Finally Getting the Hang of Alumiwelding

Last night I finally figured out how to use the Alumiweld system! As the instructions say, you heat up the metal you are welding very hot, remove the torch and melt in the alumiweld stick. The tough part, it turned out, was getting the broken window frame hot enough to melt alumiweld.

I first started by testing the product out on a scrap of bellypan aluminum that Rick removed during last weekend's welding effort. That's a very small piece (3" square, say) of very soft aluminum. It heated up with a regular propane torch fairly rapidly. When it got sufficiently hot, a little bit of the surface did wrinkle, possibly because, as soft aluminum, it probably has a lower melting point. But overall, the test went exceptionally smoothly. Boosted by that, I moved on to my broken window frame.

After about ten minutes of trying to heat the frame, I decided that regular propane wasn't doing the job, so I moved up to the MAPP gas. Then I had a tough time keeping the torch lit. About that time, Rick decided to check up on me. Bad timing. With typical Mars efficiency, he proferred his solution. However, he was hitting this on a frustrated Venutian who really didn't want advice, just caring support and encouragement. Problem was, he was right, darnitall!

So, I let it cool down and found some scrap wood blocks to lift up the frame slightly off the ground, allowing me to hold the gas tank down lower and stop the torch from self extinguishing. I started heating it up again. Then just as I started getting it hot, it warped, moving the broken part out of position. Argh!

I headed into the house, down to the basement and grabbed the first set of nails I could find. I muttering as I passed Rick. Rick bent down over his textbook, recognizing me in a barely rational state. I was on a mission.

After nailing the frame in place, I started heating up the frame again. Oddly, this time, everything went textbook. I got in a nice, flat soldier. Finally! Barely in time--it as pretty dark out by this time. I yelled for Rick and did a little happy dance around the trailer!

OK, some tips...

1. I got my alumiweld from Eastwood Company, who gave me excellent service (received it next day after ordering on standard shipping). They also sell a positioning compound, which turned out to be very useful for getting my (warped) frame to sit correctly. If you can, I'd say, buy that as well.

2. I used an old wooden board as my soldering surface. Given my druthers, I'd have preferred to use a fireproof surface like a piece of Homasote board (available from building supply places). Then I could have clamped it to a work table and soldered away without fear of burning the table up.

3. I think this is definitely something to work on outside. It is pretty darn flammable and probably off gassed (I don't know, I wore my respirator, just in case).

I thought this was a good weld, but as my next entry explains, it wasn't...