OK so theres a nice spot of what looks like cast aluminum that needs a good welding job on my new camper. Anyone on here can do this for me?

3/25/2007 8:38:52 PM

i would reccomend using some sort of high strength epoxy instead. welding cast steel is bad enough. welding cheap cast aluminum (what that is) is even worse.

3/25/2007 8:53:46 PM

trouble is its under a lot of stress. its the crank box that lifts the popup.

3/25/2007 8:55:31 PM

yeah, i know what you speak of. the bad thing about welding cast aluminum is rarely do you get any sort of decent weld in the first place. even if you do, the chances of it cracking even more just off the weld area are really high.

using a quality epoxy should work well. that shitty cast aluminum isn't the strongest thing in the first place, and epoxy isn't going to be much if any weaker if you get a good bond.

the only other thing i can think of is taking some metal straps across the crack and securing them with some short self tapping screws or something. i don't know what the clearances are like inside the box though.

of course the best thing would be trying to source a replacement. i found at least one apache board when i had mine.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 9:05 PM. Reason : .]

3/25/2007 9:04:05 PM

i would try loctite quick metal, with correct surface prep its strong as donkey kong, i've tried TIG welding some cheap aluminum alloys in the past with some pretty exotic miracle filler rods, but with no luck, the heat just fucks it period

3/25/2007 9:07:33 PM

I had Alan at Creative Machine weld up the gearbox housing on my old suzuki. It was cast aluminum I think... One thing in particular he did was drill the ends of the crack before welding. Its held just fine so far. The crack originally started by the kickstart shaft.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 9:09 PM. Reason : d]

3/25/2007 9:08:32 PM

the problem is the rapid heat transfer, cast iron is easy to heat up and then weld, but aluminum dissipates it so quickly, the rapid heat from the tig causes stress fractures from expansion, and if you heat it enough to prevent it, it will warp like hell

3/25/2007 9:15:24 PM

not to mention this junk is hardly a quality piece with a high aluminum content... more than likely a bunch of other crap also.

3/25/2007 9:25:55 PM