I want to join some pieces of square aluminum to build a frame.
Is brazing on Aluminum as strong as welding Aluminum ? If Not, whats the downside ? Is it half as strong ? or just don't do it ?
Or: Should I just stick with square steel tubing and just buy a wire welder ? Can a simple wire welding weld 1/8" aluminum ?
Any help is appreciated Thanks
How much strength do you need? Do you know? Mohr's Circle, for example?
If you know, then you may be able to do join square tubing much more easily by drilling and using bolts.
There is a huge advantage to using bolts instead of welding. When you are finished and you realize it will be in the basement next to your boat forever, because neither fits through the door, you just unbolt it.
The problem with aluminum is the oxide coating that forms pretty much instantaneously when you sand/grind/file it . Welding it takes special equipment that isn't cheap . I have no experience with brazing it . HF and eBay sell flux core wire welders for a couple hundred bucks that will do what you want with steel , wire welding aluminum also takes special equipment .
If you are talking about that low temperature solder stuff, I hear it is not that strong. You really need a TIG machine to make an aluminum weld look good although shielding gas MIG works. I think that unless this is a whole lot of welding, I would hire a guy. By the time you buy a machine and get good with it you could find a truck welder and be done with it.
OTOH they just screw screen cages together and get 170 MPH ratings on them. What kind of "frame" are you building?
I built a bicycle rack for my trailer and a canoe rack for my brother's van using the alloy "brazing" rods and the joints stood up very well. With utility grade aluminum the joint was stronger than the square tubing. With 6061T6 I think it was pretty much a toss-up. A good TIG job would have definitely been neater - and possibly marginally stronger but I don't think a wire-feed joint - unless done by an expert (if even then)- would have been any better for the application's requirements.
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