Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm making a motorcycle gas tank out of 3003 aluminum. The plan is to give it a brushed finish and then clear anodize it. What filler rod should I use so that the anodizing matches the 3003?

5356 anodizes well.

cj737 wrote:5356 anodizes well.

Great, thanks. And that will match with the 3003 when anodized?

Nope. They're different alloys. But, a "clear" anodizing will change the nature of the material somewhat anyway. They will be close, and depending upon whether you're stitching panels together, or welding a tunnel/baseplate to a shell, the slight discoloration will not be noticeable.

Are you grinding the welds down? If so, that blending also helps with the discoloration differences. If you intend to leave the welds, then any difference only highlights the craftsmanship. (Moral of the story is: Be proud of your work and don't sweat the small stuff )

A lot of M/C tank shapers use a strip of the parent metal for filler if they are going to polish.
I have never seen a M/C tank anodized.

cj737 wrote:Nope. They're different alloys. But, a "clear" anodizing will change the nature of the material somewhat anyway. They will be close, and depending upon whether you're stitching panels together, or welding a tunnel/baseplate to a shell, the slight discoloration will not be noticeable.

Are you grinding the welds down? If so, that blending also helps with the discoloration differences. If you intend to leave the welds, then any difference only highlights the craftsmanship. (Moral of the story is: Be proud of your work and don't sweat the small stuff )

Sounds good. I'm not worried about them mismatching a bit, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have a bright seam and sepia panels or something of the like. I'll be blending the welds in, yes, and the whole reason I'm clear anodizing is to show the work anyhow

robtg wrote:A lot of M/C tank shapers use a strip of the parent metal for filler if they are going to polish.
I have never seen a M/C tank anodized.

I've heard of this. Is there an easy way to cut strips that are that thin? I'm using .063" sheet. I've got an air shear but the strips that it produces are like 1/4" wide.

This might help you in selecting.

https://www.hobartbrothers.com/download ... i_1lOo.pdf

If you can find someone with a 48" manual shear ( Tennsmith, Jet, etc ) they could cut you 1/16" strips from your material.

Check out the Alcotec website and search for the filler selection chart.

http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/support/Al ... -Chart.cfm


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