I've always preheated aluminium before brazing it, do it on a bbq for about 5-10 mins and then braze it, what I was taught to do at tafe anyway. Similar to how you have to heat cast iron before welding to promote adhesion and prevent cracking.
I always loved the pronunciation of the British saying aluminum. You are correct using stainless steel wire brush, and use the high density brush really makes a difference. Brush in just one direction to eliminate contaminants too.
Text book cold solder joint on the aluminium block. You got one spot only just hot enough which is why it was sticking there but the rest of the block was still too cold.
After buying Alumaloy rods, and following the prepping directions to the tee, I did not have any luck melting them using a standard propane torch (as they say you can) for at least 10 minutes. Brazing rods would not stick to the base metal. I tried using flux, no help. A guy i reached out to said do NOT use brass wire brushes on prepping the base metal as it leaves a residue behind. Wire brush, sand etc. Next time I try, I will use MAP gas instead of propane to get it hot enough. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robert. I've given up on these rods. My Bro-Inlaw recons he gets half decent results with them, but I have my doubts. Maybe they vary in composition between brands, but it sounds like many people struggle with them. Good luck. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Yep, me too. Returned the Rods back to Amazon for a refund. Took my radiator to a good welding shop and had them Tig the filler neck base with a beautiful stack of dimes! Cost $35.00, less then all the crap I bought to do it myself, lol Live and learn I guess. Thanks for the reply, Take car, see you on the next one!
Better results for sure. Make sure that brush never touches any other materials. I kept mine wrapped up aluminum foil when storing it. Good luck with future experiments- Fred
I need to braze cracked cast aluminum that is 1/8” thick, and approximately 8” long. Unfortunately i ground a V- Grooves on both sides to prep it, but realized that when i go to braze the second side, the heat will loosen the first side. I’m thinking to grind the grooves thru just enough to put a damn on one side so the aluminum rod can then flow thru to the other side, then just finish filling the groove. Will this work? If not could you please let me know if you have a better idea?
Getting a bond sure is the challenge - for most part getting thru that oxide layer is the deal. That round piece must have been something like Si, Mn, Al type alloy. "Magic" rods always have rather hyped up capabilities.
Yes. You can also melt the alloy around a bolt thread in a hole and screw the bolt out afterwards leaving the thread pattern. I've not done either but there are videos on it about the web.
You have to use the rod to "scratch" the surface of the work ,even rubbing it back/forth.The technique is almost the same as when your caulking something and the caulk won't adhere and you use your finger to blend it to stick.If you practice it you will see the slag rise to the top of the molten puddle much as seen when they refine metal.Ive used this method to repair many carnival rides with only 4 servere injuries.
Right, i have used these rods to great success, its definitely use error here, sorry ;) 1. go back a watch the HTS2000 video. 2. you MUST strike the rod to the hot aluminium, preferably while the flame is pointed away. 3. strike across the surface, not just dab it in places. (striking new areas not the puddle.) 4. after striking across the surface, use the stainless steel brush to join your strike marks and get better coverage, effectively brushing it away. 5. re-apply to the area, in desired quantity. think of it as tho you where soldering wires, first you tin the wires with solder, then join them and add more solder. its all in the prep as with most things, get the first layer on right and its a doddle from there. and the rod should melt at a much lower temp. (approx half of aluminium) if its not prepped well enough it wont take and the aluminium will just melt. i have used these on small diameter rod, large flat surface, bolt holes the lot. the best advice is it MUST be clean, wipe with alcohol/thinners and SS wire brush heavily. corrosion is your enemy. hope this helps.
Hi Oliver, I watched that video and it was impressive. Looks like brushing while molten to tin it is the go. I did try that off camera and but didn't seem to tin that lump of home cast ally any better. Maybe my rods are not that good? These are ancient. I will play around with the various aspects some more. It's interesting looking at other videos on using these rods, everyone seems to do it differently, some brush before, some brush when molten, some heat on the join, some heat away from the join. LOL. Cheers Rob
yes I do believe that everyone has different techniques , and this shows the versatility of these rods, I have had old silver solder rods that no matter what didn't take, so it maybe the case the they can get too old. possibly oxidizing themselves.
@oliver boatwright what are the chances this will work when using propane on an aluminium engine block, trying to fill a hole plugged with an aluminum bolt?
I think its fair to say that any joint joined with dissimilar material will always be peelable to a more or lesser degree where the base material has not been heated to form a pool as in true welding. This material acts more like an adhesive than a true weld and only by surface abrasion could you make contact even stronger. The bond is a bond between surfaces of dissimilar materials which relies on good keying because its only the keying ( gripping ) that denotes how strong the joining will be. This is the same with all adhesives paints and coatings including inks onto plastics.
Metals of very different melting points can be joined together in molecular bonding and they dissolve into each other with heat one melting the other not, resulting in molecular bonding ....brazing, silver soldering, soldering
I saw a demo of these rods at a UK Model engineering exhibition, by a Swedish guy, and he said it was vital that you scraped through the molten pool to the substrate beneath. This was as a commenter below (Tuomas Haarala) said. I spent 10 or 15 minutes chatting to the guy on one of his breaks and he gave me his contact details and said that he has loads of repeat sales. FWIW I bought some of the product (it is in a roll) and will give it a try when I get time. Great videos though. I like it when this sort of stuff is tested by we "ordinary" guys, rather than at a demo which may be under favourable conditions. Keep up the good work mate.
ye back when i used them, the scraping with a stanless rod was said to be important, and seemed to be useful, even more so, when i repaired a small mazak casting (which wanted to turn into rice pudding very quickly, with a skin on top!)
Try scraping with stainless spike through the molten braze, brushing before heating isn't enough to take the oxidation layer off. I've found those cheap contactless thermometers very handy when working with this stuff.
I think you're very close. If the bonding area is under the torch, that's less oxidizing than the open air, "neutral flame", right? wire brush or scrape just before touching the rod. It will feel funny, the brush will drag on the surface a little. You're just trying to break up the surface oxide, it's very thin. If the melted rod can touch the base metal it will wet it, and there you are. You saw this on the "home cast" piece. A stainless scraper (just a piece of wire, or bicycle spoke flattened on the end) helps right at the end. The hot surface oxide is weak mechanically, and it's easy to move it. It doesn't take any force. You'll see where it's wetted!
I tried that and it clogged up my brush ;) Brushing the base metal when it was at rod melting temperature seemed useful and you could feel the metal go gummy on the surface and drag on the brush. Cheers Rob
I have 2 types of aluminum soldering and brazing alloys. My favorite is the set that comes with a corrosive flux. It works at 1000 to 1100 Fahrenheit and the flux tells you when the heat is right. I have this fluxless alloy as well. It is really a zinc aluminum alloy and I wanted to bond aluminum to copper and other metals with it. You already demonstrate that it wets steel.
I bought some stuff back in 1980s that they demonstrated at flea market we frequented. You were supposed to get a puddle of it melted and use a stainless steel brush and brush the metal under a molten puddle. I welded a handle for a grinder successfully with it, I think it was the only thing I ever welded with it. It was quite difficult to use. I didn’t have good clean stainless brush so I used a stainless welding rod to scrape inside the puddle. Now I weld aluminum with TIG welder all the time, but really want to be able to weld it with a torch ( at work I have a TIG, at home all I have is acetylene torch ) I want to try some of these newer brazing rods to see if they work any better than that old junk
I have 2 holes with failed oversize time serts on honda odyssey engine, they go through water pump into block in between both Heads, Would i Warp the block or Heads if i fill in Drill and re Tap???? Bolts only need 33 ft pounds of torque so is there a lower melting point rod?😁😁😁
I can't say for sure if it would warp the job. Probably not as it is fairly low temperature. I do know that this filler metal is extremely hard (mainly Tin) and could be difficult to tap a thread. Most times people drill out the stripped thread, put in a bolt and add the filler around that, then screw out the bolt leaving the thread. Use this stuff at your own risk. Cheers Rob
The only other way would to be to use high temperature two pack. I have done this on a water pump and it held up OK (but not on thread replacement). You can drill and tap most when fully cured. Plenty to chose from. Some are marketed as metal replacement. Good luck.
Clean, heat, clean, braze. The metal oxidized while heating. Where you scratched with the screwdriver it stuck. Its tricky and finicky stuff. Its not meant to replace tig, but repirs for things homeowners may encounter. Its very hard and shines up beautiful. I have re surfaced marinium parts and came out great. Thick parts are almost impossible on account of you cant put enogh heat in to the parent metal to melt the rod. It has to be over 730' f.
I've used these several times successfully. What I do is heat the area directly, remove the torch and apply the rod. If the rod begins to melt heat the surrounding area as you apply the rod. The way I understand it, these rods melt at around 900 deg F, aluminum melts around 1200 deg F therefore you need to apply the rod quickly between that temperature window. Takes some playing around with it. Good luck!
You're creating cold joints the way you're using the filler rod. The surface is supposed to be directly heated. The rods are supposed to be flux coated by heating then dipping in flux. The work part is then directly heated by swirling the torch to ensure thorough heat. the filler is then used.
Good series Rob. I've struggled with those rods and have yet to have success. I even tried using oxy/acetylene to get more heat still without a satisfactory weld. I hope to be enlightened following along with your attempts at this process.
I think I will wait for another opportunity to actually make something with the rods, rather than just waste them. But it sure was interesting playing around with them. I liked the way it filled in the knob in the previous video, so I may have another crack at that one day. Cheers Rob
Just a few days ago I put up a video on aluminium solder attempt. My approach failed worst. It looks so simple but I guess I have the wrong rods and technique.
nice demonstration. If you would like the brazing rod to flow through the hole you probably need to re-machine (ream) the inside surface of the hole and possibly brush the surface on the rear too. Maybe using the acid flux would help it even more. I have seen videos with nicely wetted joints. But even then they are not very strong and break apart under medium load. This process seem adequate only to low strength applications like a lamp housing or the like.
Quite fascinating & super useful. I bought some aluminium brazing rods about a year ago to repair an aluminium ac tube on my car, was going to make a cylinder & slip it on & braise, but got frightened & procrastinated as it's expensive to have the system refilled & I didn't want to then lose all the fluid because of my own bad workmanship. Quite lucky I bottled out seeing all the troubles you are having, but it would be great to be able to use this stuff as I have several other aluminium jobs I would like to do & I am too cheap to buy tig as I don't have that much use for it. Interestingly I have also been struggling with silver solder & this series may e plain why. I repaired a wood burner barrier in cast iron, mentioned on one of your braising series, & it stuck well, but melted in the fire. It was second hand rod & seeing your experience I now wonder if it wasn't a silver solder rod, but instead aluminium brazing rod. I also used it to braise some wood cut band saw blades & all seemed fine, then they failed. Really nice to have a potential explanation for what has been puzzling me as previously I have done great with silver solder & couldn't figure what was going wrong. Thanks for sharing.
Jarrid Gross Nailed it this is your issue I am a New Brazer and saw that 1st off. 2nd keeping the "HEAT" for aluminum at 735 constant but again I am a NOOB,FNG or the new guy. try again using the block. once the substrate is to temp and you put down some rod, go back and use the brush to "scratch" the aluminum to get the rod material to bond to the substrate. once it is properly tinned, the chisel will cut the repair but wont be able to separate the two metals.
That is if you can find a flux that will eat through aluminium oxide, it's one of the hardest most resilient materials around. Any acid that can eat through it is very nasty stuff!
I think citric acid attacks aluminium oxide, failing that I would try phosphoric acid or borax, I think coca cola contains phosphoric acid (that would make an interesting experiment)
xynudu I bought some Harris al-braze ec flux for similar experimentation (which wasn't particularly successful)- happy to ship some to you from Sydney if you like.
Do you use propan burner, or something better gas (MAP, propane) ? I am interested in brazing alu profiles (i.e. 2020) with elox layer. Does anybody try it with success ?
When I have used the rods I heated the aluminum first and then let the aluminum melt the rod instead of the flame. I forgot to mention that on the last video.
I did that this time, and actually brushed the base alloy when it was hot and gummy. The way it flowed over my home cast and then actually adhered to it (quite strongly) when cold was a bit disconcerting. Cheers Rob
There is a powder flux that is a must to use with this cheap Al rods even though I found it very challenging to weld Al, it seems that it is only used for a specific Al alloy, the best rods for Al welding is the american ones and they are totally different than the these ones, they need much less temp, also they dont need any flux, and they claim they weld any Al type, but these rods are extremely expensive to buy www.alumiweld.com/ you can also find them on amazon, for a little bit more in price than the link I mentioned Good luck
Still nowhere enough heat, Rob! I would even be surprised if a propane torch can get a large lump of aluminium hot enough. I use an oxy torch - gently. The filler rod really 'flowed' onto the aluminium and I was able to build up a broken off part from a gearbox casting and then machine it and drill and tap it. It has a different colour to the casting, but is entirely strong enough. It is NOT welding, it is brazing. So any comparison to TIG welding is futile. This is somewhere between soft soldering and silver brazing of steel parts. Your last casting seemed to have a lot of zinc in it (possibly made from diecasts). That makes it too similar in melting temperature to the filler material. A bit like trying to bronze brass fittings - instead of silver braze them. You would get the same problems and failures of the workpiece.
when cleaning aluminium with a stainless steel brush you should only brush in one direction otherwise you are rubbing the contamination back in to the workpiece Love the fact that you aussies drive on the same side of the road as us pommes and pronounce aluminium correctly. Good on you!
Great attempt Rob! But, It wasn't hot enough in some places and to hot in others, That's why it chiseled up easier in one spot and not the other because your heat was not evenly applied to that area nor hot enough, You need to focus on evenly heating the area you want to work with by moving the flame rapidly back and forth {DO NOT JUST HOLD THE FLAME IN ONE SPOT} And learn the melting points of the material(s) your working with and your project(s) will flow much smoother, and you might want to try bonding two pieces together, and can the excess be filed and or sanded away without compromising the strength of the filled hole(s) on your aluminum would be nice to know as well, good luck......
7 лет назад
Hi, do the rods degrade over time? As you said they were 20 years old. I believe there are two types fluxless ones and ones with flux which is the best? Thumbs up because the experiment showed the difference in melting point of all the aluminium. The fair ground demonstrations which make it look easy probably used the ones the rod is most suited for.
I doubt the rods would degrade IMHO. Used correctly they will bond. The fair ground guys only ever demo the rods with a hole in the bottom of a beer or soft drink can. I have only seen the fluxless ones as in the video. I tried to use one of the rods to repair a die cast carburettor bowl and the bowl melted before the rod. So it's suck it and see when using these. Cheers Rob
7 лет назад
Our Aero Solder for aluminum melts at 775F, (requires a flux,) and therefore, by industry standards meets the definition of Soldering by melting below 850F. Maybe the flux ones work better as oxidisation is stopped.
Listening to Dr Karl Kruznitski (?) on ABC radio the other day he said that Aluminium after cleaning to bare metal oxidises in about 1/100th of a second so you would have to be pretty fast to braze. Clean and oil free maybe but removing the oxidation I'm not so sure
G'day Rob one thing that I haven't noticed or looked at is what a bloody nice old bench you have not to mention the great dawn vice. Is the middle of the bench a different type of wood? I really like it it has a fantastic old charm about it. Enjoyed the vid regards John PS tig welding isn't that the way to go with alloys
Hi John, It's made out of old electricity utility pole cross beams and has a thick Jarrah work area where the vice is for hard and heavy automotive work, The rest of the top is thick pine from heavy packing cases. It's all recycled timber. Weighs a ton and will never move or flex, or be slippery and noisy like steel. I hate working on steel top benches, stuff slides around, and it's a real pain. I also don't like tool peg boards much either, as the stuff's too far to reach over the job, and a great dust collector and waste of space IMHO. But that's just me, other people love em. Cheers Rob
try again using the block. once the substrate is to temp and you put down some rod, go back and use the brush to "scratch" the aluminum to get the rod material to bond to the substrate. once it is properly tinned, the chisel will cut the repair but wont be able to seperate the two metals.
Why are you not using a flux and you can clean the aluminum with acetone for better Bond what you doing with the stainless steel brushes pulling off all the oxygen station
Hey thank you for your demonstration, according to some of the comments this product is not for the amateur. This is another product marketed to the public to believe anyone can weld aluminum. You saved me lots of wasted money and time.
Not so, the product works very well when used correctly. The technique is important, you have to break through the oxide layer on the aluminium to get a good bond. Follow the instructions correctly and anyone can use these rods with some practice, provided you have a powerful enough torch for the size of the items you are repairing or joining. I brazed together quite a lot 6mm aluminium plate and the joints were very strong.
Hi Juan, These rods are sold as supposedly not needing flux. Apparently they work better WITH flux according to some comments. It's all new to me. I might have one more go at it. I just hope everyone doesn't get sick of seeing me tangle with these critters. Rob
You were so close! You just need to refine your technique a bit. I think a have a bit of wonder rod so I'll go run off a quick vid on getting it to work.
You arnt using flux. I suggest using it at join and when browns you slide your rod through it not dab dab. Maybe a different rod brand with lower melt point? Thanks goodluck
It's always the problem with the aluminum oxide. I used such rods in the past and had mixed results. Some aluminium parts melted before the rods, others never bond. If i could rub the aluminum parts together with the solder between them i got the best results.
@@dnp990 But you likely wouldn't be using aluminium for applications requiring high heat resistance in the first place. These rods work well for fabricating structures from alu plate, and I used it to fab a custom inlet manifold for a 4 cylinder engines as I have no TIG or oxy, and my experience with aluminium MIG welding on a hobby welder was not a happy one.
Some one was telling me that one of the companies who make these rods was wondering why they were selling so many to people in Alaska. Turns out, the bush pilots were carrying them in their planes, to patch any holes that they got in the pontoons on their planes.
Well, OK.. If you are repairing something in house, then maybe one could attempt with this. If a customer wants this kind of repair, they need to be required to watch this video, and after that if they still want the repair, then fine, but of course, no guarantee.
i'll be honest i tested this stuff at a fair once i mean it works but not amazingly it's never gonna be as strong as the surrounding material but you know good for sticking things together in pretty much the same way you would use solder but in the name of the mighty spud DO NOT RELY ON THIS!
been fine for over a year. I don't know if i am using the same rod but i joined to pieces together and tried to break them apart and it ripped the metal. It's not as good as a weld but it works for me.
The weld that I chopped off with a cold chisel would have done the job, but the way it floated on the surface when molten was a bit disconcerting. I was super surprised that it bonded. It's interesting looking at other videos on using these rods, everyone seems to do it differently, some brush before, some brush when molten, some heat on the join, some heat away from the join. LOL. Cheers Rob
Brother in law has boat that needs repair, when we go visit ( 400 miles away ) I can’t take acetylene torch so I like to see it I can get this stuff figured out and use propane
Hello Xynudu, You are not using correctly first problem is heat the material has to be above 737 or completely molten, next you did not tin the HTS-2000 with a tinning brush while molten before adding more material so you did not follow the directions included with the material. Yes you can use a brush, sandpaper etc. to open the pours that is step one, next is add the HTS-2000, next is to tin with a tinning or separate brush, finally which you also did not follow is do not disturb the weld once finished until the HTS-2000 brazing rod cures - cools down. Hope that helps get you up and running to becoming an expert using our HTS-2000. https:www.aluminumrepair.com
It was painful watching this. Have you never heard of flux ? Aluminum starts oxidizing again as soon as you stop brushing so you have to apply the correct type of flux immediately
Heat were your brazing not on the side you need the heat were your filling in needs to cool before it bonds you can fix alloy wheels with alloy rod maybe your rods are to old it's better than a tig
way too much heat ..those are tig rods which have a higher melting point 1100 compares to high zinc 700.....you also need a CLEAN stainless steel brush
I don't think you got it hot enough at first so it would "Tin" on to surface plus you didn't weld two pcs like a solder joint either. Maybe you should watch the How to video's before making a How to Video yourself. lol
you can't say that's why you had a fail last time the real reason is because you didn't apply it properly and when you did you kept playing around with it
we can see why it's not working for you! your not doing it right simple as that. enough said. I am a welder old school gas welder and have no problem using it or it's holding power. my welds are as strong if not stronger than the mother material. just saying Old One Legged Joseph T.
Thank you Xynudu for sharing the true about aluminium brazing rods. On most of videos available on youtube about that, the weld bead is not better than shown here. As a consequence it is obvious the pieces are only sticked despite of aparently very good result. The fact you manage to bend a plate before the weld bead "unstick" is not a proof of resistance. Another problem of this kind of rod is you will only be able to make one weld bead. If you heat again the aluminium because you want to weld something else or just want to make another weld bead on the other side of the same piece (very usual situation) then you will ruin your first weld bead BEFORE the aluminium reaches the needed temperature. The material of the first weld bead will flow away or go inside the aluminium while the material of your new weld bead is still just "sticking" on the surface of the aluminium. I think there is no solution to this.
I reckon I'll stick to the tried , tested and true methods we were all taught by competent qualified tradesmen-teachers, at the local Polytechnic namely MIG and TIG welding and oxy-acetylene welding and brazing, and soldering after seeing this demo with the ''miracle'' aluminium '' welding '' rods, I'd say you'd have better luck if you used chewing gum. When you took the cold chisel to it and it just peeled straight off I wouldn't go near that shit with a ten foot barge pole. And as for the maker's claim to have used it on copper plumbing pipes-Yeah Right! I'm a Plumber going on fifty years and never had any trouble with Silfos on brazed copper pipe and brass fittings. Even plumber's 50/50 tin- lead solder is a far superior product, and probably the most important point here is Silfos and Solder meet a specified Standard of material which are what's referred to as " fit for purpose" So why would I buy that stuff? Is this aluminium rod "fit for purpose"? Who in their right mind would use this stuff??? It's a disaster in the making right there. As I said earlier I think I'll stick to what I know.
These rods work perfectly well when the correct technique is used and the surface prepped well. They are not as strong as welding, but they do give more than adequate strength for many applications, and you only need a regular gas torch for smaller pieces which most people will have access to, unlike AC TIG.
I've had a tiny number of people say they can't understand me. Others say they watch because of my accent. Can't please everyone. Australians will sometime say scull, scull when drinking beer, which means drink it down as fast as you can. I prefer a more relaxed pace. Cheers Rob
I'd rather just spend a little extra for an oxy tank and small welding torch and then be able to weld the aluminum properly instead of suffering with unreliable gimmicks like this.
This should be a video on how "not" to use these rods.
I've always preheated aluminium before brazing it, do it on a bbq for about 5-10 mins and then braze it, what I was taught to do at tafe anyway. Similar to how you have to heat cast iron before welding to promote adhesion and prevent cracking.
I always loved the pronunciation of the British saying aluminum. You are correct using stainless steel wire brush, and use the high density brush really makes a difference. Brush in just one direction to eliminate contaminants too.
Text book cold solder joint on the aluminium block. You got one spot only just hot enough which is why it was sticking there but the rest of the block was still too cold.
After buying Alumaloy rods, and following the prepping directions to the tee, I did not have any luck melting them using a standard propane torch (as they say you can) for at least 10 minutes. Brazing rods would not stick to the base metal. I tried using flux, no help. A guy i reached out to said do NOT use brass wire brushes on prepping the base metal as it leaves a residue behind. Wire brush, sand etc. Next time I try, I will use MAP gas instead of propane to get it hot enough. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robert. I've given up on these rods. My Bro-Inlaw recons he gets half decent results with them, but I have my doubts. Maybe they vary in composition between brands, but it sounds like many people struggle with them. Good luck. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Yep, me too. Returned the Rods back to Amazon for a refund. Took my radiator to a good welding shop and had them Tig the filler neck base with a beautiful stack of dimes! Cost $35.00, less then all the crap I bought to do it myself, lol Live and learn I guess. Thanks for the reply, Take car, see you on the next one!
Better results for sure. Make sure that brush never touches any other materials. I kept mine wrapped up aluminum foil when storing it. Good luck with future experiments- Fred
I need to braze cracked cast aluminum that is 1/8” thick, and approximately 8” long.
Unfortunately i ground a V- Grooves on both sides to prep it, but realized that when i go to braze the second side, the heat will loosen the first side.
I’m thinking to grind the grooves thru just enough to put a damn on one side so the aluminum rod can then flow thru to the other side, then just finish filling the groove.
Will this work?
If not could you please let me know if you have a better idea?
I think it would help if you actually heated the area to be bonded directly watching that drove me nuts. %100 USER ERROR
Getting a bond sure is the challenge - for most part getting thru that oxide layer is the deal.
That round piece must have been something like Si, Mn, Al type alloy.
"Magic" rods always have rather hyped up capabilities.
Can you fill a misdrilled bolt hole on a engine block then redrill to rethread it ,to make it soild again?
Yes. You can also melt the alloy around a bolt thread in a hole and screw the bolt out afterwards leaving the thread pattern.
I've not done either but there are videos on it about the web.
You have to use the rod to "scratch" the surface of the work ,even rubbing it back/forth.The technique is almost the same as when your caulking something and the caulk won't adhere and you use your finger to blend it to stick.If you practice it you will see the slag rise to the top of the molten puddle much as seen when they refine metal.Ive used this method to repair many carnival rides with only 4 servere injuries.
The "with only 4 severe injuries" cracked me up. Lol. But very good information, seems like he could really benefit from this.
Right, i have used these rods to great success, its definitely use error here, sorry ;)
1. go back a watch the HTS2000 video.
2. you MUST strike the rod to the hot aluminium, preferably while the flame is pointed away.
3. strike across the surface, not just dab it in places. (striking new areas not the puddle.)
4. after striking across the surface, use the stainless steel brush to join your strike marks and get better coverage, effectively brushing it away.
5. re-apply to the area, in desired quantity.
think of it as tho you where soldering wires,
first you tin the wires with solder, then join them and add more solder.
its all in the prep as with most things, get the first layer on right and its a doddle from there.
and the rod should melt at a much lower temp. (approx half of aluminium) if its not prepped well enough it wont take and the aluminium will just melt.
i have used these on small diameter rod, large flat surface, bolt holes the lot.
the best advice is it MUST be clean, wipe with alcohol/thinners and
SS wire brush heavily. corrosion is your enemy.
hope this helps.
Hi Oliver,
I watched that video and it was impressive. Looks like brushing while molten to tin it is the go. I did try that off camera and but didn't seem to tin that lump of home cast ally any better.
Maybe my rods are not that good? These are ancient.
I will play around with the various aspects some more.
It's interesting looking at other videos on using these rods, everyone seems to do it differently, some brush before, some brush when molten, some heat on the join, some heat away from the join. LOL.
Cheers Rob
yes I do believe that everyone has different techniques , and this shows the versatility of these rods, I have had old silver solder rods that no matter what didn't take, so it maybe the case the they can get too old. possibly oxidizing themselves.
@oliver boatwright what are the chances this will work when using propane on an aluminium engine block, trying to fill a hole plugged with an aluminum bolt?
My base materials melt way before the rods do... could it be that they are cheap rods?
I think its fair to say that any joint joined with dissimilar material will always be peelable to a more or lesser degree where the base material has not been heated to form a pool as in true welding. This material acts more like an adhesive than a true weld and only by surface abrasion could you make contact even stronger. The bond is a bond between surfaces of dissimilar materials which relies on good keying because its only the keying ( gripping ) that denotes how strong the joining will be. This is the same with all adhesives paints and coatings including inks onto plastics.
Metals of very different melting points can be joined together in molecular bonding and they dissolve into each other with heat one melting the other not, resulting in molecular bonding ....brazing, silver soldering, soldering
I saw a demo of these rods at a UK Model engineering exhibition, by a Swedish guy, and he said it was vital that you scraped through the molten pool to the substrate beneath. This was as a commenter below (Tuomas Haarala) said.
I spent 10 or 15 minutes chatting to the guy on one of his breaks and he gave me his contact details and said that he has loads of repeat sales. FWIW I bought some of the product (it is in a roll) and will give it a try when I get time.
Great videos though. I like it when this sort of stuff is tested by we "ordinary" guys, rather than at a demo which may be under favourable conditions.
Keep up the good work mate.
ye back when i used them, the scraping with a stanless rod was said to be important, and seemed to be useful, even more so, when i repaired a small mazak casting (which wanted to turn into rice pudding very quickly, with a skin on top!)
Try scraping with stainless spike through the molten braze, brushing before heating isn't enough to take the oxidation layer off. I've found those cheap contactless thermometers very handy when working with this stuff.
yea I found heating the work up first then using a very small flame to finish off. plus Flux.
or rub the stainless steel brush through the puddle. I've had succes with that too. cheers.
I think you're very close. If the bonding area is under the torch, that's less oxidizing than the open air, "neutral flame", right? wire brush or scrape just before touching the rod. It will feel funny, the brush will drag on the surface a little. You're just trying to break up the surface oxide, it's very thin. If the melted rod can touch the base metal it will wet it, and there you are. You saw this on the "home cast" piece. A stainless scraper (just a piece of wire, or bicycle spoke flattened on the end) helps right at the end. The hot surface oxide is weak mechanically, and it's easy to move it. It doesn't take any force. You'll see where it's wetted!
I tried that and it clogged up my brush ;)
Brushing the base metal when it was at rod melting temperature seemed useful and you could feel the metal go gummy on the surface and drag on the brush.
Cheers Rob
Tuomas Haarala
Just use flux.
I have 2 types of aluminum soldering and brazing alloys. My favorite is the set that comes with a corrosive flux. It works at 1000 to 1100 Fahrenheit and the flux tells you when the heat is right. I have this fluxless alloy as well. It is really a zinc aluminum alloy and I wanted to bond aluminum to copper and other metals with it. You already demonstrate that it wets steel.
I bought some stuff back in 1980s that they demonstrated at flea market we frequented. You were supposed to get a puddle of it melted and use a stainless steel brush and brush the metal under a molten puddle. I welded a handle for a grinder successfully with it, I think it was the only thing I ever welded with it. It was quite difficult to use. I didn’t have good clean stainless brush so I used a stainless welding rod to scrape inside the puddle.
Now I weld aluminum with TIG welder all the time, but really want to be able to weld it with a torch ( at work I have a TIG, at home all I have is acetylene torch )
I want to try some of these newer brazing rods to see if they work any better than that old junk
I have 2 holes with failed oversize time serts on honda odyssey engine, they go through water pump into block in between both Heads, Would i Warp the block or Heads if i fill in Drill and re Tap???? Bolts only need 33 ft pounds of torque so is there a lower melting point rod?😁😁😁
I can't say for sure if it would warp the job. Probably not as it is fairly low temperature. I do know that this filler metal is extremely hard (mainly Tin) and could be difficult to tap a thread. Most times people drill out the stripped thread, put in a bolt and add the filler around that, then screw out the bolt leaving the thread. Use this stuff at your own risk. Cheers Rob
@@Xynudu Maybe i can try that
The only other way would to be to use high temperature two pack. I have done this on a water pump and it held up OK (but not on thread replacement). You can drill and tap most when fully cured. Plenty to chose from. Some are marketed as metal replacement. Good luck.
@@Xynudu i also might be able to drill through and get longer bolts and Nuts n lock washer🤞🤞🤞
Clean, heat, clean, braze. The metal oxidized while heating. Where you scratched with the screwdriver it stuck. Its tricky and finicky stuff. Its not meant to replace tig, but repirs for things homeowners may encounter. Its very hard and shines up beautiful. I have re surfaced marinium parts and came out great. Thick parts are almost impossible on account of you cant put enogh heat in to the parent metal to melt the rod. It has to be over 730' f.
I've used these several times successfully. What I do is heat the area directly, remove the torch and apply the rod. If the rod begins to melt heat the surrounding area as you apply the rod. The way I understand it, these rods melt at around 900 deg F, aluminum melts around 1200 deg F therefore you need to apply the rod quickly between that temperature window. Takes some playing around with it. Good luck!
You're creating cold joints the way you're using the filler rod. The surface is supposed to be directly heated.
The rods are supposed to be flux coated by heating then dipping in flux.
The work part is then directly heated by swirling the torch to ensure thorough heat. the filler is then used.
Good series Rob. I've struggled with those rods and have yet to have success. I even tried using oxy/acetylene to get more heat still without a satisfactory weld. I hope to be enlightened following along with your attempts at this process.
I think I will wait for another opportunity to actually make something with the rods, rather than just waste them. But it sure was interesting playing around with them.
I liked the way it filled in the knob in the previous video, so I may have another crack at that one day.
Cheers Rob
You need to use flux.
The surface needs to be a lot cleaner. Alu has a strong oxidisation cover on it that needs to be thoroughly removed sand back and use acetone
Is it good enough to build the RC trailer using that as the welded
NIMHO.
Just a few days ago I put up a video on aluminium solder attempt. My approach failed worst. It looks so simple but I guess I have the wrong rods and technique.
It is very important to rub the rod back and forth, with some pressure to abrade the surface to aid adhesion. Try rubbing briskly with the rod.
nice demonstration. If you would like the brazing rod to flow through the hole you probably need to re-machine (ream) the inside surface of the hole and possibly brush the surface on the rear too. Maybe using the acid flux would help it even more.
I have seen videos with nicely wetted joints. But even then they are not very strong and break apart under medium load. This process seem adequate only to low strength applications like a lamp housing or the like.
Quite fascinating & super useful. I bought some aluminium brazing rods about a year ago to repair an aluminium ac tube on my car, was going to make a cylinder & slip it on & braise, but got frightened & procrastinated as it's expensive to have the system refilled & I didn't want to then lose all the fluid because of my own bad workmanship. Quite lucky I bottled out seeing all the troubles you are having, but it would be great to be able to use this stuff as I have several other aluminium jobs I would like to do & I am too cheap to buy tig as I don't have that much use for it. Interestingly I have also been struggling with silver solder & this series may e plain why. I repaired a wood burner barrier in cast iron, mentioned on one of your braising series, & it stuck well, but melted in the fire. It was second hand rod & seeing your experience I now wonder if it wasn't a silver solder rod, but instead aluminium brazing rod. I also used it to braise some wood cut band saw blades & all seemed fine, then they failed. Really nice to have a potential explanation for what has been puzzling me as previously I have done great with silver solder & couldn't figure what was going wrong. Thanks for sharing.
I didn’t look like you put enough heat into the receiving metal.
Jarrid Gross
Nailed it this is your issue I am a New Brazer and saw that 1st off. 2nd keeping the "HEAT" for aluminum at 735 constant but again I am a NOOB,FNG or the new guy.
try again using the block. once the substrate is to temp and you put down some rod, go back and use the brush to "scratch" the aluminum to get the rod material to bond to the substrate. once it is properly tinned, the chisel will cut the repair but wont be able to separate the two metals.
I don't believe that the hardened aluminum was hot enough in some spots, I bet it would take much better if much hotter.
Do you think an acid flux might help with adhesion? if you can break down the oxide layer the filler rod might stick
Using a flux is the next stage to try. I just need to get some.
Rob
That is if you can find a flux that will eat through aluminium oxide, it's one of the hardest most resilient materials around. Any acid that can eat through it is very nasty stuff!
I think citric acid attacks aluminium oxide, failing that I would try phosphoric acid or borax, I think coca cola contains phosphoric acid (that would make an interesting experiment)
I would try a bit of borax, if it doent work you can use the rest in the washing machine and give that hat a good clean :)
xynudu I bought some Harris al-braze ec flux for similar experimentation (which wasn't particularly successful)- happy to ship some to you from Sydney if you like.
Do you use propan burner, or something better gas (MAP, propane) ? I am interested in brazing alu profiles (i.e. 2020) with elox layer. Does anybody try it with success ?
Generally they use MAPP at the demonstrations I've seen.
When I have used the rods I heated the aluminum first and then let the aluminum melt the rod instead of the flame. I forgot to mention that on the last video.
I did that this time, and actually brushed the base alloy when it was hot and gummy.
The way it flowed over my home cast and then actually adhered to it (quite strongly) when cold was a bit disconcerting.
Cheers Rob
There is a powder flux that is a must to use with this cheap Al rods
even though I found it very challenging to weld Al, it seems that it is only used for a specific Al alloy, the best rods for Al welding is the american ones and they are totally different than the these ones, they need much less temp, also they dont need any flux, and they claim they weld any Al type, but these rods are extremely expensive to buy
www.alumiweld.com/
you can also find them on amazon, for a little bit more in price than the link I mentioned
Good luck
GraphicMan Innovations
Try Muggyweld.
Still nowhere enough heat, Rob! I would even be surprised if a propane torch can get a large lump of aluminium hot enough. I use an oxy torch - gently. The filler rod really 'flowed' onto the aluminium and I was able to build up a broken off part from a gearbox casting and then machine it and drill and tap it. It has a different colour to the casting, but is entirely strong enough.
It is NOT welding, it is brazing. So any comparison to TIG welding is futile. This is somewhere between soft soldering and silver brazing of steel parts.
Your last casting seemed to have a lot of zinc in it (possibly made from diecasts). That makes it too similar in melting temperature to the filler material. A bit like trying to bronze brass fittings - instead of silver braze them. You would get the same problems and failures of the workpiece.
when cleaning aluminium with a stainless steel brush you should only brush in one direction otherwise you are rubbing the contamination back in to the workpiece
Love the fact that you aussies drive on the same side of the road as us pommes and pronounce aluminium correctly. Good on you!
Great attempt Rob! But, It wasn't hot enough in some places and to hot in others, That's why it chiseled up easier in one spot and not the other because your heat was not evenly applied to that area nor hot enough, You need to focus on evenly heating the area you want to work with by moving the flame rapidly back and forth {DO NOT JUST HOLD THE FLAME IN ONE SPOT} And learn the melting points of the material(s) your working with and your project(s) will flow much smoother, and you might want to try bonding two pieces together, and can the excess be filed and or sanded away without compromising the strength of the filled hole(s) on your aluminum would be nice to know as well, good luck......
Hi, do the rods degrade over time? As you said they were 20 years old. I believe there are two types fluxless ones and ones with flux which is the best? Thumbs up because the experiment showed the difference in melting point of all the aluminium. The fair ground demonstrations which make it look easy probably used the ones the rod is most suited for.
I doubt the rods would degrade IMHO. Used correctly they will bond. The fair ground guys only ever demo the rods with a hole in the bottom of a beer or soft drink can. I have only seen the fluxless ones as in the video.
I tried to use one of the rods to repair a die cast carburettor bowl and the bowl melted before the rod. So it's suck it and see when using these.
Cheers Rob
Our Aero Solder for aluminum melts at 775F, (requires a flux,) and therefore, by industry standards meets the definition of Soldering by melting below 850F. Maybe the flux ones work better as oxidisation is stopped.
Interesting. I haven't seen that in Australia. Is there an agent here ?
www.tinmantech.com/html/faq__alumaloy_vs__rods_and_flu.php here is where I got it from.
Shipping to Australia would be a killer on that. USA post is so damn expensive.
Thanks.
Cheers Rob
Youre not getting the aluminum hot enough and thats why its globing up like that. When done properly this stuff is stronger than the aluminum itself.
Listening to Dr Karl Kruznitski (?) on ABC radio the other day he said that Aluminium after cleaning to bare metal oxidises in about 1/100th of a second so you would have to be pretty fast to braze. Clean and oil free maybe but removing the oxidation I'm not so sure
G'day Rob one thing that I haven't noticed or looked at is what a bloody nice old bench you have not to mention the great dawn vice. Is the middle of the bench a different type of wood? I really like it it has a fantastic old charm about it. Enjoyed the vid regards John PS tig welding isn't that the way to go with alloys
Hi John,
It's made out of old electricity utility pole cross beams and has a thick Jarrah work area where the vice is for hard and heavy automotive work, The rest of the top is thick pine from heavy packing cases. It's all recycled timber.
Weighs a ton and will never move or flex, or be slippery and noisy like steel.
I hate working on steel top benches, stuff slides around, and it's a real pain.
I also don't like tool peg boards much either, as the stuff's too far to reach over the job, and a great dust collector and waste of space IMHO.
But that's just me, other people love em.
Cheers Rob
I thinks it's terrific thanks mate John
those guys selling that welding rod at the county fair make it look easy. I took some home home and all i could do is make a mess out of it
He He. You are not alone.
Cheers Rob
Thaught so they always hammer from towards as you said
try again using the block. once the substrate is to temp and you put down some rod, go back and use the brush to "scratch" the aluminum to get the rod material to bond to the substrate. once it is properly tinned, the chisel will cut the repair but wont be able to seperate the two metals.
It looks as though you paid no attention to the fact that you heated a large chunk of metal so much that it retained the heat for a long time, Da.
try to keep the rod away until the work piece is hot enough to melt it . concentrate more heat at the point of the repair
Why are you not using a flux and you can clean the aluminum with acetone for better Bond what you doing with the stainless steel brushes pulling off all the oxygen station
i just checked some of the ones iv acquired an ther very brittle are yours ?
Yes.
thanks
You did better then me I can't even get my rods to melt, my aluminium I'm trying to join melts first
Hey thank you for your demonstration, according to some of the comments this product is not for the amateur. This is another product marketed to the public to believe anyone can weld aluminum. You saved me lots of wasted money and time.
Not so, the product works very well when used correctly. The technique is important, you have to break through the oxide layer on the aluminium to get a good bond. Follow the instructions correctly and anyone can use these rods with some practice, provided you have a powerful enough torch for the size of the items you are repairing or joining. I brazed together quite a lot 6mm aluminium plate and the joints were very strong.
Shouldn't you use some kind of flux? Also it looks to me like not enough preheat on the part.
Hi Juan,
These rods are sold as supposedly not needing flux. Apparently they work better WITH flux according to some comments. It's all new to me. I might have one more go at it. I just hope everyone doesn't get sick of seeing me tangle with these critters.
Rob
Oh I'm not tired in the least! This may not be Tig but it's a lot cheaper!
You were so close! You just need to refine your technique a bit. I think a have a bit of wonder rod so I'll go run off a quick vid on getting it to work.
You said Wonder Rod
Rapid cooling with water on that first piece would have weakened the material.
Better to just put the shop fan blowing over it to cool.
You arnt using flux. I suggest using it at join and when browns you slide your rod through it not dab dab. Maybe a different rod brand with lower melt point? Thanks goodluck
It's always the problem with the aluminum oxide.
I used such rods in the past and had mixed results. Some aluminium parts melted before the rods, others never bond.
If i could rub the aluminum parts together with the solder between them i got the best results.
I bought cheap aluminium brazing rods and they didn't stick. I bet the aluminium content was super low.
These rods are mostly tin.
Great vid Rob. There is a channel on RUclips by Muggyweld - they refer to this as aluminium/zinc solder. Worth checking their channel out.
Rob,
you need to v out the holes and then wire brush the surface of the v to get grip. teh oxide surface needs to be removed.
you did not get the block hot enough to start with the rod was making a bubble and you just spread it over that block just like a cold soldering joint
TIG is the only way to fly, if you ask me. I don't know what I'd do without my TIG.
looks like a metal equivalent to just glue, lol. I wonder how it reacts, once set, to reheating.
It reflows out like solder if you get it hot enough. Not great for applications that deal with heat.
@@dnp990 But you likely wouldn't be using aluminium for applications requiring high heat resistance in the first place. These rods work well for fabricating structures from alu plate, and I used it to fab a custom inlet manifold for a 4 cylinder engines as I have no TIG or oxy, and my experience with aluminium MIG welding on a hobby welder was not a happy one.
Some one was telling me that one of the companies who make these rods was wondering why they were selling so many to people in Alaska. Turns out, the bush pilots were carrying them in their planes, to patch any holes that they got in the pontoons on their planes.
Sounds good to me. They would be very handy for that.
It sort of stuck. Great update.
Well, OK.. If you are repairing something in house, then maybe one could attempt with this. If a customer wants this kind of repair, they need to be required to watch this video, and after that if they still want the repair, then fine, but of course, no guarantee.
You need to wipe it with acetone then flux it.
i'll be honest i tested this stuff at a fair once i mean it works but not amazingly it's never gonna be as strong as the surrounding material but you know good for sticking things together in pretty much the same way you would use solder but in the name of the mighty spud DO NOT RELY ON THIS!
Good series lots of possible do's or don'ts; more is merrier.
i use these type of brazing rod on aluminum boats, they work great for me.
Don't go out too far ;)
Rob
been fine for over a year. I don't know if i am using the same rod but i joined to pieces together and tried to break them apart and it ripped the metal. It's not as good as a weld but it works for me.
The weld that I chopped off with a cold chisel would have done the job, but the way it floated on the surface when molten was a bit disconcerting. I was super surprised that it bonded.
It's interesting looking at other videos on using these rods, everyone seems to do it differently, some brush before, some brush when molten, some heat on the join, some heat away from the join. LOL.
Cheers Rob
Brother in law has boat that needs repair, when we go visit ( 400 miles away ) I can’t take acetylene torch so I like to see it I can get this stuff figured out and use propane
1:29 "Woahhh....Me nob just fell off!" 😅🤦♂️
„So I finally got out the instructions“👍😂
why would u need instructions for fallin off a log
Hello Xynudu,
You are not using correctly first problem is heat the material has to be above 737 or completely molten, next you did not tin the HTS-2000 with a tinning brush while molten before adding more material so you did not follow the directions included with the material. Yes you can use a brush, sandpaper etc. to open the pours that is step one, next is add the HTS-2000, next is to tin with a tinning or separate brush, finally which you also did not follow is do not disturb the weld once finished until the HTS-2000 brazing rod cures - cools down. Hope that helps get you up and running to becoming an expert using our HTS-2000. https:www.aluminumrepair.com
It was painful watching this. Have you never heard of flux ? Aluminum starts oxidizing again as soon as you stop brushing so you have to apply the correct type of flux immediately
Wrong. I have seen numerous demonstrations by sellers of these rods at field days etc. - no flux used. No mention of flux in the instructions either.
xynudu
Flux is your friend!
Just try it.
These rods are designed to be used without flux and will actually ruin the weld the metal will slide of the surface like butter if flux is used
Lol I wasn't expecting that last bit.
Heat were your brazing not on the side you need the heat were your filling in needs to cool before it bonds you can fix alloy wheels with alloy rod maybe your rods are to old it's better than a tig
way too much heat ..those are tig rods which have a higher melting point 1100 compares to high zinc 700.....you also need a CLEAN stainless steel brush
I don't think you got it hot enough at first so it would "Tin" on to surface plus you didn't weld two pcs like a solder joint either. Maybe you should watch the How to video's before making a How to Video yourself. lol
Why don't you buy some super aluminum brazing rod and flux 3300 pounds per square inch
The New rods are alot better now. Them old rod where shit. I used to have some. Put them in the bin ..
wont a drink can melt with the amount of torching he had to do...
I hope Hans wasn't using this technique for a last minute repair on the Hindenburg just prior to landing !
None of his examples of tool failure are based in cases of normal use.
you can't say that's why you had a fail last time the real reason is because you didn't apply it properly and when you did you kept playing around with it
No...no...Dear you have to wait till its get cold then try to chek ....then you can not make hole simply...like you did.
Shouldn't have cooled it with water
we can see why it's not working for you! your not doing it right simple as that. enough said. I am a welder old school gas welder and have no problem using it or it's holding power. my welds are as strong if not stronger than the mother material. just saying Old One Legged Joseph T.
you are not getting your base metal hot enouf
I get it, you don't like instructions lol
I don't either😉
read the instructions #
Thank you Xynudu for sharing the true about aluminium brazing rods. On most of videos available on youtube about that, the weld bead is not better than shown here. As a consequence it is obvious the pieces are only sticked despite of aparently very good result. The fact you manage to bend a plate before the weld bead "unstick" is not a proof of resistance. Another problem of this kind of rod is you will only be able to make one weld bead. If you heat again the aluminium because you want to weld something else or just want to make another weld bead on the other side of the same piece (very usual situation) then you will ruin your first weld bead BEFORE the aluminium reaches the needed temperature. The material of the first weld bead will flow away or go inside the aluminium while the material of your new weld bead is still just "sticking" on the surface of the aluminium. I think there is no solution to this.
Everything written in that comment is COMPLETELY WRONG. Totally wrong.
Use flux.
Good grief! How not to use a torch! That close and you are in the coolest part of the flame.
Incorrect prep that's why it does not bond..
You don't know how to use this rods. To low temperature...
I reckon I'll stick to the tried , tested and true methods we were all taught by competent qualified tradesmen-teachers, at the local Polytechnic namely MIG and TIG welding and oxy-acetylene welding and brazing, and soldering after seeing this demo with the ''miracle'' aluminium '' welding '' rods, I'd say you'd have better luck if you used chewing gum. When you took the cold chisel to it and it just peeled straight off I wouldn't go near that shit with a ten foot barge pole. And as for the maker's claim to have used it on copper plumbing pipes-Yeah Right! I'm a Plumber going on fifty years and never had any trouble with Silfos on brazed copper pipe and brass fittings. Even plumber's 50/50 tin- lead solder is a far superior product, and probably the most important point here is Silfos and Solder meet a specified Standard of material which are what's referred to as " fit for purpose" So why would I buy that stuff? Is this aluminium rod "fit for purpose"? Who in their right mind would use this stuff??? It's a disaster in the making right there. As I said earlier I think I'll stick to what I know.
I totally agree with you John. Cheers Rob
These rods work perfectly well when the correct technique is used and the surface prepped well. They are not as strong as welding, but they do give more than adequate strength for many applications, and you only need a regular gas torch for smaller pieces which most people will have access to, unlike AC TIG.
Those rods are for bonding aluminum not mystry metal aluminium!
It's all aluminium.
In fact, the re-melted alloy wheel rims I use are widely regarded by backyard casters as the best aluminium you can use.
Rob
Has to be aluminum...
should have started by reading the instruction first really...duh!
I did.
what kind of accent ?
Australian.
@@Xynudu 👍👍👍
some years ago, went bar drink beer with Austrians, they shouted, skull skull skull (skol)
I've had a tiny number of people say they can't understand me. Others say they watch because of my accent. Can't please everyone. Australians will sometime say scull, scull when drinking beer, which means drink it down as fast as you can. I prefer a more relaxed pace. Cheers Rob
I'd rather just spend a little extra for an oxy tank and small welding torch and then be able to weld the aluminum properly instead of suffering with unreliable gimmicks like this.
Its like snake oil