How to "Weld" Aluminum for Beginners 

machia0705 Absolutely Agree 100%

This is the first aluminum welding video I have ever watched and Leah, I have to tell ya, you nailed! I am inspired and I can't wait to start. Excellent video! You are easy to listen to and learn from. Thanks, Don Price

thanks so much, Rick, I appreciate it!

Reading reviews of aluminum welding materials, is a litany of failure, and also of people who think they had a good weld when all they had was a cold solder joint. Can't say how many videos I watched and reviews I read, it left me wondering why "aluminum brazing" even exists. Figured there must be a way to succeed and I was going to discover that before buying the supplies to make the attempt myself. Finally found the bits and pieces of info here and there. And got a terrific lap weld on the first attempt. Here's the "secret sauce". 1 . Brazing is not like welding. It's like soldering. 2 . Brazing aluminum is not like brazing other metals. Aluminum has a surface layer of aluminum oxide -- corundum, one of the hardest and refractory materials known. Fluxes won't touch the stuff. And neither will melted brazing rod. 3 . What you have to do is to abrade the surface scrubbing the oxide layer loose WHILE THE ALUMINUM IS PROTECTED FROM EXPOSURE TO THE AIR. What was demo'd in this video is the brazing rod itself scratching a surface with a very thin oxide surface (recently sanded), and the capillary action between the melted brazing rod (zinc alloy) and the aluminum then disrupting the oxide layer from the edges. She got a nice fillet (lots of practice there!) but there was no bond where the two pieces were clamped together. In many applications that'd be fine, but if you're gonna do aluminum brazing ya gotta understand what it is and what it ain't. 4 . To do a lap weld, you have to scrub each piece individually through the melted brazing alloy, "tinning" the surfaces to be joined. Then heat the surfaces to remelt the tinned layers and bring them together; or, bring them together cold and then heat the two things and move them around to get a good bond when the brazing layer melts. 5 . A properly brazed joint is stronger than the aluminum itself for two reasons: zinc is stronger than 6061-T6; and, you just annealed the aluminum so it's no longer T6. The zone that was heated lost about 2/3 of its strength. Note: in many applications, it'll still be plenty strong enough. Also note that the annealed material is still as rigid as T6, just not as strong. 6. If you're tempted to braze hard high-strength alloys like 2024 or 7075, don't bother. The stuff cracks under the stress of thermal expansion. And even if it didn't crack, you'd ruin the heat treatment. 7. I presume it's possible to join aluminum to brass or steel with zinc alloy brazing rod, although I haven't done that myself. 8. If the end product will be used in an environment conducive to electrolytic corrosion, the brazed areas need to be painted or otherwise protected. Finally ....... within its limitations, this is an EXCELLENT video.

Rick Ramos i

@@seejanedrill This is why I subscribe! Brief, to the point, and encouraging!

Howdy Rick, should have known you'd be checking these rods out.

Thanks for showing love to my girl Leah! She is awesome!

joe! can one fabricate something in aluminium and braze it.. take it to someone pro and have them weld it proper? it seems like a quite simple way to fix stuff together..

Chris Stevens she said it was 730° F

@Chris Stevens yep, I just asked that question of how strong the weld is. So, it's not welding, it's soldiering.

You can still call it welding. WELDING: join together (metal pieces or parts) by heating the surfaces to the point of melting using a blowtorch, electric arc, or other means, and uniting them by pressing, hammering, etc.

thank you, Hunter, I appreciate it!

Yes I agree I have been a metal engineer for 35 years the technique is safe, i would only use on light gauge as the low penetration to the parent metal has its limitations.

EXACTLY. Agree Agree Agree! :) GOSH I get tired of seeing all those other videos where they waste my time with extra long, drawn-out (and 90% unnecessary) discussion.

Me too

The point is that it IS an instructional video and thus should have the basic facts right.

1127 + VS 31- .. I would say that most everyone thinks or considers this video is pretty much on the money as being right...

OK... So this is actually a pretty good instructional video, and Alumiweld is a great products for those who do not have traditional welding skills. That being said, this process falls under the category of SOLDERING (Not welding or even brazing). If you want to find out why, I keep reading, otherwise give me a thumbs down and move on. By the American Welding Society’s definition, soldering takes place with fillers that melt at below 840°F. Given that Alumiweld melts at a temperature below 730° F, there isn't much room for interpretation. The definition above tells us that it is the physical properties of the filler material that defines the process, Therefore, any material joined with Alumiweld by default has been soldered. Even if you were able to get the temperatures involved above 840°F the filler metal used (Alumiweld) still only melts at 730° F. Thus, soldering. Take this for what you will: I have a degree in Welding Engineering Technology. I'm not just pulling this out of thin air.

Interesting viewpoint and definitions. I was thinking soldering wasn't defined by temperature of the added materials melting point, but it does make sense. Thanks for the information.

Edward Norton I

I mean I've brazed too, but not aluminum

It's a product called alumiweld.

seejanedrill what kind of machine are you using and also the torch.

seejanedrill where can I buy?

Phuong Le I think she put a link in the description. Btw, I Tig weld aluminum and stainless and I've never seen this before, this is an awesome technique and that bead was PERFECT!! AWESOME JOB!

Thank you, glad you came across our channel!

Just to clarify, parenthesis are ( ). " " are Quotes. Big difference. Look it up.

In your great haste to be critical, you should learn some grammar first. When referencing a particular word, like "weld" you put it in quotes like I did. If you bothered to try to comprehend first, you would have noticed I said the word "weld" is in parenthesis. Standard grammar - in your words - look it up.

The process is brazing. It is used in aluminum radiator repair, brazing corners or joints, ect..... They are called welding rods, but that only because they are normally used in filling the corners after the actual welding is done. She did a very good job, but her terminology was incorrect.

The tutorial is great. Everything she shows and tells is correct - except for calling it welding. I weld aluminum all the time, and this isn’t it. Soldering is far weaker than welding, though it’s much easier, and cheaper to do. For many things, it’s adequate, but, just because some vendors call brazing rod, welding rod, doesn’t make it correct.

Jim Aiello very, very well said.

thank you very much, I value the compliment!

+seejanedrill your welcome leah. keep up the excellent work. I'm learning alot from your videos & I greatly appreciate it.

Worthless in industry. This is not welding and would not trust it to hold anything. And this is a bloke who has welded for 50 years.

Mike Terry Is she teaching an industrial class? It is aimed at homeowners and DIY for projects around the house. Although welding isn’t rocket science, probably ranks at the bottom of skilled trades.

Andy, the trolls cannot help themselves. Mike may have been welding for fifty years. But he has YET to start thinking before running his mouth. At no point does she EVER claim this is an instructional video for a professional. And A/C guys, who braze copper all day long KNOW it's brazing but CALL it welding. Like Channel Lock pliers is a brand name, the correct name being water pump pliers. But WHO calls them anything other than Channel Locks? These twits who refer to themselves as "experts" or "professionals" while finding fault with Leah are just losers, with nothing better to do with their time. Her entire focus is on helping do it yourselfers, NOT on teaching "professionals". And she does it as well as anybody and better than most.

thank you very much!

martin bielenberg Not welding

If you want to weld aluminium you use a TIG welder.

That is just aluminum brazing not welding it's a weak joint and will break under any load

@@damianfranzen8939.it must be an AC/DC TIG welder, even cheap ones are expensive in comparison to DC only TIG machine.

Alumiweld Brazing Rods link is no good. Can you please add a new link? Thank you for the great video

thanks, Jonathan!

Yoh,this is really a super teacher

it is NOT welding, this is just brazing. low temp brazing at that.

you're welcome, Kenneth, glad it was helpful!

not sure if you've fixed your boat yet.. but remember, right before melting aluminum becomes shiny.. when the shine goes dull, you've melted the metal... Also, as thin as boats are, be careful you don't end up with a huge hole where you once had a pin hole.

Thanks, Derek, I really appreciate your clarification about what the alumiweld rods work best for, as that was my intent. I like them very much as well and find them quite strong for household projects. Regards, Leah

Thanks Pia

what kind of a rod do you use, my boyfriend tried you´r method today and did not succeed, but then he did not have any rod´s, he cut a slice of the same alu-material 2x2 millimeters to try weld with it..

you'd need a tig welder for that method,these are more of a braze than weld in that the rod is not aluminum its zinc,bismuth,and? .and actualy excellent for joining the home depot metal rack metal cuse the joint is the same strength as 6061 3003 alloys so heat the joint use the heat in the aluminum to melt the rod no flux needed like braze youll have the skill set for bazeing its a lot the same the flux prevent oxide formation when brazing steel the rod wont flow on oxide the flux is borax yes borax for low temp and the aluminum stuff here will do zinc (pot metal)

we will keep that in mind and try again, but now he fixed his welding machine , so he will try that first, thank you for info

Cool!

you're very welcome, glad it was helpful!

that's great, glad you liked it!

i agree, excellent tutorial.