Lewis Medlock
Member
- Messages
- 241
Hi folks,
Following a bit of a mishap at work last week I decided it was a wonderful opportunity to get another of my girlfriend's welders up and running.
The mishap was a big metal cage falling off the back of a Transit pickup (flying through a hedge by all accounts), taking one of the aluminium drop-down sides with it, this resulted in a bent, kinked and torn piece of metal to fix.
The hinges were in a sorry state, steel hinges clamped aluminium channel with the predictable result of galvanic corrosion turning the aluminium to dust. Some hinges had already fallen off, one was ripped off in the accident.
I bit the bullet and said I'd have a go at fixing it.
I did a bit of homework on grades of aluminium and went shopping. I picked up a sheet of 2mm '5356' grade aluminium sheet (this was what my local supplier had available in 2mm), 1mm 5356 wire to match the sheet and a cylinder of pure argon.
Picture 1 - a hinge
Picture 2 - another hinge
Picture 3 - AWS aluminium classification
Following a bit of a mishap at work last week I decided it was a wonderful opportunity to get another of my girlfriend's welders up and running.
The mishap was a big metal cage falling off the back of a Transit pickup (flying through a hedge by all accounts), taking one of the aluminium drop-down sides with it, this resulted in a bent, kinked and torn piece of metal to fix.
The hinges were in a sorry state, steel hinges clamped aluminium channel with the predictable result of galvanic corrosion turning the aluminium to dust. Some hinges had already fallen off, one was ripped off in the accident.
I bit the bullet and said I'd have a go at fixing it.
I did a bit of homework on grades of aluminium and went shopping. I picked up a sheet of 2mm '5356' grade aluminium sheet (this was what my local supplier had available in 2mm), 1mm 5356 wire to match the sheet and a cylinder of pure argon.
Picture 1 - a hinge
Picture 2 - another hinge
Picture 3 - AWS aluminium classification