Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello everybody. I was asking a bunch of questions awhile back, so I figured I should contribute something. So here is my new toolbox.

Of course it's all aluminum, except for the slides which are stainless. I designed it around the plastic storage boxes, because I use those for a bunch of small parts.

This is my first "real" welding project. I've been in school for welding the last couple months, and am just trying to get as much out of it as possible. I liked how it turned out. And of course, it turns out that the actual welding was the easy part. I said to myself, "how hard can it be to make a box?" It turned out to be a bigger project than I thought it would be.

One issue was that the metal was old scrap that was donated to the school, so just cleaning the metal and getting a good finish on it was a challenge. (I didn't finish sanding the lid, so it doesn't match the rest of it....I'll fix that someday.) I went around pestering the people at the local welding supply store, trying to find something to polish the metal. In the end I went to menards and got some pads for an angle grinder that resemble scotch brite, but are some other brand. And then I went over it with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Probably would have been better to do 400 grit to completely remove the swirls, followed by 1000 grit. But I already had the 600 grit, and the project was starting to get expensive.

That's awesome. Great post



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That is taking it to school.
Nice job, and a real working keep sake.

That looks great nice job!

That turned out great

Great?

Fredygump, you got a compliment from the BOSS!

Good on ya!

Steve S

great looking tool box.
interesting project.
did you shear or saw cut the aluminum?
craig

Very nice! That looks great.

ldb

motox wrote:great looking tool box.
interesting project.
did you shear or saw cut the aluminum?
craig

I sheared it.

I was fortunate that I started my co-op/internship at a large sheetmetal shop at the same time that I started the project--they let me use their big shear. That was a big help.

Fredygump,

I have to add (from painful experience) that aluminum and your SS slides will not get along very well. You'll be looking at electrolysis problems eventually, and they can be bad over time. I'm sure Braehill can back me up on this.

I'd suggest painting the mating side of the stainless slides, and use an isolating compound (like No-Ox-Ide "A" or alumilastic) where your fasteners connect the two materials.

If it's practical, the best solution for attaching SS slides to aluminum walls is that 3-M two-side tape.

As impressed as I am by the project, I'm proud for you that Jody commented on it!

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Fredygump,

I have to add (from painful experience) that aluminum and your SS slides will not get along very well. You'll be looking at electrolysis problems eventually, and they can be bad over time. I'm sure Braehill can back me up on this.

I'd suggest painting the mating side of the stainless slides, and use an isolating compound (like No-Ox-Ide "A" or alumilastic) where your fasteners connect the two materials.

If it's practical, the best solution for attaching SS slides to aluminum walls is that 3-M two-side tape.

As impressed as I am by the project, I'm proud for you that Jody commented on it!

Steve S

yeah, it's cool. Jodi is the man when it comes to welding aluminum...seems like he's got quite a few videos on the subject.


I've never heard of this corrosion issue before, so thanks for the heads up. Doesn't it require moisture? I imagine the climate up north where I'm at will make it less of an issue? I'll keep an eye on it.

I didn't use aluminum for the slides, because stuff doesn't slide very well on it and because the oxidation will rub off onto the boxes. But I could easily replace the stainless with polycarbonate, which would eliminate all those issues.

Galvanic corrosion between ali and stainless can be a serious issue, but indeed usually needs some form of moisture to set it off and start the electroytic reaction. Once it does start it's a very destructive process and will continue to eat away at the less 'noble' material in the joint until it's all consumed or until it's neutralised.

It's not too hard to prevent though! A shipyard or boat builder supply store will have jointing compounds that prevent this process like Duralac (barium chromate in a paint like consistency) or Tef-gel:

http://www.tefgel.com/contain.php?param=tefgel_infor

This is a common issue on ships where ali and (stainless-)steel parts are used in a (salt)water environment and need to be protected.

For joints that are not highly stressed like panels another easy solution is to use insulating material (eg. nylon) as a buffer between the dis-similare metals. Don't forget to add nylon washers under bolt heads and such too.

The whole idea behind this is to break the electrical connection so the electrolytic cell that starts the reaction can't form.

For joints that are taken apart regularly (and where it's allowed) a nice coat of a thick grease/wax between the materials works too. just needs to be cleaned and re-applied with some regularity.

Bye, Arno.

We always used the No-Ox grease that Steve mentioned in the shop because it was available and easy. The only problem that I've found with it is that it collects dirt and the truck wash people would pressure wash it off. I guess we were paying them to get it clean.

I use the teflon washers under bolts if they don't require a certain torgue. I had a engine test stand in the shop that was built almost identical to the engine compartment on the trailers and it didn't seem to corrode in the dry atmosphere like they did on the trailers being exposed to the elements. They deffinitely didn't like each other on the thin covers over the driveshafts, the holes would erode away around the bolts. Still better than rusty bolts most of the time in my opinion.

Len

Thanks guys. Yeah, I'm learning something new here.

One thing that may not be easy to spot in the picture is that I used aluminum pop-rivots...it really seemed like a good idea. But it sounds like I need to pull those out. I can easily use galvanzied fasteners--I think I even have some cap head sheet metal screws in my toolbox.

When I do that, it will be easy enough to add something to isolate the slides at the same time. I'll probably use the two sided tape and a sheet metal screw. I should be able to use the same holes even, because I drilled a 1/8" for the rivots.

The steel will likely have the same problem. You need to have a non conductive barrier in between.

I am looking to rivet stainless hinges to aluminum. I understand the nylon or other material barriers behind the hinge but which of the suggested materials should i apply in the rivet holes and on the rivets? I found aluminum piano hinges, would these hold up as good as stainless so I don't have to worry about the different metals?

Blaze,
I still think that you'd be better off with the SS piano hinge than with Aluminum, they don't hold up all that well. You can buy a anti-corrosion compound at most auto parts stores that's made for wiring that works fairly well and is not all that expensive. It's 3 letters but I can't remember exactly, might be YKK. I use stainless panhead screws on piano hinge.

Len

Braehill, Thank you for the info and your time! I'll stick with stainless. Do you use the screws so your able to change the hinge in the future vs using rivets?

Very nice looking project. Way to go.


Cheers
Eldon

Blaze,
I use the screws so that they can be tightened later as the holes in the Aluminum wear in the future. Rivets will work where there is not a lot of vibration or something that doesn't get opened and closed often.

Len

10-4! Thanks Len!

I use NOALOX by Ideal as I have for 40 years. I've never had corrosion in aluminum wiring coated with it.