Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Alumaloy

Anyone hear of this stuff? I just saw part of an infomercial for it. Looks like aluminum solder basically, but has structural properties, like I saw them fill a hole, then re-tap it and bolt somehting to it. Pretty amazing...

Company makes three products based on the material to be repaired. Alumaloy for aluminum, Castalloy for iron, and Steelalloy for steel. I haven't tried it but I would really like to know more about be for I shell out $65 for 1 lb of the Castalloy to repair a cracked urn in front of my house.
The company says they have a money back guarantee, but sometimes guarantees can be a hassle.

would be nice to have a guinnea pig

I've heard the names, but I'm not familiar with the products.
At work we use similar stuff made by Belzona. I have also used stuff at home made by Devcon. These things have their uses and are expensive. But I wouldn't use them on a bike for anything other than a cosmetic repair.

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I have also used stuff at home made by Devcon.

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About ten years ago we had an old loader, Dresser I think, that had a gouge about ten inches long in the tilt cylinder rod. Since it was old and near worn out, management didn't want to spend much on it so I cleaned it up, filled the gouge with Devcon steel-filled epoxy; filed, polished etc. The thing's still holding to this day. That said, I wouldn't use it on anything that had to hold a load (threads etc.)

Exactly...

Low temp aluminum brazing rod has been around for a few years. One can see it at hobby and gun shows, usually with some good looking gal using it to put a couple of pieces of raw material together.

A good and not so expensive source of this rod is your local NAPA store. Good news is that most NAPA stores will sell it by the stick or at least fractional pound, but, some will only sell it by the complete package, which is expensive and will leave you with a longer-than-lifetime supply.

I've fixed a butchered Ruger .41 magnum trigger guard, and a "rotted" water line on a small aluminum boat, with the stuff. Used just a propane torch, but usually more heat is needed, as larger aluminum pieces suck the heat away from the brazing area.

The joint must be absolutely clean (filed, scraped, ect.)! An oxy-acetylene torch would do just fine, as in regular brazing on steel, though MAP gas torches work, too.

If one were repairing a crack in a side cover, for instance, he should vee groove the crack with a die grinder or Dremel tool and then lay in a bead of aluma-rod. Putting the cover on a stove burner (when the wife is not home!) works to keep the heat level up. Once done, the "weld" can then be filed down and polished to look like new.

Over here we have some stuff called Lumiweld. Liquid zinc chemically disolves aluminium @ relatively low temperatures. I've used the stuff to repair c/cases, brake calliper mounts, various mounts on alloy frames, carb bodies & vac chambers & damaged fins, etc. The repaired section is harder & stronger than the parent metal but because of the dilution in the "weld" this causes no problems or variance in expansion across the joint. Use it, it works.