Soldering/welding aluminium

[chris-red]

Hi all.

I'm after a bit of fabrication advice. I want to start making more of my own stuff. I have most of the required tools for basic stuff, (grinders,vise, bender, hand tools etc.)

I am planning on have ago at making a couple of brackets this weekend out of 1mm aluminium. And I would like to join a couple of folds for extra strength (think an L piece with a capped end.)

I have an Arc welder (Lidl special) however my welding experience considers of 20 minutes poking some Galvanised steel until the fumes gave me a head ache I threw up and went to bed for 16 hours . I'm happy to try again with more precautions but I also wondered about brazing/soldering. I remember someone on here (Stinkwheel?) talking about silver soldering aluminium.

I have a Mapp gas torch I can use, any suggestions of the type of stuff I need to braze/solder aluminium? Do you use flux? I have normal plumbers flux.

Cheers,
Chris
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[A100man]

1mm ally is pretty soft and bendy I'd look at pop rivets for joining pieces.
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[pepperami]

Sorry I can’t help, however I will be watching this thread with interest.
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[Easy-X]

I had a little dabble with silver solder and it's very easy to work with (simple MAPP torch) but that was on steel.

This may be what you're after:

https://superiorflux.com/techniques-for-soldering-aluminum/
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[MarJay]

You generally can't weld aluminium unless it's Tig welded. You need the gas because aluminium oxide forms very rapidly, so you need to shield the weld with an inert gas. MIG welders are not easy to use with Ally because the wire is not as easy to use as steel Mig wire.

I've done TIG welding before, and it's fiddly. I did it on steel though, not on ally and I'm told ally is an order of magnitude harder to do...
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[WD Forte]

what about those rods called durafix/duraweld or summat?
never used them but the adverts make it look easy
adverts dont lie

Edit: I looked it up Its Durafix
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[Islander]

[steve the grease]

[stinkwheel]

The solder works pretty well. Does take practice though, and quite a lot of heat. The stainless steel wire/brush are essential. No stainless scratchy, no sticky.

1mm is plenty thich enough. I've soldered two red bull cans together before today to make a lightweight meths stove.

My most recent dabble with the stuff was filling in supernumary drill holes in alloy mudguards. Needed MAPP for that because they sink the heat away so rapidly.
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[chris-red]

That durafix stuff looks interesting. For the moment I have just Amazon Primed some cheap stuff so I can have a go this weekend. I've been inspired by "Project Binky" which is one of the best things on YT and I guarantee anyone visiting the workshop section of the forum would like it.

I recently bought a carbon fiber belt cover for my scooby (because I'm a tart) the supplied brackets are naff and actually make fitting/removal of the cover about 10x more difficult than the 2 10mm bolts the plastic cover had. I have a riv nut set too I'm hoping for a nice couple of brackets that make it as easy as it was before.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Easy-X]

If it's not something visible always worth looking for an easy solution.

For example, I've lashed up brackets by cutting and bending up some of the punched-hole-strip stuff like wot them builders and plasterers use
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[kramdra]

You can use your arc welder as a scratch start tig, but not for aluminium or magnesium. Requires gas and a torch. This will do any other metals. Make stainless brackets instead?

The zink brazing rods, got a pack, could never get them to work with any amount of scrubbing. Would have been useful for some turned parts, wasted a good few hours trying.

Mig works well 2mm + on alu. Requires a bottle of argon gas, mine was £120 with deposit, used mig was 50 and spool gun 20. It will do what you want on thicker but wont be as pretty.

Tig weld, much more precise and controlled than mig, but an AC machine costs £400+, plus consumables and gas. I have only done a few practise bits with it. Expect to use one bottle of gas just on practise peices.

Other option is casting your parts, not an expensive process and recyling scrap aluminium is good for the environment Not tried thin parts I imagine they will take some practise to get right.

[A100man]