Low temperature Aluminium welding

Geoff Hastings · Post by **Geoff Hastings** » Tue May 02, 2017 2:57 pm

I'm currently restoring a 1965 CA77 and not unusual for a bike of this age it had a few stripped threads. Both mirror/lever mounts were not only stripped but but had been well butchered so a helicoil was out of the question. I bought a product called Lumiweld, a low temperature Aluminium welding product. Strictly speaking it is more brazing than welding but that does mean you can use propane blow lamp instead of oxy acetylene. The process was very simple, I simply drilled the hole even bigger to expose good clean aluminium, then the item is heated with the torch until the Lumiweld will melt when rubbed against the item and not held in the flame. It's just like soldering except the filler rod is much harder than the original aluminium, I then drilled and tapped the new threads and had a perfect repair. So pleased with the ease of using this product I tried to be a bit more ambitious and repair a snapped off and missing lug on the right hand casing. Again, I cleaned the area and sat the case on a piece sheet ally, as the case come up to temperature I fed the rod in to start to build a lug. I'd remove the heat and let it set before reheating and building more material. Eventually I had enough there to be able grind the new lug to something like the original shape.

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Tue Aug 15, 2017 4:50 pm

Sounds amazing Geoff. Thanks for the heads-up!

Geoff Hastings · Post by **Geoff Hastings** » Tue Aug 15, 2017 5:01 pm

e3steve wrote:Sounds amazing Geoff. Thanks for the heads-up!

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Wed Aug 16, 2017 3:50 am

Geoff

It's great stuff and comes under several brand names. When you say "make a cover" do you mean you cast it with lumiweld? It's pretty expensive stuff for such a big piece.

I have used it for several repairs on my '61 project.

G

Geoff Hastings · Post by **Geoff Hastings** » Wed Aug 16, 2017 5:08 am

G-Man wrote:Geoff

It's great stuff and comes under several brand names. When you say "make a cover" do you mean you cast it with lumiweld? It's pretty expensive stuff for such a big piece.

I have used it for several repairs on my '61 project.

G

I made it from 3mm sheet aluminium, did the usual cardboard template then welded it together. It took two attempts to get the shape right but the aluminium is easy to beat and stretch to get the double contours. I must then admit to using two pack filler to hide the hammer marks and other blemishes. The materials cost about £4 plus the Lumiweld rods so about £6 in total. I've since repaired a broken casing on my cousins Kawasaki, a very useful product.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Fri Aug 18, 2017 3:58 am

Excellent work!

G

Geoff Hastings wrote:
G-Man wrote:Geoff

It's great stuff and comes under several brand names. When you say "make a cover" do you mean you cast it with lumiweld? It's pretty expensive stuff for such a big piece.

I have used it for several repairs on my '61 project.

G
I made it from 3mm sheet aluminium, did the usual cardboard template then welded it together. It took two attempts to get the shape right but the aluminium is easy to beat and stretch to get the double contours. I must then admit to using two pack filler to hide the hammer marks and other blemishes. The materials cost about £4 plus the Lumiweld rods so about £6 in total. I've since repaired a broken casing on my cousins Kawasaki, a very useful product.