I just tried a few minutes ago soldering aluminum with tinning flux.
The tinning flux didn't seem to give any advantage over regular flux.
I used a .09 thick sheet of 6061. First I tried a brass brush to clean
the aluminum but the brush was too soft to abrade away the oxide
coating. So I used a piece of coarse sandpaper to sand through the
flux. This is not ideal as it leaves particles behind but I'm down to
my last clean SS brush and didn't want to contaminate it. After
cleaning I tried three different solders, tin/antimony,
tin/silver/bismuth, and 50/50 tin lead. After heating the aluminum I
applied the solders and used a flat bladed screwdriver to abrade the
already abraded surface and spread the solder around. The tin/antimony
solder just would not wet the aluminum. The other two solders wet the
aluminum just fine. I still like the mainly zinc solder that's made
for aluminum best for joining two aluminum parts but if I needed to
attach a wire to aluminum or needed to keep things at a lower
temperature I would use the tin/silver/bismuth solder.
Eric

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 08:18:18 -0700, etpm wrote:

I just tried a few minutes ago soldering aluminum with tinning flux. The
tinning flux didn't seem to give any advantage over regular flux. I used
a .09 thick sheet of 6061. First I tried a brass brush to clean the
aluminum but the brush was too soft to abrade away the oxide coating. So
I used a piece of coarse sandpaper to sand through the flux. This is not
ideal as it leaves particles behind but I'm down to my last clean SS
brush and didn't want to contaminate it. After cleaning I tried three
different solders, tin/antimony, tin/silver/bismuth, and 50/50 tin lead.
After heating the aluminum I applied the solders and used a flat bladed
screwdriver to abrade the already abraded surface and spread the solder
around. The tin/antimony solder just would not wet the aluminum. The
other two solders wet the aluminum just fine. I still like the mainly
zinc solder that's made for aluminum best for joining two aluminum parts
but if I needed to attach a wire to aluminum or needed to keep things at
a lower temperature I would use the tin/silver/bismuth solder. Eric

Useful info. Thanks Eric!

--Winston

On 2 Jul 2012 06:21:36 GMT, Winston wrote:

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 08:18:18 -0700, etpm wrote:

I just tried a few minutes ago soldering aluminum with tinning flux. The
tinning flux didn't seem to give any advantage over regular flux. I used
a .09 thick sheet of 6061. First I tried a brass brush to clean the
aluminum but the brush was too soft to abrade away the oxide coating. So
I used a piece of coarse sandpaper to sand through the flux. This is not
ideal as it leaves particles behind but I'm down to my last clean SS
brush and didn't want to contaminate it. After cleaning I tried three
different solders, tin/antimony, tin/silver/bismuth, and 50/50 tin lead.
After heating the aluminum I applied the solders and used a flat bladed
screwdriver to abrade the already abraded surface and spread the solder
around. The tin/antimony solder just would not wet the aluminum. The
other two solders wet the aluminum just fine. I still like the mainly
zinc solder that's made for aluminum best for joining two aluminum parts
but if I needed to attach a wire to aluminum or needed to keep things at
a lower temperature I would use the tin/silver/bismuth solder. Eric

Useful info. Thanks Eric!

--Winston
You're Welcome

On Jul 1, 11:18*am, wrote:
I just tried a few minutes ago soldering aluminum with tinning flux.
The tinning flux didn't seem to give any advantage over regular flux.
I used a .09 thick sheet of 6061. First I tried a brass brush to clean
the aluminum but the brush was too soft to abrade away the oxide
coating. So I used a piece of coarse sandpaper to sand through the
flux. This is not ideal as it leaves particles behind but I'm down to
my last clean SS brush and didn't want to contaminate it. After
cleaning I tried three different solders, tin/antimony,
tin/silver/bismuth, and 50/50 tin lead. After heating the aluminum I
applied the solders and used a flat bladed screwdriver to abrade the
already abraded surface and spread the solder around. The tin/antimony
solder just would not wet the aluminum. The other two solders wet the
aluminum just fine. I still like the mainly zinc solder that's made
for aluminum best for joining two aluminum parts but if I needed to
attach a wire to aluminum or needed to keep things at a lower
temperature I would use the tin/silver/bismuth solder.
Eric

That's great, Thanks for the report. What is the tinning flux and
regular flux?
(Rosin, Activated Rosin?) I should be getting my order from McM-C
today, and I'll post any success.. (or failure.)

It'd be nice to just use some 'regular' solder.

George H.

On Mon, 2 Jul 2012 07:26:17 -0700 (PDT), George Herold
wrote:

On Jul 1, 11:18*am, wrote:
I just tried a few minutes ago soldering aluminum with tinning flux.
The tinning flux didn't seem to give any advantage over regular flux.
I used a .09 thick sheet of 6061. First I tried a brass brush to clean
the aluminum but the brush was too soft to abrade away the oxide
coating. So I used a piece of coarse sandpaper to sand through the
flux. This is not ideal as it leaves particles behind but I'm down to
my last clean SS brush and didn't want to contaminate it. After
cleaning I tried three different solders, tin/antimony,
tin/silver/bismuth, and 50/50 tin lead. After heating the aluminum I
applied the solders and used a flat bladed screwdriver to abrade the
already abraded surface and spread the solder around. The tin/antimony
solder just would not wet the aluminum. The other two solders wet the
aluminum just fine. I still like the mainly zinc solder that's made
for aluminum best for joining two aluminum parts but if I needed to
attach a wire to aluminum or needed to keep things at a lower
temperature I would use the tin/silver/bismuth solder.
Eric

That's great, Thanks for the report. What is the tinning flux and
regular flux?
(Rosin, Activated Rosin?) I should be getting my order from McM-C
today, and I'll post any success.. (or failure.)

It'd be nice to just use some 'regular' solder.

George H.
The tinning flux and regular flux are the type used for soldering
copper pipe. The stuff with zinc chloride in it. Not the new water
based stuff. The tinning flux I bought is sold in a kit with a little
acid brush ans a small roll of tin/silver/bismuth solder.
Eric