Or-- I think it safe to say the horse is quite dead by now.

Can we get back to the topic?

Dewey

From the limited experience I've had using DC on Al. I would have to support Minnesota Dave. I've personally experimented on Al. castings and found DCEN works surprisingly well. The weld although dirty does clean up easily and full penetration is attained. In my case I used Argon only as that's all ...

Tek - How thick is thick? 1/4"? 1/2"? A full inch? You could easily use 200A on 1/4" Al. but the diameter of the hole is a big factor too. An inch hole in 1/4" plate would take less amps initially. This is where the progressive foot pedal shows its worth. If you're just looking f...

Joe - I'm by no means an expert on the subject but my gut says DCEN TIG on such thin material is going to be a serious challenge unless you have a lot of experience. It's all about the shape of the puddle. DCEN kind of goes straight thru whereas AC is triangular which allows some base metal to stay ...

By all means, resurrect. All info is welcome. I have no experience using helium, mainly because I never needed to because the only TIG welding I did was on AL. But now I'm in a new place. This puzzle has me really thinking and one thing is for sure - I'm not giving up! After a lot of input and my ow...

AKweldshop - I have a piece of broken transfer case that I've been experimenting with. I used DCEN and Argon with the dial turned up to the max. 204 amps. In spite of being so dirty it welded pretty well, just drawing a bead. Full penetration and I went fast enough so as not to have it all drop out ...

southpaw - I have a Lincoln Precision Tig 185, square wave , micro start. Not the latest & greatest but sure not Harbor Freight either.

3D scanning is good advice. Weather a new part is made or not, it would be good to have that digital info readily available.

Thanks -

Super, super rare sums it up pretty well.

nobodybrian - I have some of that exact same rod and have been contemplating trying it for some time now, although many poo-poo the idea. The cracks are all internal so color matching is not an issue. I'm just nervous about heating so much of the casting as new cracks appear in entirely different ar...

Thanks for your honesty. I'm just looking for a ray of hope that it can be salvaged, and no, JB weld isn't going to cut it.

Not in my neck of the woods.

Thanks ron - You didn't say if it was DCEN, but I assume it is. I'm quite sure the pipe you were welding is a lot more forgiving than this old casting. I've been playing around with an old dirty broken half of a transfer case using DCEN, pointed electrode, and Argon. 180+ amps and getting full penet...

Well, I never gave that a thought but I'll certainly try it. Easy enough temperature wise.

Thanks

MinnestotaDave No one seems to know the exact composition of the alloy. There's one person, possibly the most informed in both the Douglas motorcycle and what and how they were made 80 years ago, who insists they were cast from floor sweepings. Douglas also made aircraft but not the large ones we as...

I realize this thread started quite some time ago but it's very relevant to a situation I have. It's a old motorcycle case from a historic machine 1932 vintage (Douglas to be exact). It's a copper aluminum alloy, maybe some zinc too, and very brittle. It has the reputation of being unweldable and so...