Welding Tips and Tricks

This is a picture of a gas tank for a 1932 OMC 4hp outboard motor. I read that Tig type process's were just being discoverd in the early 30's and that Heliarc was not invented until the early 40's. Does anyone know what kind of welding would have been used for this. The tank is aluminum.
Thanks, Peter.

Well Mister, based on it's appearance.....I would venture the guess that it is a very cold MIG weld.

Torch welding.

torch welding was used during WWII to weld
aluminum.
craig

RamboBaby wrote:Well Mister, based on it's appearance.....I would venture the guess that it is a very cold MIG weld.

Mig wasn't invented til the early 40s so it must be OA. Lots of skill there. Instead of everybody wanting to learn tig to do aluminum....nobody would want to do it with OA.

It must be gas. According to the Lincoln "Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding" neither MIg or Tig had been invented at that time. I wonder how they managed to do it?

I O/A weld aluminum sheet .050 and .062" making motorcycle tanks and fairings.
It is faster and easier to get complete penetration. The weld can be planished
without cracking, zero leaks.

How do get shielding? Do you use a carburizing flame?

Use flux and a slightly carburzing flame. Glasses made for aluminum welding reduce
flare from flux.

Is the travel speed faster with a torch?

Seems faster to me.

robtg wrote:Use flux and a slightly carburzing flame. Glasses made for aluminum welding reduce
flare from flux.

I've never tried this but looked into it years ago you need cobalt lenses to see it puddle. I found this snipit on the Practical Machinist site.
The other very effective way to solve that problem is to dust the joint that's to be welded with acetylene 'smoke'. The whole area is coated in black dust and then the welding procedure is commenced. As soon as the aluminum becomes molten and ready for the filler rod, the 'black' skin pulls apart and instantly lets the welder know the base metal has become molten.

Acetylene smoking and burning it off is to anneal aluminum for shaping it easier. It has nothing to do with welding it.
When the flux melts the metal is very close to melting temp.

I think learning to torch weld aluminum helped with my TIG welding of all metals more than anything else.

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GreinTime wrote:I think learning to torch weld aluminum helped with my TIG welding of all metals more than anything else.

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Agree, you really learn to read what the base metal is doing.

robtg wrote:I O/A weld aluminum sheet .050 and .062" making motorcycle tanks and fairings.
It is faster and easier to get complete penetration. The weld can be planished
without cracking, zero leaks.

Two questions please; what brand of flux do you use and what do you recommend for filler on joints where you planish the weld ?

When welding 3003 h14 I use 1100 filler rod. I use flux from TM tecnologies ---http://www.tinmantech.com/
I like to use 3/64 1100 mig wire to help keep the bead flatter.

We used Alladin ?spelling? flux at school.

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robtg wrote:When welding 3003 h14 I use 1100 filler rod. I use flux from TM tecnologies ---http://www.tinmantech.com/
I like to use 3/64 1100 mig wire to help keep the bead flatter.

"GreinTime"] We used Alladin ?spelling? flux at school.

Many thanks.