Durafix weld rods...anyone used them?

**ArJay** · 18-04-2007, 01:58 PM

Hey folks.

Yer as the title says, anyone used Durafix fluxless aluminium welding rods? Looks pretty schnazzy in the demo but do they actually work?

http://durafix.com/index.html

http://www.durafix.com.au/index.php?...=technical.htm

Rory

**Sam_Q** · 18-04-2007, 11:08 PM

I have a DHC 2000 ozy welded thats meant to be able to weld aluminium with normal rods, yet to give it a go though

**mrshin** · 18-04-2007, 11:56 PM

Very briefly had a go, wasn't hugely impressed myself, although I've been told they can be alright.

**ArJay** · 19-04-2007, 09:56 AM

Cheers guys...

Hmm...I'm guessing that under extreme temps this stuff would return to a liquid state?

Hey Sam I checked out that DHC 2000 torch...looks awesome. Have you used it much? Any good?

R

**celicapain** · 19-04-2007, 11:28 AM

Ive used em, and its ok for thin aluminium(you can weld a coke can) but i couldnt get decent penetration with em.i only used them once so you could probally get a better result than i got if you had some practice. that said i do a lot of arc/oxy/mig work and i found them hard to use. there also pretty expensive.

**Sam_Q** · 19-04-2007, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by ArJay

Cheers guys...

Hmm...I'm guessing that under extreme temps this stuff would return to a liquid state?

Hey Sam I checked out that DHC 2000 torch...looks awesome. Have you used it much? Any good?

R

can be quite good for steel, but I havent tried it on aluminium yet. Its very hard to get a neat looking weld. Worth $650 or something stupid like that and if it doesnt weld aluminium for me its going back whatever he says.

**Ben Wilson** · 19-04-2007, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by celicapain

i couldnt get decent penetration with em

Aren't they a brazing/soldering rod? There's no way you'd be able to get any penetration unless you ground a weld channel before hand...

**ArJay** · 19-04-2007, 06:33 PM

Thanks Sam.

Do you think it'd be a worthy/cheaper alternative to a MIG/TIG? Easyish to use?

Rory

**Ben Wilson** · 19-04-2007, 07:20 PM

There are a lot of times when brazing/soldering is better than welding, the opposite is also true. I wouldn't want to try using these rods for say cooler piping, but they could be a good thing for repairing castings.

**Bored?** · 20-04-2007, 11:35 AM

Yeah, as has been stated these are really just a solder that will work with aluminium. That's a useful thing to have in some cases, but to call it welding is a bit misleading.

Occasionally you find that there is a need to solder aluminium for electrical stuff (eg. aluminium battery tabs) , and it's practically impossible without having the correct solder. OTOH some of the stuff you see people do with it can be a little disturbing.

By the way, durafix is just one brand, and like most people pushing snake oil, they claim it's a unique product. In fact, it's a really common and readily available product - just google it.