Easy aluminum welding

Not sure if it belongs in this forum or not, but it is for modding the bike so here is where I put it.

Most people don't have the $2K laying around for a TIG welder, so making something for the bike out of aluminum usually requires finding someone to weld it. A friend gave me an AlumiPro starter kit. All you need is a propane or MAPP gas torch (propane is cheaper, but MAPP is hotter so it is faster) and the alumipro sticks. Hold your pieces in a vice or jig, clean them off with the stainless wire brush and hit them with heat for about 20 seconds. Drag the wire across the gap and it will flow like solder. Then heat the gap again and you can see the aluminum oxide float to the top of the puddle as the stick material etches into the base. One more drag with the wire and you are done.

I was highly sceptical when I read the directions, but I figured I'd give it a try. It works VERY well and you can learn it in about 1/100 the time it takes to TIG well. If the piece is simple (and doesn't involve life safety), I'll use these sticks in the future instead of dragging out the whole TIG setup. I tried breaking the weld below after taking a pic - the base aluminum tears before the weld breaks.



With the zoom you can see the base get etched just like it does when you AC weld aluminum...



Thought I'd share.

Moderators, if you want to stick this somewhere else I apologize for the wrong placement.

very, very cool! Just ordered a kit from Wholesale Tool Company, was less than $20 shipped.

This will work well for "welding" in a "water pump/hose protector" skid plate extension on the right side of any of the common aftermarket WRR skid plates.

I foresee some tail/luggage rack applications in my future if it holds as well as you mentioned.

BPG wrote:

I foresee some tail/luggage rack applications in my future if it holds as well as you mentioned.

Keep in mind the subframe on the WR is steel.

I don't think many people weld their luggage racks directly to the subframe...

If I understand correctly, you're basically 'soldering' the aluminum pieces together?

toast wrote:

I don't think many people weld their luggage racks directly to the subframe...

Yeah it wouldn't make much sense would it? I'm not sure what I was thinking.

I have never personally used this stuff but I've never seen anything bad about it. I would not trust my life to it, however.

As with anything related to joining aluminum CLEANLINESS IS KEY.

malibu_dan wrote:

If I understand correctly, you're basically 'soldering' the aluminum pieces together?

The application is like soldering, but whatever is in this rod reaches much deeper into the aluminum than soldering does. If you keep the heat on the joint long enough you can see the alumipro reach all the way through the base material (you flip the material that you did this to over and you can see the weld marks).

Again, I wouldn't trust my life to this stuff; I wouldn't try making my own pedal set using this method. But for racks and brackets you can't beat it - the weld itself is stronger than the aluminum pieces you're welding.

I've tested a bunch of these rods. HT2000 is probably the best functioning, but also the most expensive. This process works well for non-critical applications and does really have some good strength. It's no where near the strength of TIG welding (I have a Thermal Arc 185TW TIG in the garage), but for the price, it can easily make little brackets or other pieces that don't see a lot of stress or vibration.

One tip would be pre-heating the base aluminum. Usually a heat gun works well for this. When using MAPP gas, heat the base metal, but not the actual solder material. The solder material melts a hundred degrees or so before the base aluminum, but be careful not to over heat the aluminum or the whole deal will melt and distort.

I put my pyrometer on it while I was working. The alumipro melts at around 750 degrees - that gives you quite a bit of headroom before the aluminum itself melts at 1600.

One tricky thing about it is that it is very difficult to do in a vice - aluminum is a fantastic heat conductor and the vice acts like a giant heatsink. Clamp your pieces with small metal C clamps and lay the whole thing on a welding mat, it will take a lot less time to heat up.

I've always wondered about the ht2000 brazing rods. Call me a skeptic but I don't believe it when they say the weld is stronger than the base metal itself, even though I've seen videos of them hammering the welded parts to try and break them.