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ALUMALOY: any experience?
On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 23:23:54 GMT, wrote:
On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:50:04 -0500, "Dave" wrote:
I saw a TV add for a new product that supposedly makes welding repairs to
aluminum much easier; it's called ALUMALOY. It's like a brazing rod,
requires no flux of any kind, and only requires propane gas temperature.
Almost seems too good to be true ... anyone out there have any experience
with this stuff?
Same company also makes a similar product for stell and cast-iron; however,
in these cases, a type of flux is required.
-- Dave
Well, bog standard aluminum melts at betweeen 900 and 1100 degrees. It's very
hard to do with a torch of any sort, because the metal doesn't give any warning
before it melts like steel does. It doesn't glow red first. It just suddenly
goes molten. I have succesfully torch welded aluminum by first making a flame
that was mostly acetelyne so I could deposit a layer of soot on the material.
Then I cranked up a proper flame and did my work, knowing that the soot would
burn off at a tempurature just barely lower than when aluminum gets all runny.
In other words, welding aluminum with a torch is not really something to do
other than in a dire emergency.
Add to that the fact that not all aluminum is suitable for marine use, and I'd
say forget it.
Which brings up a question - when they rebuilt aluminum props, are the
propeller blades recast?
Later,
Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
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"Fisherman are born honest, but they get
over it." - Ed Zern
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