Steamer, I tried the hobby king soldering station with the aluminum solder and it worked just fine, the heat range goes well above what's needed.
Soldering Station with Adjustable Heat Range with US Plug
Last year I bought this set of soldering tips on Amazon, the price has doubled but these are good tip and a lot cheaper then Hakko's. There are cheaper sets on Amazon but these worked nice so I'm going with another set of these. I don't know if you need to keep soldering tips separate once you use them for this stuff?
10pcs Solder Soldering Iron Tip for Hakko Station 900M 933 907 936 - - Amazon.com
I cut pieces of soda can, scuffed the coating off down to bare metal, tinned both pieces and it soldered nicely for the first attempt. I tried to pull the two pieces apart and the aluminum ripped first, I'm happy. It's going to take some practice and learn how to use this stuff but I'm very impressed. A few things I learned already, use a big tip that holds heat, be generous with the flux, do it outside or in a well vented area, wear rubber (cheap surgical) gloves and be careful what you get the flux on.
ETA: Oops, I meant this for awsum, I'm so use to replying to each one of you.
Soldering Station with Adjustable Heat Range with US Plug
Last year I bought this set of soldering tips on Amazon, the price has doubled but these are good tip and a lot cheaper then Hakko's. There are cheaper sets on Amazon but these worked nice so I'm going with another set of these. I don't know if you need to keep soldering tips separate once you use them for this stuff?
10pcs Solder Soldering Iron Tip for Hakko Station 900M 933 907 936 - - Amazon.com
I cut pieces of soda can, scuffed the coating off down to bare metal, tinned both pieces and it soldered nicely for the first attempt. I tried to pull the two pieces apart and the aluminum ripped first, I'm happy. It's going to take some practice and learn how to use this stuff but I'm very impressed. A few things I learned already, use a big tip that holds heat, be generous with the flux, do it outside or in a well vented area, wear rubber (cheap surgical) gloves and be careful what you get the flux on.
ETA: Oops, I meant this for awsum, I'm so use to replying to each one of you.
That's great, Willie, but I need to solder 3/32 and up to 1/8 aluminum on mods. On something as thin as a soda can a Bic lighter would work.
You are right, though, it will take some practice to get good with it. The fluxless rods are looking more and more interesting to me.
You are right, though, it will take some practice to get good with it. The fluxless rods are looking more and more interesting to me.
Ah, well then I'll try it on some thicker stuff and let you know. One of the things I had thought about some time ago was shorter hammond boxes. Both the A and G boxes are longer then I need, I had thought about cutting a section out and some way of rejoining it, this may be a solution to that. I have a couple spare boxes, now may be a good time to try that!
I'm willing to be dollars to donuts that your solder station isn't up to the kind of job. Larger, thicker, pieces, especially aluminum, conduct heat away too quickly.
Careful about warpage. At least with tig welding too much heat build up in the part will cause the aluminum to warp when cooling. Had to make a massive heatsink to keep the flange flat when making a custom water to air intercooler that bolts to an Autorotor supercharger. Without the heatsink the approx 18 X 6 inch flange warped about 1/4 inch. It was all my buddies industrial water cooled tig could do to weld the second one with the heatsink pulling heat away and even then it warped by .005 or so and I had to sand it flat so it wouldn't distort the precision Autorotor compressor when bolted together.
Right on the money, even with a BIG tip and the heat cranked to max the heat sinks into the surrounding area. I tried pieces about the size and thickness of a quarter, no go. I tried preheating with short bursts from a small butane torch, that helped but it's just asking too much of the station. Only way it may work is to set the pieces to be soldered on a hot plate, bring them just under the melting point then using a big tip with the heat cranked try to control the flow where you need it. I think the best bet for something like a bigger project is a butane torch with a small flame, something like a jewelers torch.
I know my big Weller won't do it either, something the size of a hammond box, the heat just soaks away too fast. I think the entire piece is going to be very hot before you'll get a workable and controllable flow.
I roll mine back way more than that. I turn it 6 or 7 times, I never have wicking issues. It seems to me I can put as much juice in there as I want
Alexander, the solders we're playing with have melting temps, at most, of 800F. That's well below the melting/warping point of aluminum, which is in the 1500 to 2000F range if my faulty memory banks are correct. These solders are using some "metalurgic" magic to get bonds, and some of them are actually stronger than the base metals being soldered.
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I've been thinking about the aluminum soldering problem. I've got an IR thermometer I used to use for bumper repair, baking clear coats in cool/cold weather. If I use an auxiliary heat source, heat gun, hot plate or butane torch, I can bring the material to 450F or so, then apply the iron to actually reach soldering temperature and "run" the solder. The big trick will being getting it all setup to work right.
I'm just saying that if you can see the gap it's open too far. You can see the threads though the juice feed holes when it's partially openI roll mine back way more than that. I turn it 6 or 7 times, I never have wicking issues. It seems to me I can put as much juice in there as I want
If you can control the preheat temp and maintain it to a constant, slightly below the melt point I think it should work. Worth playing with!
With aluminum in the 1/8th" range, the amount of heat required is intense. I have done lots in that size and can't imagine an iron getting close to it.
This is the kit I got Al-Solder 500 Aluminum Solder | The Harris Products Group
ETA: It's part# 500K the one shown in the pic on that page. Ordered from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HWFM9Y
I went with this one, 500F melting point. The Harris is up at 700 or so.
Uniweld P4KD9S Aluminum Soft Solder Kit with Metal Tip Flux Applicator: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
I think the trick will be getting the majority of the pieces up to almost melting temp, the raising the local area to be joined with the iron or maybe a pencil style butane torch. After that, it's going to be technique.
Today was a crappy day so I don't even want to go down and look at the workbench. If I even look at something like this today it'll turn to doodoo.
Uniweld P4KD9S Aluminum Soft Solder Kit with Metal Tip Flux Applicator: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
I think the trick will be getting the majority of the pieces up to almost melting temp, the raising the local area to be joined with the iron or maybe a pencil style butane torch. After that, it's going to be technique.
Today was a crappy day so I don't even want to go down and look at the workbench. If I even look at something like this today it'll turn to doodoo.
Harris has aluminum solder that has a much higher melting point but the kit I got, it melts at 482f. I think what you and I have are pretty much the same thing, just different companies.
Been hotter then hell here all day, pretty soon I'm heading out to the shop. I love working on the cool summer nights.
I was impressed that I was able to solder brass to aluminum and get a really strong joint. I couldn't pull it off using pliers!
I have used similar on BRD's recommendation and small 1/8" box was not too difficult with a kitchen gas torch.
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