Oxy-fuel aluminum welding

[Aerometalworker]

Good Day All,
Ok I know i nthe past I have pushed torch welding of aluminum quite a bit, especially for fuel tanks. Well I thought I would share some pictures of a test weld for fuel tank project, and show the advantages of the process for these applications.

Material is 5052
.028" thick
5356 filler
Oxy-Hydrogen with a .035" tip

Notice the back side of the weld usually looks better then the top, perfect penetration, no oxidation. The weld is not very thick, but has very high density. Since torch welding my aluminum fuel tanks I have not had one single pinhole, leak, crack or failure of any kind.

Enjoy!

[jwsrep]

Very nice Mako...that is not easy to do. I like the first pic (edge) looks like good penetration and good tie in to the sides.

Did you use a flux with it or not? I have always thought that you needed to use an aluminum powder flux (Oxweld Alumaflux) when o/a aluminum?

[Aerometalworker]

Very nice Mako...that is not easy to do. I like the first pic (edge) looks like good penetration and good tie in to the sides.

Did you use a flux with it or not? I have always thought that you needed to use an aluminum powder flux (Oxweld Alumaflux) when o/a aluminum?

Yeah sorry, I forgot to mention the flux. I used Allstates Welding flux ( the old Alcoa/Linde formula ).

Just for kicks, here is the same weld, stretched with a ball pein on a plate of aluminum to stretch the heck out of the weld, notice there are no cracks of any kind. Kinda gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when you have 30 gallons of Av-Gas sitting in front of you and your pulling 8g manuvers.

[Iron man]

Great job, I have tried that a couple of times with no luck I think I was using the wrong flux. It must be a rare process when I went to the weld supply store they said they have never seen it done or couldnt tell me what flux to use. Then the tried to sell me a tig LOL.

[yorkiepap]

Hey mako,
That is some fine O/A AL welding. I love O/A and have been using it 43+ years and been O/A Alum. for many years. I also do MIG & TIG Alum. but always keep brushed up with O/A. You can really get the "feel" of the AL with O/A and I wish more welders would get into the multitude of welding facets that O/A can do. The ease of transition into TIG is really amazing if one does a few years of O/A prior to TIG. It's good to see those like yourself who do quality AL welding and "push" the O/A process.......BTW, I use the same flux......Thanks....Denny

[dabar39]

Oxy-fuel aluminum welding

I've done my fair share of brazing over the years but never tried O/A or O/H welding on aluminum. I would love to know more about it and any pointers, tips, or publications you could help me with would be greatly appreciated. I am getting more and more aluminum work coming into the shop and think it would be a lot quicker and more efficient to do the oxy fuel welding over mig or tig. I've asked a lot of old time welders about o/a or o/h on aluminum and have not been able to find any one that had ever done it before. We have three LWS's in the area and none of them were any help in the past when I had asked them about torch types, tips, fluxes, etc, etc...

Once again I would really appreciate any and all info you would be willing to share. Dave



yorkiepap, haven't seen you in a while, glad to see you post again

[Jolly Roger]

Nice looking welds. I have always used the internal flux rods. I don't even know what the correct nomenclature is for them.

[yorkiepap]

Hey Dave(dabar39),
Thanks man....I kinda stayed away when all the personality conflicts started. I'm not fond of those kinds of responses on a forum, any forum, that is supposed to help, enlighten, and give inexperienced or experienced welders a place to LEARN! I read this forum every day as I do with 2 others I like and contribute to. Mako's post kinda lit me up with O/A and I really like to help others really learn what the potentials are for O/A..even if one just wants to be able to do some "home repairs/fixups" and have a process that is quite inexpensive. Sorry for getting off tangent a bit. Anyway, I hope to be able to contribute a bit more now & again.....Denny

[6010]

I found this site with information on rods. It may be of interest to someone.
They also have some videos of repair work.

https://WWW.muggyweld.com

[6010]

Oh, almost forgot. That is a pretty weld Makoman. I mistook it for a tig weld at first. I hope one day I can make it look like that.

[jonnymag]

Nice welds. My dad used to gas weld everything. I wish I paid more attention to the stuff when he was still alive Unfortunately, I didn't get into it again until my mom asked me to clean out his workshop last year.

[HMW]

Wow nice welds, I too have brazed alot yrs ago. but now it seems, with a plasma cutter, TIG and MIG, I don't use the torch for much except heating things, same with stick, just sits there mostly. Like Dabar, I am interested in it so anything you've made I'd like to see. Also any info is appreciated.

[Aerometalworker]

I found this site with information on rods. It may be of interest to someone.
They also have some videos of repair work.
WWW.muggyweld.com

I have to warn you, that stuff isnt "welding" at all, its more like a low temp braze. The cored rods are also actually brazing rod. The drawback is that the brazing is not ductile at all, and is designed to be used with surface area I.E. a lap joint. Butt welds with brazing material arent that reliable and unfortunately the entrie area has to be removed to re-do a braze as the material infects the parent metal at welding temp.

I use either Allstates aluminum welding flux, or the flux sold by Kent at www.tinmantech.com. He also is a good source of learning material. Use a good spring water like evian with the flux.

You can use pretty much any torch you want, heck ive even used a cutting torch on castings! OH and OA can both be used with great results. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to e-mail me [email protected]

-Aaron

[jwsrep]

I have to warn you, that stuff isnt "welding" at all, its more like a low temp braze. The cored rods are also actually brazing rod. The drawback is that the brazing is not ductile at all, and is designed to be used with surface area I.E. a lap joint. Butt welds with brazing material arent that reliable and unfortunately the entrie area has to be removed to re-do a braze as the material infects the parent metal at welding temp.

I use either Allstates aluminum welding flux, or the flux sold by Kent at www.tinmantech.com. He also is a good source of learning material. Use a good spring water like evian with the flux.

You can use pretty much any torch you want, heck ive even used a cutting torch on castings! OH and OA can both be used with great results. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to e-mail me [email protected]

-Aaron

Correct on the brazing/welding info posted above. Basically with O/A welding whether steel or aluminum you actually get the parent material to a molten state (puddle). With brazing the only thing that melts is the filler.

The Allstate flux you use is pretty much the same as the old Oxweld Alumaflux I believe. Oxweld was a trademark of Linde...then L-tec...then Esab. And then Esab bought Allstate. You can't tell the players without a program..

Aaron, again nice work...that's old school stuff bro!