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Good morning all.
PP 205 should be here tomorrow, Thanks Mark. Picked up H size bottle of argon. This is one of the projects that I need pp for. I've done tons of tig but not aluminum which I believe it is.
What's the best way to go about? Wire, preheat, going to bake it out before I start and setting the pp?
Here's some pics.
Learn me ladies and gent's
Thanks Bruce
Well, I suppose I would start with a die grinder and a small carbide bur and create a groove along the fracture line. Then TIG in the filler metal until the groove is filled just above the surface. A little grinding and polishing should render the surface flush and just as good as new.
Or I'd save myself a whole lot of trouble and order a new hand wheel from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/#). But that would take all the fun out of owning a TIG welder, wouldn't it?
But the interesting story is how did you manage to break the handle in the first place? I backed a fork lift into a old LeBlond lathe, knocked it over, and smashed every single gear change lever on the front. The rest of the lathe miraculously survived intact! Repairing all those levers is what got me started with TIG welding.
Two thoughts, altho I'm out of my depth here:
Bruce's original post says he's not sure about the base metal- what's a good way to determine this? How far does the magnet test take you?
If it is aluminum and this will be your first time out of the gate welding aluminum, you might want to find some similar metal to practice on, get your settings dialed in, etc.
And welcome to the forums, Bruce!
is it ok to grind aluminum once its been welded? I thought I read some where that reheating it like that will make the weld vary weak
It's possible that it is pot metal. Pot metal parts are often die-cast, which you can identify by relatively smooth surfaces and fine casting detail (made possible by the metal casting mold.) Some aluminum alloys can be die cast. Pot metal is usually composed of lots of zinc with some aluminum mixed in it too, and melts around 800F. The zinc also boils / vaporizes at a relatively low temperature, often causing problems (dirty smokey mess from the zinc vaporizing) when TIG welding it. Striking a TIG arc and making a puddle looking for any zinc boiling is one test of pot metal. Another thing you can do to sometimes tell if aluminum vs. pot metal, is with a hand file, judge the amount of pressure it take for the file teeth to bite into it. A high zinc alloy (pot metal) will take significantly more force for the teeth to "bite in" than a primarily aluminum alloy would.
If you're likely to have pot metal, you might want to do some more research about it, but welding technique is a bit of a black art. There are zinc-aluminum filler rods available that can be used for pot metal welding; they are usually sold as an aluminum brazing product.
Welcome bruce! hope you emember to say hi in the intro section. And while you're at it, please put some pics of the car in your avatar, What year/motor? I'd be willing to bet that that's regular cast aluminum, but jake's info is spot on. Just remember that before you attack it, find an old alternator shell, or other piece of cast aluminum of similar size/weight and make some PRACTICE welds. probably save you a little heartache. Good Luck!
Here is another idea I got from Jody's website. Use 4047 instead of 4043 if it is cast aluminum. It has more silicone which makes it flow better and is more crack resistant.
Good morning.
Thanks alot of good inf which is what I was looking for. jakeru I was wondering if it could be pot mental, thanks for the inf on the file testing.
David got it that way, a friend works at a shop and they moved and it was at the new shop and it got knocked over. Paid scrap weight for it 3 years ago.
Hooda it's a 72 with the original 350 turbo 400 had it sense 82.
PP got here at 2:30 pm. Wired and fired but ran out of time yesterday to try out the plasma cutting.
Thanks all for the reply's might not get to it until next week but will give update.
Bruce