HI: I was at a very large flea market today. There was a person selling welding rod of some type that welded aluminum as thin as pop cans. She repaired / filled in 3/8 dia holes in the bottom of a pop can. She said it melted around 700 degrees. It looked very easy. No flux and she used a small stainless steel brush to clean weld aera, after a light sanding. A propane torch was ued for heat. Now the big question. How hot do exhaust systems get on our converted engines on gas and on glow fuel. Is it far less than 700 degrees? Has anyone had eperience with this stuff? It was $20 dollars for the rod & brush. Thanks Capt,n

Hi Captin,
For what it's worth, turbo jet engines turbines operate at less then 600 degrees. Aluminum gets weak and soft at 800 degrees. So the exhust temp for our small gas engines is far below this. Sounds like this will work. Thats my two cents, just some thoughts.

Regards, Dave

MAN!!!! I sure wished I had bought some of the welding rods. Yup...I want to make a muffler with real light material. The heavy-est part will be a couple of aluminum tubes ibside so it does not crush when tightened to engine. May make a few tunned exhaust also. Moussse can...yes....alluminum stinger...yes!!!

Uhh, hang on a minute. If the mixture is set right, the exhaust gas temp ought to be around 1200 degrees on a two stroke. I'm sure the muffler itself runs a little less but still... I've tried silver soldering mufflers and had the solder melt and blow out. Also, I'm not sure what the trick is, but nobody I know seems to be able to make this aluminum welding that you see in the booths work as well as they do it for some reason. Brazing steel mufflers works, or else tig weld aluminum.

Just my experience,
AV8TOR

I have had reasonablly good luck with this rod. BTW, you can get it at Harbor Freight, 10 rods for $10. Heat is not a problem, vibration is. You need to have a strong mechanical joint to withstand the shaking. I find MAPP gas works best. I am able to repair glo fuel engine mufflers, but use it mostly for gas mufflers. I have found it's not necessary to use a stainless brush, just a wire wheel does it for me. This a good product if used within it's limitations. Once again you need a good, clean mechanical joint (overlaps and pop riveted or screwed) for it to take the vibration. Can't be beat for filling holes. Try to make the joint pretty enough so that you don't have to grind it. Hope this helps and good luck, red

Hmmm. The Harbor Freight rod sounds like the same. At booth....price was $20 for 20 rods. About a dollar per rod. I think they too ....used Mapp gas....in small portable torch with screw on bottle. For some reason the brand of rod or material was not mentioned. No data to take with you either. It sure did flow nice...instead of just running off weld area. I guess its best to keep the rod cooler than the material you are welding. I may try some. Thanks for all the neat imfo. I will send to H. Freight. Best Regards Capt,n

Hey guys the HOME DEPOT sells these same rodes for a lot cheaper.

Thanks browng300: Thats even better. Good going Capt,n

Captinjohn,this welding rod you are talking about is a zinc based alloy much like white metal.Zinc will bond to aluminum much in the same way that a bronze brazing rod will adhere to carbon steel.It does have a fairly low melting temperature and melts at a much lower temperature than the base metal aluminum which you are trying to work with.Compared to real aluminum brazing using aluminum brazing rods and flux,this zinc based rod makes for some very brittle joints.Vibrations from the engine could be a real concern here.Most commercially made engine mufflers like those from Bisson and Slimline are aluminum brazed and are very strong.This method doesn't disfigure the end product as much as T.I.G would as there is no welding bead to contend with when finished.The end result is a much smoother finish to the end product and less time in the final finish stages(no grinding)so you end up with a far nicer looking product when finished.After these mufflers are aluminum brazed and finished the joints flow together so well,you can hardly tell where they were joined.It takes a lot of practise to become this good and to fully understand the process.Blow outs are very common doing your first few pieces.The funny thing about working with aluminum unlike steel is that it doesn't change colour before it turns into a molten mass.One second it's a solid mass,next second,it's a puddle on the floor[:@].

To date,I don't think I've met one single person who has had any luck with this product that you,ve mentioned.It is sold under a variety of names and one that comes to mind up here is "miracle rod".Yeah,they sure make it look easy at those trade shows.I was flatly turned down by the demonstrator one time at a trade show when I asked her if I could come up and try out her wonderful product in front of the other people that were there watching also to see just how easy it was to use.So easy,a kid could use it.....yeah right.A good friend of mine who works as a T.I.G welder gave me some of this welding rod to try out after he couldn't get it to work. I experimented with it and it didn't work worth a dam for me either.I tried repairing a hole in a coke can just like they do at the trade shows and followed procedure to the letter.The molten rod would just roll right off the can no matter what I did.I experimented with different temperatures and it just didn't make a difference.

For the record,it does make a difference as to what type of brush you use to clean the surface prior to welding or brazing aluminum.It has to be a stainless steel brush and not a carbon steel based brush.The carbon in regular steels will imbed in the aluminum and contaminate the weld area preventing any chance of proper fusion/adhesion.The wire brush is used to remove the oxide film coating which is found on all aluminum to allow for proper adhesion to the base metal.The area's to be joined must be free of any oxides prior to the welding being completed.The oxides will try to start forming again on the freshly exposed aluminum surface immediately after being wire brushed so it is imperative that the welding be done as soon as possible after cleaning.Don't leave it too long or else you'll have to start all over again.When brazing with an aluminum rod,a special aluminum flux powder is used to help break up and clean off the surface oxides.T.I.G uses a very high frequency wave to break up the surface oxides on the molten weld pool area allowing the welding rod to flowed into it.Hope this helps you some Captinjohn.

I tried that stuff, I was absolutely useless at it, I now own a TIG welder(i am not to good at this either, getting better and showing more promise though).

Very interesting stuff here!! You know the more I think about it ....just maybe the rod they use too demonstrate is a lot better quality and too expensive to sell. Maybe the rods you actualy get are not as good.....they look all the same??[:-]

Ok here is my 1 1/2 cents worth. I have seen the infomercial on a product called "Alumaloy" which sounds like what we are talking about here. I often wondered how good it really is, I was just never sure Im willing to spend the 40 or so bucks to find out. Yes we all know the saying, if it sounds to good to be true .... Use any search engine and see what you come up with, like me Im sure it will be some good and some bad things about it but I guess it all boils down to whos willing to spend the money and find out. Wonder if some company is will to send me a stick or two just to try it ?????