steve m
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 05:05 AM |
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Can Aluminium 2mm sheet be welded?
As ive made an alui bonnet bulge, and would like to have it welded to my bonnet
so all nice and smooth
Steve
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snakebelly
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 06:11 AM |
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yes it can 2mm not a problem, but how thick is the bonnett? also depends on the grade of ali as to how easy/well it welds. Are both the bonnett and
the bulge the same grade? welding disimilar grade can be problematic. I may also neet finishing afterwards as you may get some distortion, personally
im not sure it would be worth the hassle / work / cost unless its a show car.
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Hector.Brocklebank
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 07:03 AM |
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It Can certainly be welded, but as mentioned it can be problematic even for a skilled fabricator with the correct piece of equipment.
It might have been a more prudent idea to make a nice new Aluminium bonnet with said new bulge incorporated into the design, as really "knocking
up" a new bonnet is not that more time consuming that making the bulge, you could always ask "907" to fabricate such an item for you
if you do not have the skills.
If you had been closer I could have dandered over to the sheet metal shop here on campus and have the very eager engineering faculty professor and his
equally eager students knock one up as a "project" the metal shop here is like our type of candy store, I must take a picture one day.
A tech team are installing a Daishin Seiki 5 axis c.n.c. in time for the start of next semester, I will drool at the window leaving a large puddle
watching that thing in operation 
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2cv
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 07:30 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by steve m
As ive made an alui bonnet bulge, and would like to have it welded to my bonnet
so all nice and smooth
Steve
Steve, I think you are going to struggle to weld two different thickness of aluminium together particularly if your bonnet is only 1.2mm thick. I
don't know what your plan is for the interface,whether you are planning a butt weld which would give a step or lap weld where one piece is laid
over the other. I don't think either way would be easy although the lap weld would seem to be the better of the two. 2mm is quite thick for a
power bulge and must have taken a bit of forming. It might be worth thinking around the problem and trying for a more simple solution.
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Bluemoon
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 08:37 AM |
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Other options (not alll good ideas)
1) Glue, Epoxy? PU? and lap joint.
2) Solder (with aluminium solder), lap joint.
3) Rivet (with lap joint).
I would put the lap joint on the underside of the bonnet.
Having had some success with 2) This is how I might attempt the job, BUT thss is not easy and requires skill/practice holding it all together though
whilst soldering is the difficult bit and not melting the whole lot is a problem (the solider melting point is close to the base metal) and you will
need a LOT of heat for the bonnet, if done well and a fillet of solder added around the joint and it's cleaned up and polished it will be hard
to see the joint.
Welding or a one peace bonnet will probably look the best in the end but is not so simple, and you already have the bulge.. 1 and 3 are probably the
easiest...
Dan
[Edited on 14/10/11 by Bluemoon]
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steve m
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 09:12 AM |
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Thanks, i knew the risk of distortion would be there!,
I think i will probably uses an araldite type of adhesive, with an over lap joint on the inside,
as long as i can clamp the bulge tight to the bonnet, i should end up with a fairly neat edge/join line
Making another bonnet is also on the cards, and that depends on which carb setup i decide to go with, ie remain with the twin 28/36 dcd, single twin
40on siamese manifld, or twin 40.s
regards
Steve
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Bluemoon
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 09:29 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Thanks, i knew the risk of distortion would be there!,
I think i will probably uses an araldite type of adhesive, with an over lap joint on the inside,
as long as i can clamp the bulge tight to the bonnet, i should end up with a fairly neat edge/join line
Making another bonnet is also on the cards, and that depends on which carb setup i decide to go with, ie remain with the twin 28/36 dcd, single twin
40on siamese manifld, or twin 40.s
regards
Steve
Nice thing about this approach with epoxy (araldite) is that you can undo it buy heating the lot with a paint stripper or simular, the epoxy will fail
then you can clean up at try again 
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Wadders
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 04:46 PM |
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To answer your original question, yes it can, but if your going to bond it, i would use sikaflex with the appropriate primer. The stuff car window
fitters use works a treat, have bonded loads of stuff with it to great effect, you really need to use the special primer, and key the ally
first......Oh and don't get any on your hands, its a nightmare to get off.
Al.
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snakebelly
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 06:17 PM |
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if the scoop is 2mm thick why not rivet it on using countersunk rivets? you could get a fluch finish and 2mm is probably just enough to get a
countersink into the rivet hole, flush fitting, secure and removable it necessary, csmall countersunk rivets available here:
Fasteners Link
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NigeEss
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| posted on 14/10/11 at 07:42 PM |
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I once saw a TIG welding demo where the tutor welded two sheets of tinfoil together
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.................Douglas Adams.
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nz_climber
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| posted on 15/10/11 at 05:01 AM |
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If you end up using any type of glue, I find best way to hold everything solid is to drill and put a couple of rivets in, holds everything nice and
tight, then file the heads off later to get a smooth finish (or use counter sunk like mentioned)
http://aarons7.wordpress.com
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