Where to buy magnesium tig filler rod???

[Brian Ski]

I have a friend with a couple short magnesium screed boards (for concrete). I was wanting to cut them true and weld together. I just need a few pieces of filler rod. Does it need to be an special mag filler??? Maybe if someone has a few they want to part with.

Any other tips on welding Magnesium??? Don't see much on the forums about it. Thinking it is pretty close to welding Aluminum.

[DaveO]

Interesting... how is it joined now? There is a WT&T.com article about it, but it seems to be more directed toward repairs on castings, rather than joining magnesium pieces.
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...magnesium.html

There's also a Youtube posting from WT&T, which I can't view at this moment, and an article at Lincoln:
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us...magnesium.aspx

[Kempy]

Brian
I have Magnesium welding rod alloy AZ61A I have used to weld magnesium motorcycle racing wheels that have been damaged and it work very well. It is similar to welding aluminum I used the same 100% argon flow 10 to 12 LPM AC balance from 30% to 45% AC Frequency was from 120hz and up to 200hz on my 250EX. Yes you have to get the welding surface clean and the rod clean, the rods oxidize very easily sitting around they turn black. When welding magnesium the weld has a different color to it then when welding aluminum. Now getting the welding rod I had to by the minimum amount and that was about 50 rods they are light you get a lot per pound. It probably cost more for me to send you some rods then it will cost for you to buy them Canada / USA boarder line. Question are the screeds electric or air ones and can you take off the vibrators and move them?

[Brian Ski]

Interesting... how is it joined now?

They are not joined or broken. They are 2 short screeds that I want to make longer. They are kind of pricey and shipping is a big killer for a 12' length. Since these are freebies, I thought wonder if I could stick them together.

Brian
I have Magnesium welding rod alloy AZ61A

Will have to do some searching. I have only found a couple places on ebay selling the filler and it was quite expensive. Will Do a better search with the alloy number.

Question are the screeds electric or air ones and can you take off the vibrators and move them?

These are just simple hand screeds... Will show you a link to give you an idea. Looks more like a load bar for a semi truck.

Well the ones I got are not this pretty anymore but this will give you an idea.

http://www.marshalltown.com/productD...x?prodID=14733

[Brian Ski]

There you go... Airgas has a 3 pound tube for $600... Ah I don't think so...
http://www.airgas.com/browse/product...uct=haraz61t30

Kempy... What did yours cost you???

[Kempy]

Brian
You could just rivet a aluminum plates inside with counter sunk rivets or c/s screws, good luck. I could mail you some in a poster tube if you can't find any you can PM me. I paid $110.00 for 1lbs many, many years ago

[Rambozo]

Here is a pretty good breakdown of the various filler alloys.

http://www.keytometals.com/Article35.htm

Not exactly what you want, but diluted into the base metal, this might work for you and it's cheap enough to at least give it a shot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111100559996

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120830637078

[sportbike]

One listing on ebay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-MAGNESIU...item3a82c47ad9

[youngnstudly]

I've only welded a little Mag for practice (I was bored at work one day-lol), and I believe I used the AZ-92A filler rod that sportbike posted above. I don't know the exact requirements or sizing of the parts you plan to weld, or what type the mag you have is, but I welded on a few VW engine cases that were AS-21 and AS-41 with almost zero difficulty. I did have to preheat and post heat my parts when finished due to their size and the size of the cracked areas I was welding up, and I quickly realized that I needed to clean the beads after each pass. I was able to get a minimal amount of filler rod for free from a buddy that did a lot of mag repair on motorcycle applications.

From what I hear, some motorcycle shops do a lot of repair work on cases and they may be able to sell you just a small amount of the rod you need. I was afraid of starting some major magnesium fire and burning down the entire world (after hearing horror stories and how mag can't be welded safely), but my worries went away once I realized idiots had fed me incorrect info.

I know from my teen years that heavy chunks don't just start burning immediately (even when thrown in a bonfire), but the dust and chips themselves are VERY dangerous to work around!

[Kempy]

I had a small fire once was grinding down some magnesium on a belt sander and forgot and did some steel later up in smoke glade I did not grind a lot of magnesium.

[youngnstudly]

I had a small fire once was grinding down some magnesium on a belt sander and forgot and did some steel later up in smoke glade I did not grind a lot of magnesium.

It makes total sense that would happen, but I don't think that changing the belt would have dawned on me until after the fact! My friend got burned pretty bad after using a grinding bit in a die grinder to clearance a VW bellhousing. He said he was grinding away, the shavings started to pile up a little, and all of the sudden he accidently nicked one of the transmission mount (steel) bolts with the sanding drum at high RPM and BOOM! Happened right in his face as he kneeled down inside the engine compartment, but he was smart enough to wear a face shield at least, which took most of the heat. Burned his neck a little and the hair on his arms though. One little spark is all it takes.

[jakeru]

If you have a good, sharp chop saw with carbide teeth, maybe you could thinly slice off one end and use it as needed for mag filler?

Also, if you made two clean-cut ends maybe they could be joined together autogenuously. I'm not sure how well that works with magnesium myself... But if you're out for a learning project, might as well give it a try and find out! However, having the thin slice available to use as filler could be very desirable it it turns out the autogenous mag welding isn't working very well (e.g., hot cracking issues like some aluminum alloys are known for).

[Brian Ski]

Kempy, thanks for the info... I know it has been a while. We all know how back burner projects get. Looking to use the screed boards soon and thought it was time to work on them. Well they sure were dirty. A wire brush would not come close to cleaning them. I took a D/A sander with a 220 grit and cleaned the ends up. Took a little while even with that.

I bought some AZ61 off Ebay. I waited a while to get a fair deal. The screed boards are about 2" x 4". You sure need to put some quick tack welds on them. They walk out of alignment fast from the heat. I sure don't keep up with TIG welding. Kind of lose my touch between jobs. Even though, they TIGed up really nice. Welded close to Aluminum. Didn't need a whole lot of heat. But the heat sure did radiate down the tubes fast.

The 200DX is a nice machine. I think it is close to 2 years old and it has seen its fair share of projects. I am happy with it so far.

Another learning experience.