I need to change the outlet position of a crossflow aluminium alloy thermostat housing. I've sawn the top away from the base and need a 10 mm
spacer in order to clear a nut.
Plan is to cut a 10 mm wide strip from 3 mm aluminium sheet, roll it to a tube and MIG weld it in between the two pieces.
What are my chances of succeeding?
Will MIG welding the housing cause problem due to incompatible metals?
Or am I better off looking to get it TIG welded?
nice deraileur
Unless you are a really good welder I'd say your chances of success are low. I had a go and got nowhere with it.
Stu
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/aluminium-welding.htm
Its not too difficult on thick stuff, but very tricky on thin sheet.
Many years ago when I was still at school doing metalwork I made a shooting stick , the top part of which I cast using aluminium . Easy to model the part in wax before making the mould in sand (may have been a special sand?)
IMHO tack welding ali is okay, anything more than that using MIG is a bit tricky. But I think a combination of MIG for tacking followed by some Technoweld (bizarely for strength) is quite a good combo... That's what I'm using for my airbox anyway....
quote;
What are my chances of succeeding?
somewhere between "slim and none at all"
i use mig for 6/8mm ally plate but for thin stuff allways tig.I repaire my crossflow thermostat housing with tig when the small air bleed outlet got
snapped off. m.
tig it. its the only sensible way.
Unless everything with your MIG set is spot on it is likely you will fail miserably. i.e. drive rolls good condition preferable knurled ali rolls with correct pressure. teflon liner, short torch, clean contact tip and correct setting required. The most common problem is bird nests in the wire drive. TIG is the way forward !!
I've MIG welded alloy many years back, the results were not exactly pretty but it was strong enough. I've even welded a holed piston on a
field bike!
It does take a lot of messing around to set the welder up for alloy wire though and you need a decent (pref. teflon) liner in the torch.
Best to use a gun mounted reel for aluminium.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_MiGrL9350
But since you need a bottle of pure argon it's probably cheaper to get someone to TIG it for you.
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
Many years ago when I was still at school doing metalwork I made a shooting stick , the top part of which I cast using aluminium . Easy to model the part in wax before making the mould in sand (may have been a special sand?)
i attempted to shorten a mondeo zetec sump by ally mig welding gave up and bought a escort sump.
Davie