What do you guys think of this stuff? http://www.newtechnologyproducts.net/ This may make my life easier, i was beating myself up about buying a small dc tig welder with the thought of not being able to do some small aluminum repairs. But if this stuff is as good as they say it is i will just get the dc tig and buy some hts-2000 if i ever need to play with some aluminum. If some of you experienced aluminum tig welder guys could chime in with some opinions i'd appreciate it.

 

You can weld aluminum with a DC tig machine.

Seams like that brazing rod, if it's any good, would cost more in the long run because of the cost of an o/a outfit and refills.

 

If you use that stuff, it will look like ****. You can DC aluminum, but I'd not even try it with material that's less than 1/8" thick. You may be best, depending on your budget, to buy somethingn that will do most of what you need, then pay somebody or get a friend to do the rest.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can weld aluminum with a DC tig machine.

Seams like that brazing rod, if it's any good, would cost more in the long run because of the cost of an o/a outfit and refills.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought of this too, however my main focus will be exhaust manifolds, exhaust piping, small brackets and stuff like that. I think for me it might be a good choice, because less than 10% of anything i will ever do will deal with aluminum.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you use that stuff, it will look like ****. You can DC aluminum, but I'd not even try it with material that's less than 1/8" thick. You may be best, depending on your budget, to buy somethingn that will do most of what you need, then pay somebody or get a friend to do the rest.</TD></TR></TABLE>

function matters more to me than looks, but yeah i agree there would probably be no comparison to a nice looking tig bead and the HTS stuff. I would just outsource the aluminum work, but there aren't many guys in my area that weld aluminum and the one guy i know who does is pretty expensive. Good advice though, thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I thought of this too, however my main focus will be exhaust manifolds, exhaust piping, small brackets and stuff like that. ..function matters more to me than looks</TD></TR></TABLE>
I would investigate a bit into it. Seeing as how temperatures of OVER 1,000 degrees is possible in a manifold, I don't think you want to use this on manifolds. From their website: "Low Temperature. Between 717 and 737 Degrees Working Temperature." So, you work this all up and braze it together. You take it out for a few rides and it works great...then one day you run it harder and the hear remelts the braze...and your manifold halls off the head. I don't think you want that to happen. If you doubt it, check this link: http://www.lingenfelter.com/Li....wmv

I like their claims: "All you need to repair any metal stronger than new" Yeah, right!!!

And another: "Stronger - More tensile strength plus more elongation."
More tensile strength than what? Ok, MAYBE it will have more tensile strength than aluminum, but even based on their own site, it does not have the tensile strength that stainless will (into the 70,000psi range). "Stronger than the Base Metal - up to 45,900 PSI" Neat how they don't state what base metal.

Quote: "How long will your material last?
Forever under normal dry conditions (50 to 90 degrees)."
Odds are that it won't last long on a manifold

Another: "Over 500 Degrees Below Melt Point of Aluminum." Well, I'd hope so, as if it melted the aluminum, it would be really nasty. The basic idea behind brazing is that you can bond pieces of metal together without melting either one. It's about like metal glue.

Another: "Yes. We have proven in shops that our material is stronger than welding and Tig welding on several applications. " HAHA!!! That's why I recently qualified a procedure that did a tensile pull of about 76,000 psi...and they want to boast about 45,900psi? Maybe their math is as bad as their spelling on their website.

It seems that they throw a lot of numbers around on the website, and it's not very clear at times what they're talking about...which product, since they have a couple rods. Hell, it was confusing for me. For the average person that knows nothing about welding, it's just numbers that sound good and will make sales. It's kinda like what QVC does to sell the stuff they have.

I'd not trust that stuff for ****...and I can promise you that you will not successfully use this for a manifold. This sort of stuff is like brazing, and requires very nice fits with no gaps more than about 1/16". It's not really even reccomended to use on a gap that big. You'd probably have to have each piece of your manifold machined to get a perfect fit before you'd be able to use this stuff successfully.


I know you may want to try this stuff anyway, but don't invest much into it, as I think you will wind up NOT using it for much. There's a reason that Miller, Lincoln and the other big names are in business selling machines for thousands of dollars...it's cause cheap fixes like this are NO COMPETITION for a welding machine.


Modified by Engloid at 7:40 AM 1/2/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Engloid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I would investigate a bit into it. Seeing as how temperatures of OVER 1,000 degrees is possible in a manifold, I don't think you want to use this on manifolds.

Modified by Engloid at 7:40 AM 1/2/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry my post was confusing, theres no way i would use this stuff on any exhaust parts, i am planning on buying a small dc tig for that stuff, the hts-2000 stuff would just deal with the small amounts of aluminum fabrication that i may come accross. Just aluminum not anything else. Thanks for checking it out for me though.