OUTLAW EAGLE MANUFACTURING

[big block]

so been fixing the odd cracks and such on my nicely beaten river boat and all i can say is this aluminum welding is a huge pain in the ass, i can weld steel like a dream and have manny projects under my belt but aluminum any tips would be a great help to me thanks.

peter

[TOP DAWG]

It has to be CLEAN ! Thats the biggest issue with alum. Try to weld two brand new pieces together you'll see how easy it is. To clean is as best as you can, buy yourself a SS wire wheel and mark it so thats it only gets used on alum. If you use it on anything else it will contaminate your next alum. job. Buff it as best as you can. The other tip is ( im guessing your using a spool gun right ) is to angle the gun the oposite of when your welding steel. When you weld steel your nozzle is pointing towards the weld right ? well with alum. point the nozzle towards the part that hasn't been welded yet. ( push instead of Pull )

[towman]

You got it Dawg, something as small as fingerprints on an otherwise spotless piece of aluminum will affect your weld!

[BLOWN INCOME]

use a torch to preheat the aluminum and burn out the impurities...clean clean CLEAN

[towman]

You got it Dawg, something as small as fingerprints on an otherwise spotless piece of aluminum will affect your weld!

[Captain Morgan]

Dawg did you ever get or try that Durafix rod

[TOP DAWG]

Nope, i meant to try the stuf then I kinda forgot about it. I have a spool gun for my mig and a Tig welder now so i can usualy weld just about anything. Where do you get the stuff ?

[big block]

yeah im finding the clean factor unreal, plus out of position welding is not ideal, the spool gun is a pain to use though.

[WILSON]

http://www.durafix.com/

I have tried this thing and it works great for small repairs. The same preparation applies for durafix as regular welding with aluminum: make sure the parts are clean.