The rod is called either alumaloy or alumiweld. They make versions for
steel and cast. I beleive the alumaloy will join aluminum to steel but I
am not positive. Do a search on google for alumaloy or alumiweld and
you can read all about them. One note is that most outlets for these
products are franchised, I think the product was turned over to some
direct marketers at some point and they are marketing it through a
million individuals so check the pricing. I have found different places
selling it for wildly different prices. Some places you can get almost
twice as much for the same price.

Mark

David Billington wrote:
From other threads regarding the joining of aluminium with these
special rods you can buy, they are apparently very high in zinc. It
would be interesting to see if you could join aluminium to steel or
galvanised steel with them.

Checkmate wrote:

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 20:36:46 GMT, Don Bruder put forth the notion that...

In article ,
(Ted Shoemaker) wrote:

Hello,

I have some basic questions about soldering.
If I want to make a small art project with common metals (steel,
copper, aluminum, etc.), what do I need to know about
soldering?

About 25 years ago, I learned a very few basics about soldering
electronics.
One was that you use different solders for plumbing, electronics, and
jewelry. But which kind do you use for art? (Also, it's likely the
technology and materials have changed since then.)

Please respond to the newsgroup and not to my email.

Thank you very much,

Ted Shoemaker

Well, first thing is that you don't solder steel or aluminum. Period.
You can gob on wads of solder and stick steel or aluminum pieces
together the way you'd stick, for instance, chunks of wood together
using a handful of clay - They'll be joined, yes, but don't count on
*ANYTHING* resembling structural strength, and you'll never get
anything even remotely like a proper solder joint out of the attempt.
The metals just aren't compatible (The solder simply won't "wet"
them, so it can't "grab on" the way you're probaby used to from
electronics work) so it's one of those "ain't gonna happen" things.

Until relatively recently, when lead-bearing solder was either
outright banned, or severely restricted for use in potable water
plumbing work, the main difference between the solders used for
plumbing and electronics work has been the flux - Plumbing uses acid
flux, electronics uses rosin. This is due to the differing ways that
plumbing and electronics tolerate (or fail to tolerate...) the
inevitable corrosion from acid left behind by anything other than an
*ABSOLUTELY PERFECT* cleanup job. Electronic gear doesn't like acid
traces on the board, and generally dies in fairly short order if acid
flux is used. This is partly due to the comparatively thin layers of
metal being worked with, and partly due to electrolytic action that
starts happening when the device is powered up. Plumbing, on the
other hand, is heavier gauge metal, usually homogenous (only joints
are copper-copper, with no possibility of copper-iron, copper-zinc,
or similarly heterogenous joints) and not subject to carrying
current, so it's much more forgiving.

Jewelry is *USUALLY* done with silver solder, which, as the name
implies, usually means that the solder has at least some silver
content to it. It's a harder solder (in terms of the comparative
placements each would have on the Moh's hardness scale), and often,
if not usually, requires a higher heat to work with than tin/lead
soldering; You can solder using tin/lead solder with, depending on
the exact alloy, anything from a kitchen match to a propane torch,
while silver solder often requires a MAPP gas torch to get into the
heat range needed to make it flow properly, and for the *REALLY* hard
silver-solder alloys, might even require a small oxy-acetylene rig.

As far as "art" soldering... shrug Never encountered the concept,
but at a guess, I'd say that if it involves steel, it's probably
actually brazing (which is BASICALLY soldering with brass or bronze
solder, rather than tin/lead or tin/silver), and if it involves
aluminum, it's more likely TIG welding.


There's a rod for aluminum to aluminum now that works pretty well, but
it won't stick it to any other metal. It's more like brazing than
soldering, but you can do it with propane or MAPP gas.