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Filler metal used for tig welding ah aluminum shrouds
- Thread starter goldblma
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57_BN4
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Hi Marc,
The best I could make out was that the parent metal (Birmabright) is supposedly NS4. The general recommendation seems to be to weld it with 5356 rods. Search for welding birmabright as there is a fair bit about it on Landrover forums.
I had a bit of a debacle TIG welding my rear shroud. A friend here is a very good welder so I got him to do the welding which he had quite some trouble with due to dirt in the metal. The main issue is that wherever you weld will crack right afterwards if it is ground flat. After a few attempts at the weld, grind, crack game, Steve left his welder with me and just said keep welding until it stops cracking. The technique I found to be most effective was to lay a fairly large bead on top and melt it down to just above flush, then turn the shroud over and grind out most of what had come through but leave a smooth mound about twice the parent metal thickness. If there is still a depression or line down the middle on either side after grinding then it will crack there shortly.
Definitely need a foot pedal on the welder and a stainless steel wire brush in a battery drill to scour the metal right down until it is completely shiny. Hand wire brushing was nowhere near effective at removing all traces of oxidisation.
Andy.
The best I could make out was that the parent metal (Birmabright) is supposedly NS4. The general recommendation seems to be to weld it with 5356 rods. Search for welding birmabright as there is a fair bit about it on Landrover forums.
I had a bit of a debacle TIG welding my rear shroud. A friend here is a very good welder so I got him to do the welding which he had quite some trouble with due to dirt in the metal. The main issue is that wherever you weld will crack right afterwards if it is ground flat. After a few attempts at the weld, grind, crack game, Steve left his welder with me and just said keep welding until it stops cracking. The technique I found to be most effective was to lay a fairly large bead on top and melt it down to just above flush, then turn the shroud over and grind out most of what had come through but leave a smooth mound about twice the parent metal thickness. If there is still a depression or line down the middle on either side after grinding then it will crack there shortly.
Definitely need a foot pedal on the welder and a stainless steel wire brush in a battery drill to scour the metal right down until it is completely shiny. Hand wire brushing was nowhere near effective at removing all traces of oxidisation.
Andy.
Lotuswins
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Hi Marc,
I didn't know of the Rover site, and it being called Birmabright, nor using the 5356 rods, but instead was using The Tinman's recommendations. His site is: https://www.tinmantech.com/html/aluminum_welding_supplies.php of which I've purchased several videos. He does his repairs the old way, using gas. But using TIG is even better, of course. He recommends using ER-1100 and will sell it to you in a roll, 3/64 diameter. I used it in patching some cracks and body grind through, on my BJ8, as well as patching the holes in the rear shroud where the hinges mount. The aluminum is very dirty, as Andy mentions, and the darn stuff will oxidize in 20 seconds after you clean it...or so I remember from the videos. I didn't have any cracking issues when I did mine, but the stuff is so thin, you have to be very carful of over heating and dropping out a puddle of aluminum. I used the .040 tungston tips, and 3/8 or so cup and kept the heat down low (I have a Miller 165 diversion, not a high freq machine, but it seems to work). I didn't use any flux with the TIG, but I think that may help too. In talking with a welder at work, one who has experience with aluminum, he said to melt the metal on the edge, just enough to get the impurities to float to the top, then clean and repeat until no impurities are there then weld to that spot. I was able to fix the cracks and holes and so far, knock on aluminum, no cracking....
I didn't know of the Rover site, and it being called Birmabright, nor using the 5356 rods, but instead was using The Tinman's recommendations. His site is: https://www.tinmantech.com/html/aluminum_welding_supplies.php of which I've purchased several videos. He does his repairs the old way, using gas. But using TIG is even better, of course. He recommends using ER-1100 and will sell it to you in a roll, 3/64 diameter. I used it in patching some cracks and body grind through, on my BJ8, as well as patching the holes in the rear shroud where the hinges mount. The aluminum is very dirty, as Andy mentions, and the darn stuff will oxidize in 20 seconds after you clean it...or so I remember from the videos. I didn't have any cracking issues when I did mine, but the stuff is so thin, you have to be very carful of over heating and dropping out a puddle of aluminum. I used the .040 tungston tips, and 3/8 or so cup and kept the heat down low (I have a Miller 165 diversion, not a high freq machine, but it seems to work). I didn't use any flux with the TIG, but I think that may help too. In talking with a welder at work, one who has experience with aluminum, he said to melt the metal on the edge, just enough to get the impurities to float to the top, then clean and repeat until no impurities are there then weld to that spot. I was able to fix the cracks and holes and so far, knock on aluminum, no cracking....