What kind of weld is this?

[crazyhorse13]

I have a radar tower for a boat that is made out of 1 5/8 aluminum. After my research I assumed the welds were the type made from aluminum sticks that melt around 700 degrees. I tried heating up these welds with my oxy/acet torch and they do not come apart? I would like to cut down and reweld this unit with different dimensions. Any suggestions on what I can do this with? Thanks for any help you can offer. I will try to attach a couple of pictures of the welds.

[John T]

No offense but it seems like you know absolutely zero about aluminum welding.

I would find somebody locally that specializes in aluminum welding that can help you.

[walker]

Or photography either. Hard to tell from the pics but they are either tig or spool gun welds. They don’t use solder on boat parts.

[bassboy1]

That's a TIG weld on anodized pipe.
Welding anodized is a whole different ballgame than just welding mill finish pipe - if you're interested in that, research 'bump welding anodized aluminum' - but in a nutshell, the ugly surface finish you're seeing is the impurities from the anodized material, and is typical on marine towers and poling platforms and whatnot (though some welders are better than others at throwing the contaminants off to one side to leave more of the weld surface relatively clean).

It's also not entirely uncommon to see the weld joints painted with aluminum colored paint after welding, even on 6 and 7 figure boats.

[crazyhorse13]

J

No offense but it seems like you know absolutely zero about aluminum welding.

I would find somebody locally that specializes in aluminum welding that can help you.

John,
I never claimed to know anything about aluminum welding. Try not to be so obnoxious when somebody asks for a little help. Go back under your rock.

[crazyhorse13]

That's a TIG weld on anodized pipe.
Welding anodized is a whole different ballgame than just welding mill finish pipe - if you're interested in that, research 'bump welding anodized aluminum' - but in a nutshell, the ugly surface finish you're seeing is the impurities from the anodized material, and is typical on marine towers and poling platforms and whatnot (though some welders are better than others at throwing the contaminants off to one side to leave more of the weld surface relatively c
It's also not entirely uncommon to see the weld joints painted with aluminum colored paint after welding, even on 6 and 7 figure boats.

Thanks for the informative reply bassboy I appreciate it.

[timrb]

Try not to be so obnoxious when somebody asks for a little help. Go back under your rock.

You're going to go far on this forum. Thanks for joining!

Tim

[CAVEMANN]

CH13, I've been welding since I was about 11 or 12, I'm 66 now, I've done a little aluminum with a spoolgun on mig, & would not recommend trying this unless you have experience and can produce a nice weld, aluminum is a completely different animal than steel. Best wishes bro.

[John T]

John,
I never claimed to know anything about aluminum welding. Try not to be so obnoxious when somebody asks for a little help. Go back under your rock.

Fair enough... I apologize for my input.

I think you should stick to your "research" you should go far.
best of luck.

After my research I assumed the welds were the type made from aluminum sticks that melt around 700 degrees. ..

[OPUS FERRO]

crazyhorse13

Don't post - 'out of focus pics' . . . for advice . . .
Don't bite the hand - that feeds your brain . . .

Your naïveté has created a problem you cannot fix -
[even for a skilled hand] . . .

I would type less - and listen/read more . . .

hth


Opus



.

[Country Metals]

What you have is a decent aluminum weld, it its clouded in crap. That can be from a number of things like really bad torch angle, bad gas shielding, not burning off anodizing like what was said earlier is most likely the cause of the haze. It's not a bad weld, but not a good weld either.

It most likely wont fail as long as it is only 1 weld on the top. If its structural, I would get it rewelded which would need an experienced tig welder. Mig can be used but not preferred as a patch weld.

The best way to test to see how bad the weld is, is to use a sander, not grinder, and just take a small bit out of the weld to see if there is a lot of porosity (swiss cheese) in the weld. Dont go too deep as that would reduce the current strength. If it has porosity in an 1/8" that's pretty bad.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[robertstevenbk]

it looks like TIG weld on anodized pipe maybe