just cracked my fitters bench

[davidjohnperry]

hya all my fitters bench has just been dropped and craked i will get photos when i can bring my self to look at it again.

its a rigid tri pod stand been well used its aluminum auto spell sorry and at a guess cast is it possible to tig it as ill see if i can get some one to lone me one if possible
thanks in advance
dave

 

[hotrodder]

If it's cast aluminium then almost certainly yes. Things like this that are assumed to be cast ally sometimes turn out to be cast from old cat food tins or something with lots of zinc in it (mazak etc). Trying to TIG weld them doesn't end so well as the zinc boils off creating loads of white soot and you get a scummy mess instead of a weldpool.

If it is aluminium the chances of fixing it with a borrowed machine and no experience of welding ally are slim without lots of practice first. Whether it's aluminium or some flavour of monkey metal a self fluxing zinc based aluminium solder will work*. This is the stuff that shills hype to up to be a wonder rod that lets you weld/fix anything with a blowtorch You need a decent heatsource (or lots of patience) for it to work with a big chunk of ally as a small plumbers blowtorch will take forever to get the part upto temp. If it turned out to be mazak these rods can be quite tricky to use as there's a very small window between the part accepting the rod and collapsing into a bigger mess


* something like SIF 555 Al solder from a proper welding supplier is a much better value way of buying it than as durafix or lumiweld or the various other brands that hype the stuff up

 

[norlander]

All the fitters I knew were right grumpy gruff, anti social gits, so I'm glad you you broke your bench and now need a proper welder to fix it despite claiming "Good Welders are ten a penny_ good fitters are two to a fiver"

 

[davidjohnperry]

Ahahahaha lad I'm not a pipefitter any more I work in structal steel at the moment I've welded ally in the past I quite enjoy tig welding. I would love to braze to been time since I even lead welded. I'm sociable ur Always welcome to a beer lol

 

[davidjohnperry]

Altho grumpy now I cracked me bench

 

[brightspark]

Altho grumpy now I cracked me bench

sh...it appens chalk it up to experience and move on tomorows another day

 

[davidjohnperry]

I know it could get worse but some how I doubt that survived my scrap days my plumbing days pipe fitting days ect leave it home with the wife and it gets destroyed

 

[norlander]

I would love to braze

I never got the hang of thatn and really should knuckle down and practice it, even though I never use the method, but the brazed joints on cycle frames and an old motorcycle a friend has, always impress me, love to get the job as neat as that.

 

[davidjohnperry]

I've personal never done steel or ally but as a result so if I used my turbo smart rothennurg blow lamp some flux and thin all wire or and a say or some silver solder I might get away with it what's this duro stuff can I get it from boc

 

[davidjohnperry]

Here's my crack it makes me want to cry

 

[gordon stephenson]

There are a few different makes of Duro"stuff" I have used Techno-weld and Durafix, and found them to be great on jobs like yours, A lot of folks say its not proper welding etc, but on the right job without needing any thing but a decent blow torch the can make a really good strong joint, they take a bit of practice but you would soon have it off to a T. Have you watched youtube for ideas as to its uses?
P.S. your bench would be a doddle.

 

[davidjohnperry]

OK I think I watched on once all American but they all had oxcy acet or prop I got a dc tig welder a stick welder and a decent soldering blow lamp. This does sound promising so where can I get this duro fix stuff

 

[gordon stephenson]

Ebay etc.

 

[davidjohnperry]

Also to make things worse to day is a new day I've got a bit of arc eye coz I left my mig on.auto feed at work and smashed my thumb in twice stamping metal and I was using a safety holder tomorrow is another day

sh...it appens chalk it up to experience and move on tomorows another day

 

[davidjohnperry]

So can't get it from boc

 

[davidjohnperry]

Would I get away with a silicone bronze brazing rod and my blow lamp?

 

[davidjohnperry]

http://www.boconlineshop.com/shop/en/uk/silicon-bronze-filler-rods


http://www.boconlineshop.com/shop/en/uk/rothenberger-superfire-2-brazing-torch

This is my touch and that's the rod

 

[hotrodder]

Aluminium and it's alloys have melting temps in the 585 - 660°C range.
The BOC brazing rods in that link have a melting temp in the 875 - 895°C range...

SIF555 Al solder is mostly zinc with a dash of Al, Cu and traces of other stuff. The shills that hype the stuff with BS sales claims are often pretty cagey about composition simply describing their "wonder" rod as unique despite them all having suspiciously similar/identical working temps (380 - 390ish °C), specific gravity, hardness etc.
Any welding supplier in the known universe that stocks SIF/Weldability brand products will be able to supply SIF 555. Most (all?) of them will probably sell a pack of 12 for around a score (list price is £24) while a 5 pack of "BS wonder rods" is usually a little under a score

 

[the snooper]

Here's my crack it makes me want to cry

 

[brightspark]

Aluminium and it's alloys have melting temps in the 585 - 660°C range.
The BOC brazing rods in that link have a melting temp in the 875 - 895°C range...

SIF555 Al solder is mostly zinc with a dash of Al, Cu and traces of other stuff. The shills that hype the stuff with BS sales claims are often pretty cagey about composition simply describing their "wonder" rod as unique despite them all having suspiciously similar/identical working temps (380 - 390ish °C), specific gravity, hardness etc.
Any welding supplier in the known universe that stocks SIF/Weldability brand products will be able to supply SIF 555. Most (all?) of them will probably sell a pack of 12 for around a score (list price is £24) while a 5 pack of "BS wonder rods" is usually a little under a score

its like everything else when u want a quick repair there bull**** or not they do the job and u will pay that bit extra get them the next day and job done , ive repaired stuff with them twice with good results. im not realy interested whats in them as long as it works and they do