soldering aluminium tubing to brass wire or Visa versa.

[DaveBaxt]

Not sure I like the castings supplied for the stunsail boom brackets on my Endeavour. The kit suggests CA but as I have a few pieces of aluminium tubing I thought I could cut and drill sections and the hopfully solder using soldering paste the two parts together using a small butane torch. Is this aproach possible or is there a better aproach?

             I also intend to pickle everything for a few hours to remove any film from the componants and I am hoping this would work out ok on the aluminium before soldering .Best regards Dave

Edited April 12, 2022 by DaveBaxt

[reklein]

IMHO One cannot solder aluminum. As a matter of fact I have some jigs made of aluminum used to fabricated model railroad track components. Aluminum is used specifically because it rejects solder. I would stick to all brass components for good results.

 

[allanyed]

Bill's post just came up as I posted this.   I am anxious to read responses on what to use as some aluminum alloys are very hard to weld.   There seem to be some solutions on the 'net, but I hope someone here has done it with success and can share what they used and what they did.  

 

Dave, why not order a pack of brass or copper tubing and rods?  Copper is easy to soft solder and clean up for blackening with liver of sulfur.

 

Hope to see a new solution to add to my tool kit!

 

Allan

Edited April 13, 2022 by allanyed

[Roger Pellett]

Ditto to Bill and Alan’s comments.  Aluminum cannot be soldered with conventional soldering materials.  It also melts at about 1200F making it hard to weld.  I use it for holding brass parts to be soldered as it doesn’t “stick” to the solder.

 

I have seen special solders advertised for aluminum but have not tried them. I am unaware of any solder that will fuze brass to aluminum.  Buy some brass tubing.  Brass is easy to solder to itself.

 

Roger

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Some years ago I did see a demo of aluminum-to-aluminim 'solder' at a wood working expo ... a thin rod of aluminum alloy with a melting point a little less than common aluminum for cans or shapes found in hardware stores.  It was a no-flux heating of parts to be joined until the solder rod flowed and, to my surprise, the items joined.  I bought a small bundle of rods, and they sat around for years.  But eventually I had to use one and it worked.  I had to heat carefully, because of the danger of MELTING the metal parts.  I figure it is actually closer to a 'weld' than a 'solder'.

[DaveBaxt]

Thanks guys I had a feeling it was probably a no go. I think that is why I asked to be sure. I am not sure what the casting supplied with the kit os made of. Some kind of alloy and quite soft and easy to file/sand. Perhpas this is part alloy. I will see if I can soutce some brass tube of the same bore/diameter.and hopefully I can manage this instead. Telescope brass is readily available ,I am assuming this should solder ok Thanks to everyone for there quick responses, you have saved me a bit of time and frustration. Best regards Dave

Edited April 12, 2022 by DaveBaxt

[allanyed]

I have no idea what the metal is for  your castings but be careful as it may be a very low melt point alloy.  Would hate to see you melt one.  Maybe ask  the kit maker what the metal is and the melt point as they should have or be able to get this information even if  they are outsourcing.  

Allan

[mtaylor]

A long time ago I did some work with aluminum and welding it.   Not for the faint of heart.   Usually needs a inert gas to be present around it and extreme temperature control.  Not worth the hassle unless you're doing something an aircraft or auto body.  Also, dissimilar metals create other headaches.  Go with the all brass.

 

Your castings are probably so-called "pot metal" or "britannia metal" and isn't suitable for soldering.

[DaveBaxt]

11 hours ago, allanyed said:

I have no idea what the metal is for  your castings but be careful as it may be a very low melt point alloy.  Would hate to see you melt one.  Maybe ask  the kit maker what the metal is and the melt point as they should have or be able to get this information even if  they are outsourcing.  

Allan

Cheers Allan. I was not thinking of soldering these for the moment but now thinking of teplacing them with the brass.rod. If I can get my hands on some brass rod of the correct outside diameter . Although I have a small wood turning lathe I am hoping to be able to drill out the centre easily enough by stepping up dofferent diameter drills to eventially get the correct inside diameter for the stunsail boom.

                    If I do end up using the castings I might end up drilling a hole in the side of the casting to take a 1 mm brass wire and glue the pieces together using approxy resin . Hopefully this will have sufficiant strength. I think I now have a couple of options which is great.

[Tony_Brooks]

Hi Dave,
You can get brass sheet, tube and rod from themodelcentre.com.
They are in North Yorkshire.

Regards
Tony Brooks

[DaveBaxt]

Thanks Tony. I have manage to source some brass tube with the correct inside and outside diameter . But thanks for the link anyway. Always good to  have options. Best regards Dave