Subject: Welding Aluminum with Sti

From: [email-masked] (Raymond Frye)
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 10:58:00 -0800

References: <[email-masked]> 
James Cain writes:
JC> At my local home warehouse store I spottted something I'd never seen
JC> before...welding rods for Al made for an arc welder!!
(snip)
JC> Does anyone know if these Aluminum welding sticks work??  And if so,
JC> how well?
(snip)

----------------------------
Cons:

The fumes are as bad as they come. This is an outside with a fan and a
ventilated hood operation.

>From  my experiences the weld edges are rough and the joint weaker than
parent metal. 

High shrinkage.

The edges weld in porous material tend to foam a bit (tig does also).

The weld machines poorly (soft aluminum).

Plus side:

Cast aluminum can be repaired.

Heavy parts can be welded.

That cracked gearcase can be patched in place without disassembly.

Example:
 My last emergency repair was the front housing of a Ford automatic.
 The crack went into the pump and would spray fluid while driving.
 The area was cleaned with solvent a stainless brush and welded.
 The transmission and surrounding components were still on the car.
   (there was barely clearance to reach with the rod)

Comments:
   I consider this a patch not a fix.
   Four rods are as many as you might use in a few years time.

Ray

 * RM 1.3 02229 * a somnambulist in the information trafic jam

---

From: [email-masked] (C.J. Frederick)
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 96 03:15:34 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
   [email-masked] (James Cain) wrote:
>Path: 
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>From: [email-masked] (James Cain)
>Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
>Subject: Welding Aluminum with Stick Welder??
>Date: 24 Jun 1996 15:50:00 GMT
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>
>At my local home warehouse store I spottted something I'd never seen
>before...welding rods for Al made for an arc welder!!
>
>It was a sealed package of what felt like 4 rods (roughly a buck each).
>The package warned to practice first to get used to the way they work
>and to preheat first to around 500F.
>
>I've always considered converting my buzz box to MIG but could never
>justify it with access to a MIG welder within 5 miles.
>
>Does anyone know if these Aluminum welding sticks work??  And if so,
>how well?

I have experimented with them many years ago and they work OK, butI would 
not use them for critical or big welding jobs.  The toughest part is not 
being able to see what your doing.  The flux must blanket the weld 
completely to eliminate oxidation of the molten pool.  The travel speed 
must be experimented with because you can't see the actual bead through 
the flux.  Remember aluminum does not go through a color change when it 
turns molten.  Also it takes practice as the rods melt very fast.  Remember 
aluminum melts at half the temperature that steel does and conducts 
electricity much better than steel.  with practice the beads were sized 
correctly but very rough on the surface.

c. J. Frederick AWS CWI/CWE