We are often asked to weld aluminium parts or repair alloy wheels. To be successful welding aluminium, the parent metal has to be scrupulously clean.
This means that the wheel is thoroughly cleaned to remove any dirt, corrosion, paint or powder coating.
Any contaminants present will either burn and contaminate the weld or find their way into the molten aluminium.
Both will result in a weakened repair. When welding you should preheat the wheel, use a steady and generous flow of inert gas (we use pure Argon), use clean filler rods and clean equipment. While welding, you need to be very confident that you have a good quality, full penetration weld. This means that molten aluminium has flowed through the entire thickness of the join. Again, any part of the join containing impurities or “dry” spots will result in a poor quality join. Try not to get any “sinks” in the weld too, otherwise you’ll be taking off too much of the parent material when you clean up the weld.
