55HG98. Para Recce Rebuild.

[AR4412]

Rob, maybe the club (you?) should be running an improvers ali welding course for us all? Howard

Well ive only just got myself a Tig so ive plenty of improving to do myself!

AR4412, Looks like its down to you to teach everyone.... Although im not brave enough to try welding ali with a mig, so you miles ahead already.

Hiya Rob! ,

I'm not sure I have any particular skill to pass on, I just zap it until it all looks solid then grind back to flush. If the crack looks like it's still there, I zap it again. I found during practicing that MIG welding new, pure, aluminium is a lot easier than welding old panels. I found that getting the area as clean as possible, and removing all the white rot, made for a much more successful weld. And welding in short bursts to stop the wire heating up, expanding, and sticking in the tip caused a lot less stoppage heartaches.

Neil, what welder are you using ?

Hi Howard,

I've got a Clarke 135TE. I've inserted a Teflon liner into the torch lead, to run alongside the steel liner to make swapping back and forth easier. (The steel liner will snag the aluminium wire causing feed problems.). Unfortunately the Teflon liner has a different end fitting to the steel liner, so I ordered a second one of those, took the torch fitting off the end and fitted it to the the Teflon liner. I'm using Argon gas, 0.8mm aluminium wire and a 1.0mm tip, to help prevent the aluminium wire from sticking in the tip when heat expands it.

Regards,

As mentioned it takes a bit of practice to weld Birmabright with a MIG, but it can be done with a little practice, and patience. You will get the odd birdsnest which will annoy you when it happens, so keep the feed roller tension as light as possible to prevent it jamming up where it goes into the liner, or you'll lose a lot of wire quite quickly sorting it out.

Regards,

[weetchus]

Hey AR4412
Looks like you are a dab hand at MIG aluminium welding. I have a spool gun and wondered if you could give me a couple pointers on thin aluminium sheet welding. I have to repair things like stress cracks on the seatbox and cut out the pieces where the tub joins to the chassis etc.
Any tips? I hear blow through is VERY easy. So it is a matter of low voltage and spot welds?
Thanks!

Whilst attempting to weld up the maze of cracks on the back fold of the panel at the hole, I suffered a 'birdsnest' in the welder which took a while to sort out, delaying me a while, but eventually the seatback panel was repaired, I just need to do some rivetting at some point.
DSC02240.JPG
Not sure what happened to the before pic of the damage? I must have deleted it when sorting the welder out.

Regards,

[weetchus]

Just saw the last few posts you made above mine. Some good tips in there. I welcome any more you have.

Hey AR4412
Looks like you are a dab hand at MIG aluminium welding. I have a spool gun and wondered if you could give me a couple pointers on thin aluminium sheet welding. I have to repair things like stress cracks on the seatbox and cut out the pieces where the tub joins to the chassis etc.
Any tips? I hear blow through is VERY easy. So it is a matter of low voltage and spot welds?
Thanks!

Whilst attempting to weld up the maze of cracks on the back fold of the panel at the hole, I suffered a 'birdsnest' in the welder which took a while to sort out, delaying me a while, but eventually the seatback panel was repaired, I just need to do some rivetting at some point.
DSC02240.JPG
Not sure what happened to the before pic of the damage? I must have deleted it when sorting the welder out.

Regards,

[AR4412]

I don't think there's a lot more I can add really. If dealing with cracks I found it best to cut along the crack with a Dremel or suchlike to neaten it up and leave a 1mm or so slit. This obviously depends on the type of cracking you're dealing with. Clamping a bit of steel plate/angle iron to the backside of the panel will help to prevent blowthrough, and once you have run a bead of weld over the crack you can remove the steel and weld the crack from the reverse side too. This should ensure the crack is dealt with and some strength returned to the panel. If the reverse of the panel you are repairing won't be seen, and the weld bead won't interfere with panel fitment, I'd be tempted to leave it undressed for the added strength it will give to the repaired area.

As mentioned, I found it best to weld in short bursts to prevent heat build up in the panel, torch or wire. On my welder I have the power set on minimum and the wire speed set at about eight. (From the twelve marked settings available). I probably have my gas flow a bit high, but that is probably due to most of my welding being done outside, or in the garage with the door open. I would advise getting a bit of practice in on some scrap panel pieces so that you can find which settings work best for you, your machine, your torch speed, and spool gun. I haven't used one of those so can't really give any tips for it's use. I practiced on some aluminium pieces and was getting some good results, then set to welding forty year old bits of Land Rover and had to adjust all the settings I'd worked out.

It feels like trial and error every time I go near an aluminium panel to tell the truth.

Regards,

[weetchus]

every time I weld it feels like trial and error! haha.
Thanks for the words of wisdom. I'll get started on some practicing. I just need to get some Argon which is tricky here in Barbados. You have to get it from the Foursquare Rum Refinery!
Anyway, I'll update my thread once I get going on it.
Thank you
Alex

It feels like trial and error every time I go near an aluminium panel to tell the truth.

Regards,

[AR4412]

Hi Alex,

Seems like a good enough excuse to come home with a bit of rum as well as the argon.

Regards,

[Ridgy]

Hi Alex,

Seems like a good enough excuse to come home with a bit of rum as well as the argon.

Regards,

Hi Neil! I was thinking the same as I read Alex's post.
"Argon gas not rum Argon gas not rum."
Days later.....what was it I went to the distillery for again?

Sounds lovely there in Barbados Alex and loved your picture of the beach the other day. Still, we've had one day at 32C here in blighty and everyone's moaning it's too hot....

Cheers

Steve

[weetchus]

Don't worry, I will be coming back with rum. But I do a lot of work with Mount Gay and they treat me well.

[AR4412]

Another lifetime ago I carried out a repair to the tub's left hand front panel, from where it was damaged after strong winds broke the tub free from it's moorings in the garden. Well today, having booked the day off work for a boiler service which they cancelled on me,I thought I would make use of the day to carry out the repair to the right hand panel where it had been cracked.

The first stage was, as before, to remove the primer and to cut out the crack. The angle iron you can see, and another bit yet to be clamped on, was used to hold the panel in the right place. Another piece of steel was clamped to the back of the panel, behind the crack, to help prevent distortion and blow through.

DSC02242.JPG (25.43 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

Then, after sorting out a birdsnest caused by a broken swan neck liner, the crack was welded from both sides, and ground back to check the repair was good enough.

DSC02243.JPG (24.05 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

Before a coat of primer was applied to protect the repair.

DSC02244.JPG (29.88 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

Regards,

[AR4412]

Having been informed about the cancelled boiler service in good time, (Last week), I made a call to the local blaster to book some bits in, and dropped them off on Monday on a 'Road Test' from work. At lunchtime today I recieved a call to say they were ready for collection.

DSC02246.JPG (48.81 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

With the surface rust removed, and not wanting the rust to start reforming, they have been blown clean with an airline to remove the blast media dust, and have now been stored in the house to prevent further rusting until I can get some 'Red Lead' on them. Hopefully this weekend.

I have also decide to revisit some repaired cracks in the bonnet as I wasn't too happy with how the Lumiweld repairs came out, so I will tackle them with the MIG when the chance arises.

Regards,