Is there a method for soldering or otherwise bonding two pieces of aluminum that is within the means of a modest model railroader- Somewhere around $20? I have a good amount of 1/8" aluminum sheet that I can have, and want to make a point grinding jig, like the one described in another post where two pieces of rail were soldered upside down on a piece of brass shim stock to make a jig. I haven’t found a piece of brass of sufficient thickness to stand up to the vibrations caused by using a disc sander and I an looking for alternatives. I am also wondering if the heat required to solder/weld aluminum would cause it to distort making the jig useless. What about steel? I have some heavy duty Hinges that I thought were brass but are just plated but they are about 5"x2" each side and would be just the right size and about 3/16 thick. Anyone had any sucess with epoxy or JB weld?
aluminum is very hard to weld, a little too much heat and it melts. I have no idea how jb weld would do with vibration, I could see it shaking apart relatively quickly, but have never tried a similar application, I’ve used it to fill wear holes in sheetmetal on a combine and it’s lasted a couple seasons before it needed to be re-done. I have seen rods sold for welding aluminum at the IA State Fair ( and I assume similar venues) and seen him weld pop cans with a hand propane torch (blue foot tall bottles), I’d bet you could find similar stuff at Menards/Home Depot/etc. but haven’t looked, how well it would work I don’t know. If you haven’t welded before you are playing with an open 1500+ degree F flame (I don’t remember propane flame temp off the top of my head) find someone experienced to teach you!!
1/8" will weld fairly EZ and won’t distort as much as 1/16" or thinner. You really want something thicker if you going to make a jig though. (1/4") A good, experienced tig welder should be able to do the job for you.
You can’t solder aluminum. It must be welded.
Ideally, you want a chunk of cold rolled steel and have it milled at a machine shop. (but that ain’t gonna happen for $20)
Make me a drawing and send it to me. I can machine it out of a SOLID block of Aluminum or Steel. No charge, just pay for shipping back to you. I can machine it with holes, ect. and even engrave your name or anything on it. You can email me directly.
This may sound a little far out, but “plastic aluminum”!! This stuff is like “plastic steel”. In 1959 or 60, I was working in a automatic transmission shop. The boss (glad it was him) broke the case on a brand new Buick transmission - it was a turboglide, a model only made for part of one year - it was a disaster!! At any rate, a new case was not available, and an entire transmission w[8D]as a fortune. He very carefully cleaned the broken pieces, applied the plastic aluminum, and left a heat lamp on it overnight. The customer picked it up later that day, and we never heard from him again!! It must have worked or we sure would have heard about it, as the car was sent by the Buick dealer, which we continued to get work from for years!!
The guys ( and girls) on this site are AWESOME ! It just goes to show you how good people can be and the caliber of people we have in our hobby. Prompt replies and sage advise have been the halmark of this forum, and once again you all come thru! Thanks again ! I am proud to be a small part of this community!
Mike - Thanks a big bunch, I’ll get back to you privately,
Aluminum is a wonderful metal to machine and cast, but difficult to soldering/welding. At the various refineries in which I worked, they paid premiums to aluminum and stainless steel welders and even held classes on the skill.