aluminum welding in pdx? (for snowshoe frame)

[Water]

in portland, wondering if anyone here would have any good recs on perhaps someone who repairs bike frames? or that would be able to weld this well enough. MSR offered 40-50% off MSRP on a new pair if I ship them mine but im thinking if it could be welded for cheaper I will do that-they got plenty of life in them still. thanks much!

 

[KirkW]

That thing get run over by a car or did you drop it a few thousand feet?

[CPOly]

Real cheap alternative might be to bend it back into shape, drill a hole and sink a bolt through it.

[MarkMcJizzy]

I was never anything other than a shit pot weldor, but I spent extensive time in a trade where high quality welds and weldors of critical importance are common. That, and I kept my ears open and have a penchant for learning, so I know of which I speak.

 

It is impossible to weld your broken snowshoe in any kind of meaningful fashion. You may find someone who could stick the metal together. In flat bar such as this, the heat affected zone of a weld will result in a stress risor that will fail in a short period of time.

 

Not to mention that welding aluminum is very difficult in comparison to welding steel

 

Bolt it, or take MSR up on their deal

[max]

Ditto what Mj and others have said.

1. welding Al is (relatively) tough and I doubt you'll find a shop (i.e. a solid welder) that wants to mess around with this kind of (small = cheap) project.

 

2. Al is super susceptible to impurities and the paint (not just on the outside but what's worked into the crack) will fugger it all up.

 

3. Take the discount. Or the bolt option. Or a bolt/splint option.

 

FYI, nobody repairs (welds) even the most expensive AL bike frames...

[Buckaroo]

I wouldn't weld, bolt or rivet.

 

It's possible it's not even a weldable alloy, if it's not welded anywhere originally

 

Most likely it's heat treated also, so welding will bring it to full soft condition in the HAZ and it will break right away.

 

just make a repair strip of similar material and rivet or bolt, or just overlap it where it's at a make a similar joint to the one that's already there.

[MarkMcJizzy]

Yes, that is what I meant: bolt (or rivet) a sister or gusset across the fracture.

 

Aluminum transfers heat so fast away from the electrode, that the weldor has to keep throwing the heat onto the metal. Problem is aluminum doesn't really get red hot, it just melts. So you'll be TIG'ing away, and a huge glob will just melt to nothingness. Now you have to replace 3" of flatbar

 

 

[Water]

well you guys know your shit so thank you for the redirection.

I think I will bend it back to shape and then get a similar strip of metal and splint it across the fracture.

 

thanks again for the tips of saving me the rabbithole of welding--I didn't know if expensive bike frames got repaired and had thought as an aluminum alloy it may be an impossibility but thought i'd give it a whirl among the depth of CC experts.

 

I appreciate it!

 

Atreides how did you guess?

[Nick]

Use small stainless bolts and nylock nuts. Stay away from aluminum pop rivets (too weak). If you get a tight fit with the sister strip of aluminum you could use epoxy as well as bolts. Assuming the alloy is weldable you would use a strip of the same aluminum sistered on for a weld repair; if you are used to welding aluminum it is not hard.

[Water]

thanks for the 2cents

here is how it turned out. I could throw one more rivet down by the crack, I suppose. It seems solid enough, not sure how much flex that rear outside corner gets--if it was a break by the inside forefoot, maybe a bolt would have been better. I spose if the rivets break out i can replace them with bolts.

 

[OlympicMtnBoy]

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things.

 

You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

[OlympicMtnBoy]

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things.

 

You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

[Water]

That thing get run over by a car or did you drop it a few thousand feet?

 

...fell off the face of mount thor in nunavut. or was sitting in a pile when i was moved the car after a drive-way oil change. Personally I'm a lot happier with the mount thor story.