Soldering aluminium?

[Johansson]

Today I found a note from a company that sells a soldering rod for aluminium, it´s named "Alutite" and can be used with an ordinary propane burner. The melting point of Alutite is 380C and the finished weld should not be heated more than 250C. Alutite can be formed just like aluminium and is easy to drill and so on.

Hardness: Rockwell B 55-62
Expansion: 4-9%
Breaking point: More than 78N/mm2

If the valve assembly is made with care and has the fuel nozzles pointing at the valves for cooling, can this solder be used? It´s pretty cheap so it would be nice not having to buy a TIG for such small projects...

//Anders

[Al Belli]

Hi Anders,

Here is a link for aluminum brazing, which will stand up better at higher temperatures.

Al Belli

http://www.omnibraze.com/brazing_kits.html

[Mike Everman]

I have aluminum assemblies dip brazed a lot. They put low temp aluminum foil between the parts and dip it in molten salt.

We made the "flying v" on this robot this way. It's 2.5" thick and unbelievably stiff, and only weighs 11 lb.

[Johansson]

Al Belli: The Probraze kit seems nice with 577-582 C melting point, I guess a bit practicing is needed with this since aluminum melts at 658 C. The great thing with the Alutite is that it can be melted with a propane torch since I haven´t access to a gas welding rig. (Unless it will melt inside the pulsejet, then it´s far from great...)

Mike: Nice! Is this something you can do more or less on your kitchen table, or do you need special tools to do it?

Does anyone know how hot a reed valve assembly gets while running?

//Anders