. I used aluminum tubing from a shower curtain rod. I notched one end to mate perfectly against another tube. Brazing was easy, joints looked good, but of the 4 test cases 2 joints could be broken by hand, and 2 were very strong. I used propane as my heating gas.
Any thoughts why? Did i get the metal too hot? parts not cleaned properly?
Any help appreciated.
well done thank you man is that a 4 or 5 tip?
yeah heat first then remove flame and run your solder.
Keep electronic soldering in mind in the sense that solder never hits the tip of the soldering iron so a flame should never touch your alumiweld rod.
Can you braze a few different sized aluminum nuts to a piece of aluminum and take a torque wrench and see what each nut will take before destruction?
@Terratracks I live in canada as well, and we need no kind of license to buy and use oxy acetylene. I have no idea where you heard it, but it is 100% wrong. Just go to a welding ans gas supplier, and buy it. The ones that you cant use are those porta-torches, and that is only because the oxy tank has no safety cap on it. As long as they have the saftey caps (all legaly sold in canada do) you can use them.
You should probably be using flux also. That will help clean everything.
What is the right flux to use for this type rod?
phillip hall Maybe a general purpose flux? Some brazing rod has flux right in it.
I don't know, I have a boat that I picked up at a good price because it has a couple "titanic" gashes int about 14 inches long. The gashes are like hair line but long. I was thinking of trying this but I've also seen a video on a product called muggy weld that looks excellent . Can't get it locally, they use a power type flux with their rods and I can't find this type flux locally either so I was looking for some input . I really like this video . This guy did well with what he was doing but I am thinking that flux would be better for me since the gashes are so long?
phillip hall You have to watch with warping over that big of a distance. That muggy weld looks pretty neat also. I think muggy weld can be bought online and maybe on eBay.
Also, be careful what your breathing! Anything but good air will kill you. Maybe not instantly, but, you know what i mean. Madam Currie poisoned herself doing all kings of cool stuff, not thinking of safety first. Cheers dude. Keep up the experiments, but do it safely.
@Terratracks Mapp is better if you don't use 02. if you do then either would be good.
Thank you very much this helped a lot. we will see I'd i can replicate this now
It's nice to see mistakes . Helps me learn with you I geuss lol
just to be sure: at 6:54 the 2 pieces of metal you welded were in steel, and you filled the joint with an aluminium stick, right?
I appreciate your video- it was helpful; but come on man....CLAMP your work....its the first thing your learn about building anything to spec! its gotta be held in place.... Nonetheless, I learned from your mistakes and i appreciate your time....I just feel bad for all the failed attempts that could have been successful if you secured the work! cheers
i would just vice grip or use steel clamps to keep the pieces in place if possible
Hold your work down and leave a small gap between the two pieces and dont rest it on steel, let it hang over the edge away from any base
+freddytk421 - Thank you !!! At least we know it can be done! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for showing the learning.
Why does this video come up on a search for Muggy Weld Aluminum? This is not Muggy Weld product.
i bought some "rods" and i heated the aluminum and kept checking the joint by rubbing the rod across and it didn't melt. eventually parts of the work piece melted away and the rod started to melt. i suspect the "low temperature brazing rods" were just aluminum wire. lesson is don't buy cheap "rods" from ebay
Parts should be clamped together. At first, it looks like you are trying to heat the box only. Have to heat both parts above 730 deg. Once the parts are heated sufficiently, you may not even need the torch to melt the rod into the joint.
It is good that you show the mistakes so viewers will know what to look for, it helped me. Good vid.
My first impression is these are the first problem you come across. So you know what to look out for. I bought a dc welder where in the future I can buy the accessories for tig welding. I'm not sure it will do aluminium. I have an electric solder the higher amp model and have come upon problems you showed in this video. My purpose is to solder (weld) 2 box section aluminium straight edges together for my work. Well done and great you don't tolerate any abuse I should do that on my channel. Ron
In all these examples your braze was done long before you stopped playing with it
I used to see comercials for something like this and it was knows as something like Alumaloy, maby even propane could be used to melt it.
Its called aluminum brazing. And i heard that the HBF Tig welder with digital readout is really good.
@IHelpYourRS i've never heard of it being used for bikes but it supposed to be stronger than the base metal but I don't know. look up silver solder on bikes I know a dude that uses that and he builds bikes from scratch.
You probably work with a pen in an office to make a living ? You have a complete lack of common sense
I bought some so called "special" aluminum rods made up,so the guy said with maybe 11 different grades of some alloy,whatever,but using a MAP gas torch,was able to repair a cracked crankcase sump on a motor bike,it kind of puddles into the crack and fuses with it just like a normal steel weld,however he said to wire brush it first with a brass brush,NEVER a steel wire brush,supposedly contaminates it in someway and impairs the weld.
@rascalwind - also noticed freddy refused to read the instructions that come with the stuff. ie put down the welding rod, pick up the stainless steel scratching rod and scratch the work piece area that is covered by the molten puddle.
You don't do that and the join will never be strong. Got to physically break the aluminum oxide layer by scratching with something other than the alumiweld rod.
And clamp or jig the pieces so they hold still --helps a lot.
that stuff is a proprietary blend of zinc, and some other heavy metals, That means. VENTILATE, it is a soldering/brazing process, and though it's brinell, and rockwell strengths can be greater than that of the aluminum base metal, the shear strength and ductility, are somewhat lower. Not to mention an un tested/rated dynamic life cycle. overall, this is a great product, but don't think for a minute that it is a replacement for tig welding. in other words, you'd be foolish to hang glide under it
@Terratracks
License for Oxy-acet ??? never heard of that before. You can buy a small torch (have one) that uses a couple small throw away propane and oxygen tanks you get at hardware stores if you need more heat than mapp or propane alone (I can use small mapp & Oxygen tanks too in it). I have been leasing my big tanks and having them refilled for years. I have 3 tanks leased right now Argon, Oxygen and Acetylene tanks. Nothing special to have them filled, buy them or lease them.
For us Non-Welders this is great instruction & for all you weenies that feel your livelihood is threatened because someone learns to make a few simple repairs, get over yourself! It's not meant to replace professional welding and I doubt very much that anyone would try & build a freighter or chassis or airplane frame with this method.
@TheRabidPosum This looks similar to the aluminum brazing rods we could get here in the USA..but they were discontinued due to Cadmium content, I would be surprised if these are full of cadmium..being Harbor Freight..
Now I think it's more like a solder, due to the 700 degree range, the true brazing is closer to 900+..
@Terratracks Well out here in the west (bc, alta, ect) There is no such thing as a permit for oxy, acet, or any welding products. Are you thinking of an account with a welding supply? I know some welding supply stores wont sell to anyone without an account. Air liquide will sell to anyone though, but only through the stores, not the bottle swap locations.
@freddytk421 gotcha.. I like that cobra torch youve got, too bad they are pretty expensive, look like theyd be a lot nicer than the old school welding torch.. I guess those are remans of the old school Dillan's torch (dont know spelling) I know Jesse James used one of those when gas weelding alluminum tanks on his choppers back in the day
...how did you NOT know to heat up the base metal? I don't think you should be on here doing instructional videos unless you know what you're doing...just say'n
Also: NEVER touch aluminum rod to the flame...heat your base metal, remove the flame, "melt" the rod on it, then re-apply the flame.(as needed)
It's definately a form of soldering or brazing. It's not welding because the base metal isn't being melted, just the rod. No puddle. It looks it reacts like lead free solder. I've never come across these rods before, I wouldn't have a clue what to do with them either. Exelent video, very informative thanks.
Using this rod is not welding and therefore there is no penetration. It's more like soldering, the result would be bridging. Basically filling the gap with the rod, which is why sometimes you need to "V" grind the base before the application of the aluminum rod.
@mjottman How did you not know how to not leave triple comments...I don't think you should be commenting unless you know what you're doing.
He was showing his learning process, he learned what you just said already without you telling him. That's what the whole video is about.
When you braze aluminum you don't heat the rod or the joint. Aluminum tents to disapate heat so you heat it going up -> down where down is the place you are welding. You just scratch the surface with the rod and when it melts, then you begin to weld.
excellent, excellent instructional video my friend! Thank you for showing us your errors as we all would likely to down that same road initially. Your video really really helped me out and made me look like a project after my first brazing joint!
So basically you need a laser thermometer (or a few) with a nice big screen pointed at the spot to give you more information as to what temp you're at. Or one of them fancy thermal camera smart phones.
Like the vid guy. Think I will give this a try. Thanks for showing me what not to do, it's an interesting concept really.... Oh, and all you haters.... Get a life!!!!
Your issue is the metal is DIRTY. Just like soldering, EVERYTHING must be CLEAN. You have no rod flow again because of dirty metal.
I bought a pack of these rods and they say a propane torch will work and it will for soda cans but nothing thicker, the propane does not get hot enough !!
"Come with me if you want to live" lol @ random comment
Would you say the technique is like how one would fillet braze? The rod doesn't seem to flow quite into the liquid state like brass or solder. But it seems pretty manageable once the material is heated up properly. Thanks for posting.
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Probably handy for someone like me who really doesn't have a spare 220V outlet lying around nor the ability(I RENT) to install one. Though I never got enough proof that this kind of bonding works good for the 1/8th angle I used to reinforce a warped tent trailer roof I rebuilt. However it would have helped alongside the rivets as I have one part sadly pop out. Fortunately it was and end piece that wasn't supporting anything. But it really came down to cost and weather. Took 2 to 3 months to do what was basically 3 weeks worth the work. Because 2 to 3 weeks of that 3 months was what I got for dry weather
Maybe use a heat sink on parts already soldered that you don't want to melt . If somebody else didn't already mention this. :)
i had tried a lot of filling rods and gas weldings, the only way to solder aluminium is with oxy-acetylene and tig/mig, that low fusion melting point rods are weak and some times they didnt do any fusion, they do a "mechanical welding", and if you are soldering thin parts forget about gas welding, use tig welding, the best way is to do it with a tig, if you cant bought a tig welder look somebody that has one and pay him, aluminum welding is expensive and is the most dificult material to solder
@BrutusJones good idea. heat sink.
@sickdeathshappen yeah, from what ive heard and read its a good machine, that will be my next welder.
dont you want the piece of aluminum to melt so the filler and aluminum will all melt together? seems like your just sticking filler to the outside of the aluminum and to me that cant be very strong. but i do not know anything about aluminum welding so i dont know...
Hello can i use this welding to repair cylinder of car if it small part is broken . Thanks
flux...would have made your life super easy
Its a no flux system mate the job wasn't hot enough to get the braze to run that's all.
alextheromanian he needs to clean it, with a wire brush, and mayb some flux, I see some people use flux, and some don’t
Oh aNd probably and lot tighter arc
You have to scrub the aluminum with the rod or it won’t remove oxidation it flowing in the cracks won’t do shit it has to be rubbed on. I’m willing to bet the one you think is so great won’t hold fuck all.
It is a brazing process. When brazing, the part is heated and not the filler rod. When the part is hot enough, the filler rod will melt.
Great video - I was looking for something that was easy and cheap. Watching your initial attempts taught me what not to do and what to do. Thanks.
@Wopadas I don't know it says 40,000 lbs tensile on the box but I don't know,