Aluminum welding rods with torch ?
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TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2017
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From: Stephens city VA
Aluminum welding rods with torch ? anybody use these to hold your cold side pipes together .https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultrafuse-A...S!-1:rk:7:pf:0
if so how did it work ? how much boost will it hold
if so how did it work ? how much boost will it hold
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2017
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From: Stephens city VA
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From: MIAMI
Its not about sounding cheap, **** if it works it works just i feel/dont trust it to be honest. you dont want it to crap out on you while on the road or track.
now yes it can work but i much rather take it to get actual welded on. its just my opinion.
now yes it can work but i much rather take it to get actual welded on. its just my opinion.
I think this may be one of those cases of "if it was a good idea, everybody would be doing it."
Go ahead and call me a redneck, but I don't see why people get hung up on cold side pipes having to be aluminum. We are mostly talking about street cars/trucks with junkyard motors here. 18ga steel works just fine. MIG it up, paint it, done.
Go ahead and call me a redneck, but I don't see why people get hung up on cold side pipes having to be aluminum. We are mostly talking about street cars/trucks with junkyard motors here. 18ga steel works just fine. MIG it up, paint it, done.
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2017
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From: Stephens city VA
I think this may be one of those cases of "if it was a good idea, everybody would be doing it."
Go ahead and call me a redneck, but I don't see why people get hung up on cold side pipes having to be aluminum. We are mostly talking about street cars/trucks with junkyard motors here. 18ga steel works just fine. MIG it up, paint it, done.
Go ahead and call me a redneck, but I don't see why people get hung up on cold side pipes having to be aluminum. We are mostly talking about street cars/trucks with junkyard motors here. 18ga steel works just fine. MIG it up, paint it, done.
it dont take a bunch of strength to hold 20psi. I'm sure it'll hold. i've seen these rods at autozone, in a lesser quantity. pick up a pack. weld a couple pipes together and pressure test. I dont think its a bad idea.
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Ive actually used rod like that before. It gave so so results. It worked but id rather have a welded pipe anyday. Prep is super important when using it.
i also ran mild steel pipes at first with my set up and barely saw a difference in temps when i moved to aluminium.
i also ran mild steel pipes at first with my set up and barely saw a difference in temps when i moved to aluminium.
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There are a few videos up of guys using it on you tube, and the one I seen, the guy pounded on it with a hammer, and bent the pipe over 90*'s and the joint held, and never failed.
I used that stuff on a pot metal pulley for my drill press. worked good. more like fillet brazing than welding per se.
probably the cheapest/easiest way to go is making your own bead "roller" crimper and lots of silicone couplers
probably the cheapest/easiest way to go is making your own bead "roller" crimper and lots of silicone couplers
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The aluminum "brazing" rods work ok. The problem you will have is aluminum takes a lot of heat to keep the joint hot enough to get a good flow of the rod. Some of the rods are better than others depending on the flux. problem i always had was getting enough heat as aluminum pulls all the heat away quite quickly although with lightweight tubing the problem might be getting the joint too hot. It will also depend on the type of aluminum as some grades will "wet" and on some the melted rod almost beads off of them. I have heard with something like a jewelers torch they work quite well in some situations and can be as strong as brazing is with steel. I would get a few and practice on some scrap as the ones i had got flung out the back door of the shop.
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From: MIAMI
I'd used if for that purpose awhile back. It really is quite strong, but the problem with it is, once you get your aluminum hot enough to melt it, it runs like water. So if you welded one side, let it cool, the went either beside it or opposite, once the aluminum tube reaches the melting point, the first weld you put on runs off too, I kinda got around that by 'belling' the lower tube so that it had a slight 'trumpet' look. Holding it vertical, then putting the second pipe into the 'bell', when I melted the aluminum rod, it went around in the trough/moat and kept it in place. Once I removed the propane flame, it cooled and was very strong. It looked 'meh' though. Not a very handsome joint.
yeah id think you would need to finish it out and paint it, much like fillet brazed bicycles. once you get good with heat control, you'll see the filler runs to the hottest part of the joint so you constantly have to watch where that is....tough with ally since it doesnt change color.
i bet with a bunch of practice one could get good at it.
but with that same time spent, you could earn money to buy a tig which is much easier and faster than fillet brazing
i bet with a bunch of practice one could get good at it.
but with that same time spent, you could earn money to buy a tig which is much easier and faster than fillet brazing
Thread Starter
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Jul 2017
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From: Stephens city VA
yeah id think you would need to finish it out and paint it, much like fillet brazed bicycles. once you get good with heat control, you'll see the filler runs to the hottest part of the joint so you constantly have to watch where that is....tough with ally since it doesnt change color.
i bet with a bunch of practice one could get good at it.
but with that same time spent, you could earn money to buy a tig which is much easier and faster than fillet brazing
i bet with a bunch of practice one could get good at it.
but with that same time spent, you could earn money to buy a tig which is much easier and faster than fillet brazing
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From: PDX-OR-USA
Don't know if others have done it,, but to join tubes if you use a short sleeve and slip both pieces your joining in side, a mapp-gas torch and silver solder does a good job, I've fixed several aluminum radiators with it,, Built a couple metal radiator "hoses" when rubber just was not going to be a good idea..
I just clean the metal as well as I can, use a good al flux and sweat it together just like copper pipe.. Its as strong as the tubing (Probably stronger) And its easy to slip fit everything together then solder them in place.
Cheers
I just clean the metal as well as I can, use a good al flux and sweat it together just like copper pipe.. Its as strong as the tubing (Probably stronger) And its easy to slip fit everything together then solder them in place.
Cheers
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From: PDX-OR-USA
Oh and the beast way to get the sleeves is to take some tube to a muffler shop and have them expand it on their bender, then just cut the pieces off with a chop saw, 3/4" long.. so you end up with a bunch of rings ...