Anyone have experience with Alumiweld?

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-15-2010, 04:38 PM

Does anyone have experience with a material called Alumiweld? It's material in a rod form, that supposedly you can use to join metals together by melting it with a torch. Apparently the joints are stronger than aluminum and mild steel, so not as strong as a weld, but strong enough perhaps for light to medium duty applications.

http://www.alumiweld.com/

Dave

Wavery · 07-15-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

Does anyone have experience with a material called Alumiweld? It's material in a rod form, that supposedly you can use to join metals together by melting it with a torch. Apparently the joints are stronger than aluminum and mild steel, so not as strong as a weld, but strong enough perhaps for light to medium duty applications.

http://www.alumiweld.com/

Dave

I haven't personally used it but I'd give it a try on light aluminum.

It's the heating of the component to be welded (without doing more damage) that could get tricky.

If you try it, let us know how it goes.

MariaG · 07-15-2010, 06:14 PM

We've used it on things like a ladder and a canoe. The prep is important - surface must be freshly cleaned up with a clean stainless wire brush. It seemed hold up okay, this was a couple of years ago and the ladder is still in use.

07-15-2010, 06:16 PM

I used "JB Weld" last fall when our awning broke. It was the pivot catch which I would call pot metal.
JB weld is a paste and it worked great. I let the repair sit over night and it was better than new the next day

**Frenchy** · 07-19-2010, 09:16 AM

I believe Alumaweld only works on aluminum components. It only takes a standard propane torch to make the "weld".

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-19-2010, 09:46 AM

Actually, according to their website, in addition to aluminum, it will:

Quote:

Also will weld Zinc based metals, (Pot Metal), Mag-Alloy and Galvanized Steel all with a propane torch.

Dave

Wavery · 07-19-2010, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

Actually, according to their website, in addition to aluminum, it will:

Also will weld based metals, (Pot Metal), Mag-Alloy and Galvanized Steel all with a propane torch.

Dave

I can see it working fairly well on any Zinc or magnesium alloy, However, galvanizing is generally a zinc based coating over mild steel. What you would be adhering to would be only the coating. There certainly wouldn't be much strength there.

I have welded pot-metal before and that's a real art. It's best to heat the pot metal to ~350-400* in an oven first. Then heat it with a torch. I wouldn't mind trying this stuff on pot-metal, it may work pretty well. The trick with pot-metal is not heating it too fast or too much. It can literally just explode if it expands to fast or just break like glass if it gets too hot or cools too fast. I'd think the heat from a propane torch and this stuff may work well. It's just a matter of how strong it would be. After welding, I would put it back in the hot oven and turn the oven off to allow slow cooling.