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In this video I want to show you a particular technique for soldering aluminum of all things
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Aluminum is traditionally a hard thing to join not that easy to weld
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But you can't there is a low temperature process that does quite a good job
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And it even works on very thin aluminum too. So I've got this pop can I put a hole on the bottom
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I'm going to solder that shot very particular kind of rod This is the stuff here. It's meant for soldering
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aluminum and zinc don't think you have much call for soldering zinc, but aluminum yes and
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It's a soldering process Which is different than a welding process soldering involves melting a material the solder in this case. It's a rod
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And heating the parent metal which in this case is the can So that the pores in the metal open up and this this liquid solder can kind of invade the pores and
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Grab the metal right on a poor level For that to happen the solder has to melt at a lower temperature than in this case the aluminum
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Now I'm going to give you a little demonstration of how this stuff works, but before I do I need to tell you about the product
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It comes in this container here. It's called blue demon for some reason. I don't
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What demons have to do with soldering and metal work? I really have no idea, but but there's the stuff the rods that are used with a torch
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The main thing to understand is that the aluminum you're soldering and the rods need to be completely clean
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There the oxidization for aluminum. It's kind of invisible. It's clear as long as it doesn't get too thick
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So you need to be freshly cleaned both the material and the rod that's being used
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And then all that remains is to use the correct amount of heat
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And you should get great results, so I'm using a map gas torch here the propane torch works just as well
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pretty much the same Not too hot of a flame. This is particularly thin stuff
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Just a little bit thicker than aluminum foil really so the danger is that I might burn through. I hope I don't I don't do that but
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The metal does need to be hot enough to actually melt the rod
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Yeah, you'll never have to work with material this thin, but the fact that we can succeed
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with something this thin Just shows how easy it is with thicker stuff, so here's a can I did before it's cool
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And you can see it's quite surprising especially considering how thin it is
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You know pop cans are just a little bit heavier than aluminum foil off the roll
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so the fact that we didn't burn through and that it it produced a
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Firm and hard result is a great thing you're not going to use rods like this
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Every day, but it sure does pay off to have a bundle sitting around because you know you break something
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You whip it out you get it fixed and actually the results of this is harder and stronger
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Than the parent aluminum underneath now you're probably not in the habit of soldering aluminum pop cans for fun
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That's why I want to show you an actual application for this stuff More than six months ago. I was
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Using this ladder had a problem. I broke this brace It actually damaged the metal in the ladder as well, so I bought a new brace
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This is the replacement, but I needed a strong hole For this to mount normally this is bolted together like this just like you see over here
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But I've taken it off so you can see it This is the kind of repair that was very easy to do
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with those specialty Soldering sticks it took just a few minutes Cleaned it with a buffing pad
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Heated it put the rod on it. That's what happened. It's a great repair. It's even stronger than it was before and
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You know that package that Small package of rods is already more than paid for itself just by repairing this ladder. It's a great ladder
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I would have had to throw it out if it wasn't if I wasn't able to repair that so that's the kind of things you
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Can do with this product
