Welding alu frame

Caroline_ie

Hi all.

Do you know anyone in Ireland who can weld aluminium for a frame repair?

Lumen

I've seen a re-welded alu frame, and it wasn't pretty.

If this is your chainstay, I wonder whether it could be wrapped or sleeved somehow, in the same way as carbon fibre.

Glue FTW.

Dermot Illogical

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Hi all.

Do you know anyone in Ireland who can weld aluminium for a frame repair?

I'm planning on finding out in the next week or two. Will let you know if I learn anything useful.

cdaly_

http://www.motoengineering.com/. Haven't used them, just got the link from google.

I used somebody up around Kilshane Cross to repair a cracked alu sump some years ago. Can't remember who. Alu welding isn't hard but you need the right kit.

Mycroft H

cdaly_ wrote: »

I used somebody up around Kilshane Cross to repair a cracked alu sump some years ago. Can't remember who. Alu welding isn't hard but you need the right kit.

Not too sure if I'd still trust it. And a sump isn't exactly load bearing

RidleyRider

I've heard and read here that welding alu isn't a good idea and when done, as Lumen said, isn't the prettiest thing in the world. For the sake of peace of mind and probably safety your best bet would be to invest in a new frame.

Alu frames are relatively cheap at this time cause of all the sales and that, you might pick up a bargain.

Caroline_ie

RidleyRider wrote: »

Alu frames are relatively cheap at this time cause of all the sales and that, you might pick up a bargain.

Unfortunately, nothing is cheap when you re broke.

doozerie

Lumen wrote: »

If this is your chainstay, I wonder whether it could be wrapped or sleeved somehow, in the same way as carbon fibre.

Many years back, a few weeks after I bought my first MTB someone swung from the front of the frame to use the entire bike as a lever to break the U-lock securing it to a solid railing. The U-lock held, but the chainstay it was placed around was bent badly. As far as I can recall it was an aluminium frame. A frame builder fixed it by putting a sleeve around the stay (I think he straightened the stay as much as possible first, but maybe he actually cut a piece out, I can't remember) and welded the sleeve in place. I used the bike off-road without problem for the next year or two.

That frame builder is no longer there I believe (he was in Bray at the time), but based on that experiences I would expect a damaged aluminium chainstay to be fixable. Good luck with it.

Holyboy

For what it's worth....I don't believe it's a good idea, aluminium frames are heat treated after they have been welded in the factory, any heat great enough to melt the frame for a weld will anneal the aluminium which will leave it very soft indeed.

DirkVoodoo

Holyboy wrote: »

For what it's worth....I don't believe it's a good idea, aluminium frames are heat treated after they have been welded in the factory, any heat great enough to melt the frame for a weld will anneal the aluminium which will leave it very soft indeed.

According to the material sheets for T6 alloy, TIG/MIG welding drops it back down to the untreated state, which is why the frames would be heat treated again after welding, I don't know what is meant by soft, but yes it would be more likely to crack.

There is a site here on welding an aluminium bike frame:

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welding-aluminum-bike-frame.html

I don't know what the going rate is for a metal fabricator, but it may be a pricey one-off job depending on how much work is needed.