Aluminum wheel crack repair

[jakeru]

I welded some cracked aluminum automotive wheels for a local wheel restoration company. Here is one that was cracked all the way through.

This wheel was off a BMW "M". On this wheel it cracked when they were doing some straightening.


After some surface prep to remove the paint, I veed out the bulk of the crack on both sides with a carbide burr. This wheel was probably about 5/16"-3/8" thick on this lip.


I then attacked it with my TIG welder on the first side (front and back views)


...And then fully penetrated through on the second side.


I love how once you fully penetrate into the bottom of an aluminum "crack valley", the crap stuck inside the crack floats up out of the crack and up to the surface, as the material flows together as the surface changes to a flat surface.

From here the wheel restoration company is going to grind the weld down, probably check and perform any final straightening as needed, and apply a finish.

I used... max (200 amps) current w/ footpedal, "min cleaning" A/C balance (20% DCEP / Cleaning setting), no pulse, 3/32" tungsten, and I was surprised I managed to get away with 1/16" 5356 filler rod without the tip of the filler melting too often. (I selected that size filler because I had some small "divot" touch up welds to do on another wheel.)

It is "thick aluminum" jobs like these where I appreciate my high duty cycle inverter machine and CK "Trimline" aircooled torch.