Soldering Aluminium with an Iron

[@rogerbird6151]

I won an argument I had with my technical school teacher back in 1965 when he told me it was impossible to soft solder aluminum. I did it and took it to him the following week during my school period. He was fascinated and had to apologize. CIG did and I am sure still do make a flux just for this purpose. Thank you Brek for bring back great memories.

[@Deathproof-Zero1]

I always thought that aluminum can't be soldered, unless we use some kind of special solder and flux. But all these years I never knew that that impressive simple trick is all we need. Thanks for sharing, that's really helpful.

[@raymondisaac199]

Which oil?

[@NullStaticVoid]

Awesome! Now I can solder two Mac laptops together.

[@ivanvijesh5648]

haha

[@julespatch]

😂

[@deanchaffer2387]

😂

[@isoguy.]

Brek makes the previously impossible, possible. What an awsome technique; thanks for sharing.

[@BrekMartin]

Thanks, but I can’t take credit for that. I’d have resolutely said you can’t do it at home (without a specialised product) a couple of days ago.

[@isoguy.]

May not of been your idea but it was your video that made me aware of the technique. Thanks again.

[@pabloricardodetarragon2649]

It's known since more than 100 years. It's like welding (not brazing, but true welding) alu with a acetylene/oxygen torch. Simply these old techniques have been forgotten by the layman but not by the pros. It remains that we can thank Brek Martin for his very useful video.

[@SeanBZA]

Old work colleague of mine did a similar thing, but he was rebuilding an exhaust muffler for a small RC car he had, using only some aluminium sheet and a Weller no 9 heat tip, and a lot of solder. He made the parts carefully, that the joins were all even and overlapping, then sanded them down in a small bowl of oil, then simply did the soldering to tin them in the oil bowl near the open window, with a 120mm fan running to blow the smoke outside. After the tinning he cleaned them off with a paper towel, then assembled it and soldered the seams up, and finally cleaned it up and sanded the surface to an even shine, and then coated it with clear lacquer to keep it shiny. RC car worked fine, the fit on the parts before soldering was tight enough that the parts did not have any fatigue failures, the solder just filling the seams to make them air tight.

[@kareno8634]

Most Excellent! Sweet Job, quite a trip explaining. Pulled insulation exposing wire, now ready to Braid and use as Wick. Title update: 'Soldering Aluminium with an *old Iron tip'* Thanks! *Cheers*

[@Elephantine999]

I have heard about this technique but never seen it done. Thanks!

[@berjo77]

Thanks for this! I’m planning on building an antenna out of heavy aluminum wire and will be soldering some of the wire, copper too, but mostly aluminum. I appreciate your work on this!

[@BrekMartin]

It will still be a pain because the aluminium as about as good as copper at drawing heat away! :D I used a pair or 60W irons joined at the tips to solder things like J-Poles.

[@berjo77]

@@BrekMartin I have an old Weller, adjustable to 120W I believe. Should be able to get to it.

[@hinspect]

Thanks for the Video, I saw a different one last week but didn't save it. I have Mineral Oil and a good *HOT* Weller Iron and will clean with Acetone. My Sister and Husband sailed their homemade Schooner to Australia from US a few years back and lived in Tonga!

[@NickMoore]

Very cool! Makes me wonder if the whole process could be done under a shield gas (giving me an excuse to build the tiny lithium casting setup I have always wanted as well).

[@BrekMartin]

If that means you can make a more dense gas sit in some space that oxygen would otherwise occupy, I think it has to.

[@Geoff]

what about sanding the surface with emory paper underneath water? or submerged in mineral oil. Mineral oil is cheap, $3 a bottle, and you only need enough to submerge the part for sanding. When the surface has been scuffed, there should still be a layer of oil protecting it to allow you time to apply the solder. I am an oil painter and oil paints harden by oxidization as well. By comparison, acrylic paints dry when its water content evaporates but oil paint doesnt dry by evaporation, it oxidizes as the oil content reacts with oxygen to harden. Artists have a practice of keeping their paint wet with oil or even picked up dollops of unused paint and submerged it in water, stored in the refrigerator. There is less oxygen in water and keeping the paint submerged and storing it in cooler temperatures allows you to slow down the oxidation process. Seems to be the same principle here.

[@amojak]

water will oxidise it. mineral oil sounds a plan

[@peterjackson2632]

Very nicely demonstrated. The key is to disrupt the aluminium oxide film, which I have not yet been able to do on thicker aluminium

[@BrianLChristopher]

Something we do at work when bolting two aluminum parts together is to apply dielectric grease to a Scotchbrite pad and buff the surfaces. The Scotchbrite bad removes the oxidization while the dielectric grease protects the fresh aluminum from re-oxidizing.

[@danielthrana]

Interesting technique, I will try it myself. Why was oxidation a problem when bolting two aluminum parts together?

[@johnquaffel110]

​@@danielthrana for electrical bolt connections this would be a neccessary treatment to ensure good connector resistance

[@garycotz563]

Super! Gonna be using that for some soda can gadgets! Thanks for going thru the trouble.

[@Scott4271]

WOW!!! What a fantastically useful trick! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@butifarras]

So my cat bit my headphone cable, I went to fix it and to my surprise it was aluminum. This is what I did: instead of burning the emanel (and let the aluminum oxidize) just cut the cable and have a nice blob of solder on the iron, leave the tip of the cable inside the blob for a few seconds so the insulation burns and it gets a nice coat of solder, now you can easily solder both ends toguether. I had never seen aluminum wire in electronics before, nice video!

[@lampshadesneeded]

I was looking for a way to solder to aluminium duct tape for a window magloop antenna. Spot on

[@kenwebb6246]

Thanks for sharing this technique. I'll be building a small 2m yagi antenna and this will come in handy!

[@thealchemist5376]

Great video, now I know how it's done. This will come in very handy for various projects.

[@bernym4047]

Thanks. That could be very useful for connecting batteries, making ornaments from cans etc.

[@carlbuchan5699]

Very helpful mate, I actually need to do this to repair the main earth on a motorcycle digital dash, cheers!

[@deathbysnusnu1970]

Thanks! I'm just getting into soldering hobbies, this was great.

[@MrJosiahCochran]

What soldering iron are you using and what are the settings? I’ve heard even with a specialized flux and solder metal blend you still need a torch to get the AL hot enough. Are you sure that can isn’t tin plated steel?

[@EbrahimAziz-im4uh]

Coca cola cans are not aluminum in my country I don't know about urs

[@nathanbond8165]

@@EbrahimAziz-im4uh in the United States Coca-Cola cans are made from aluminum and it's very obvious the way that the metal is flexing that it's aluminum it's not tan or steel or some other material you can solder aluminum you so that's the point of the mineral oil The mineral oil while you clean or scratch the surface of the aluminum that allows the solder to here to the aluminum has to be free of oxygen oxygen instantly oxidizes aluminum you could perform this with the same results by soldering the aluminum pieces in a oxygen free environment such as in a vacuum no oxygen no oxidization and yes industries weld aluminum pieces all the time so the purpose of the mineral oil or in his case Vaseline is simply to keep oxygen from touching the aluminum that is to be soldered and yes you can solder aluminum how do you think they make soda cans and beer cans in the first place I've seen the video and how they make them they solder the lids to the aluminum can however it's done in a oxygen free environment

[@EbrahimAziz-im4uh]

@@nathanbond8165 I didn't say he can't soldier aluminum. did I? don't get excited

[@demetriusvasconcelos5866]

Thank you for sharing. This technique is very important for my activities. Success and joy for all, hugs from Brazil

[@snowgoose1962]

Brilliant, well done! I'm wondering if such could be used to fill some tiny dents on my aluminium tank cover, 2mm thick and then be sanded and brushed to match the rest?

[@thefiles7742]

Very useful, I fixed my broken battery with this technique.

[@angieroxy7550]

Hi Brek. I want to know if you can use this same Technique with Replacing a Charging Port on a Device?

[@BrekMartin]

Said port won’t be aluminium. No electronic components are. That’s just plain old ordinary soldering ;)

[@נתנאלנתנאל-ס6ב]

Thank you very much, very helpful.

[@svsv9]

Can be this done in a U Channel 1/16 thick 6063 grade alloy? I just need for filling some tiny holes on the plate.

[@x_ph1l]

Thanks for the tip) I wonder if the same would work with argon gas coverage, need to try in the future.

[@omsingharjit]

Will ultrasonic soldering work without any flux !

[@depressio5395]

I am trying to make my self a guitar pedal, wich is essentiallly just a little aluminium box and Im wondering how can I put together aluminum parts to create the box any advice?

[@PenguinAvengerPony]

I just want to make sure I understand: the reason for the petroleum jelly is to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing, because the oxidized surface won't adhere to the solder? And would flux accomplish the same thing or does aluminum oxidize too fast?

[@BrekMartin]

Hi, solder flux doesn’t achieve the same thing unless there’s something out there for aluminium, but that would be highly acidic and bad for iron tips. My understanding may not be entirely correct, but you don’t stand a chance in the race against the clock for the oxide layer to form. My best guess is the solder flux cleans the oil enough to wet the bare aluminium surface, without it ever having been exposed to atmosphere.

[@PenguinAvengerPony]

@@BrekMartin thanks, i think I understand that. I’m wondering about the importance of removing the oxide layer though. I don’t do electric soldering but i do metalsmithing, and aluminum is much more affordable than silver so I’m wondering if i can solder aluminum together without using petroleum jelly. It doesn’t need to conduct electricity that way, and so i’m assuming i don’t need to remove the oxide? Unless the oxide prevents heat conductivity as well

[@BrekMartin]

@@PenguinAvengerPony I couldn’t explain it properly, but trying to solder it dry like copper, the molten solder would never break surface tension and wet the aluminium surface to adhere. Solder would just roll around as balls on the surface for as long as it was molten.

[@PenguinAvengerPony]

@@BrekMartin thanks I’ll keep that in mind

[@AdrianMartinez-bg5kl]

I am knew to soldering and this seems like a cheap way to practice. Do you have a soldering iron recommendation for this? Any wattage requirements?

[@shalpin]

Just a thought ... maybe the petroleum jelly wouldn't harden as fast if the blade were heated?

[@BrekMartin]

I think if you had a really old cactus iron tip you could just use that, but I didn’t have any reason to keep on at this stage :D

[@jessstuart7495]

I'll have to give this a try. Thanks!

[@cal638]

thanks for ur video...i was thinking of ways to cover a slmall cut on a mini beer fridge that i puncture wen clearing over frozen ice...ima try with low temp alum rods ill just cut the rod thin

[@polycrystallinecandy]

Does the usual soldering flux not work on Al?

[@pabloricardodetarragon2649]

Thanks for the very useful video. The method is known since at least 100 years (yes...). There was a recipe of a special flux for tin soldering aluminum, not so easy to make (but I made it 50 years ago) and there are several commercial fluxes which I have used for more than 50 years. The purpose is to prevent aluminium from forming an oxide layer, any oil even olive oil can be used, but in a DIY method motor oil does the best job as it does not burn. The best is to clean the degreased aluminium a first time dry with a fine grit sanding paper to get rid of most of the oxide, and to make a final wet cleaning with motor oil (yes an ordinary 15W40 motor oil) and a non ferrous abrader. Stainless steel brushes are the most effective as it does not wipe the oil layer, thus preventing any oxygen contamination. And solder immediately without wiping the oil. Lead-tin with lots of rosin core is the most effective for this kind of DIY soldering. It's better to dedicate a special tip for this job, an oily tip is not the best for delicate soldering on copper. Aluminum foil is a heat sink, better to have a powerful solderer if the alu piece is big. Preheating to 100C is not forbidden, that will help. And you have a far simpler way; using a special flux if you have several solderings to make. That improves your life. You'll get first quality reliable solderings with that fine english flux, I've used it for years for soldering alu/alu, alu/copper, alu/brass, alu/zinc and alu/galvanized steel. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5rakqqKoJ6ajqs Harris makes one very good in the USA, the russians have a very good one, and you have also the Kapp Golden.

[@mtrltoolman]

Can you please tell me how to make the aluminum soldering flux.

[@pabloricardodetarragon2649]

@@mtrltoolman With the oil or vaseline method the flux is rosin, the best and simpler to use a tin-lead with a rosin core. You have also now flux cored tin alloys without lead that may work with the oil method. Tin paste for electronic circuits may work also as it has very good fluxes. You may try a tin paste without oil and with oil and to take what method works better. It's also the cheapest solution but nothing is really cheap with tin soldering. The most important is to have a powerful electric solderer, alu is a heat sink. The recipe of flux was very old and a most of the ingredients are almost impossible now to find and/or very toxic. Also, the total price would be now absolutely prohibitive. It's far simpler and finally cheaper to buy a commercial flux for that purpose although they look expensive at first sight. The best is first to ask the dealers selling frigorific parts as often in frigorific the technicians have to solder copper and aluminium with tin or a similar alloy. With a good search you'll find some flux or special core fluxed alloy. The most common commercial fluxes are the american Harris Stay-Clean® Aluminum Flux and the english AlumSolder Alu Flux, in a lot of countries there is someone making or importing something similar as I have said is very used in frigorific fabrication and repairing/fixing. Some are tempted to use plumbing paste. In electronics it's not a good idea as the plumbing grease is very acidic and will corrode everything ever after cleaning. I hope that have helped you.

[@mtrltoolman]

I mean the flux you said you make it 50 years ago. if you remember the ingredients and the way to make it share it. Thanks for the response to my question.

[@pabloricardodetarragon2649]

@@mtrltoolman I do not remember the exact detail of the formula which was rather complex. That was 50 years ago...I switched fastly to a more modern ready made flux which had not the obnoxious fumes of the old DIY one. As I said this kind of flux is used in frigorific reparations where soldering aluminium and copper with tin is common. Rosin (colophane) works rather well with the oil method, easy to find, cheap and it is not toxic.

[@mtrltoolman]

@@pabloricardodetarragon2649 Ok

[@randysmith7094]

So then does petroleum jelly make a good flux substitute for copper wire? Flux being 10X more expensive and hard to find.

[@kshirasagaruckoo2719]

Super. Very helpful tip Thank you for sharing the technique

[@bflan]

HI Brek - nice video.. thank you. I'm wondering if it's possible to Solder an aluminum handle onto a full aluminum Beer can. is this possible?

[@BrekMartin]

It must be, but the mass of the handle might send it beyond the capability of someone at home. I’ll get you use your own imagination how to arrange it with 2 hands, but when I was making copper J-pole antennas, I used a jig to hold pieces together so I could use an 80 and 60 Watt iron on the joint together, after heating the joint with a torch. All of this is only because the mass you’re soldering is drawing heat away from the joint, and aluminium (like copper) is a great conductor of heat…. but yes it must be possible.

[@thebobsquadmob]

Painfully longer than it needs to be but much appreciated for this. Thank you!

[@anthonygonzalez17]

You’re comment was painfully longer than it needed to be

[@dittilio]

You're a legend. Just thought you oughta know.

[@eswnl1]

Another issue is aluminum conducts heat away quickly. If that piece of aluminum was larger, would this method still work?

[@BrekMartin]

It would take a higher wattage iron, just like soldering copper.

[@Dungnguyen-yd5or]

I tries to solder copper wire to aluminum with pine sap, it doesn't work, the tin dont incorporate with the aluminum. Is pinesap not work for this?

[@dailyviewstv5323]

What liguid you add after petroleum jelly... Water or what

[@mitchellboomphi]

Awesome tip. Thanks for sharing!

[@khindall8044]

I suppose if you do use mineral oil, there isn't the problem of keeping it liquified, yes?

[@BrekMartin]

I haven’t had need to do it again, but I guess it would be easier yes.

[@johnellison3030]

Pretty cool idea mate. Thanks for posting this. Cheers.

[@jozefnovak7750]

Super! Thank you very much!

[@dgm778]

Nice, I will trying adding second heat pipe to my laptop

[@brianmuhlingBUM]

I will now give it a try. Thanks.

[@aneesrehman7354]

Very nice , that was what I was looking for, great 👍

[@mcconnelltube]

Just what I needed. Thanks!

[@namenotshown9277]

very cool, I bought some wizbang flux from russia is supposed to do the job, haven't tried it yet, your method is good. Who would have thought 2 nanometers could be so problematic, are you related to Eliot Goblet?

[@BrekMartin]

Brutal! :D I remember him. I’m aware of it. I don’t know if it’s the autism, or exhaustion from all the project, but there are videos where I put effort into cadence and emoting !! 🤪

[@namenotshown9277]

@@BrekMartin funny thanks for vid

[@EG-vy2lm]

Thanks youu!!!! Now i van finally solder my lipo batterys together

[@kayzme5351]

Thanks a lot brother appreciate the effort

[@_Caedwyn]

may i ask 2 questions pls 1: why not use normal flux? 2: what is the aluminium solder called ? does it have a code like different from 60% 40% ?

[@BrekMartin]

Hi, the mineral oil is only a barrier to prevent oxygen touching the aluminium. Other than that, it doesn’t help, and it’s ordinary soldering. The rosin is in the core of ordinary solder.

[@artistrespondingoutside6406]

It will be useful to mend my front carrier rack.

[@ninjaslash52_98]

Now should I solder or screw these 2 aluminum sheets together decisions decisions

[@fauzy65]

Awesome.. thanks brother.. Have you try it for more thick aluminium plate? I want to see your next video ..

[@BrekMartin]

It would only be a matter of heat dissipation. Even thick copper is hard to solder at the best of times.

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

I did this to seal a modified paintball gun. I use high quality flux. Worked 3rd try like a charm. 4 years later and the gun and modification still works. i was told over and over you can not solder aluminum. But I keep doing it. What do i know that everyone else is missing?

[@ravener96]

Nothing at all, its just called brazing when the pros do it

[@johnclayton1026]

is that acid core or rosin core solder?

[@BrekMartin]

Hi, this was rosin core 60/40 solder usually used for hobby electronics.

[@xvanilla1034]

it's also possible to solder by using salt and CuSO4.

[@munchgaming4589]

Mix zinc battery casing with muriatic acid 1 is to 1 ratio,it work on any metal,when your done,clean it with water mixed with baking soda,

[@useitwice]

Really great!

[@markthomasson5077]

Did you test electrical continuity

[@BrekMartin]

I can’t say that I did. It was only mechanical that I had in mind at the time.

[@crazyham]

Awesome Mate, this has been one of my major obstacles. Would olive oil or vegetable oil work too?

[@BrekMartin]

Gut feeling says it turns to carbon and yuk

[@crazyham]

@@BrekMartin Thanks Mate. I just tried it & was a fail haha. Will try the petroleum jelly now ⚡🙏⚡

[@mochamadirfan8262]

Great video. Thank you.

[@francisstapp1583]

very nice

[@skydoodle300]

why to not use a brand new iron tip for this?

[@edism]

Great upload and great channel, subscribed. Checking out the rest of your content and I look forward to further uploads, cheers.

[@matin4415]

great video 👍 thanks

[@Toomanymemes697]

For what purpose?

[@rongarza9488]

Hmmm, I'm thinking heat the Vaseline into a liquid state with one hand, keep the soldering iron on it while you scratch the aluminum with a knife in the other hand, then remove the knife and the soldering iron (in that order). This way, atmospheric gases never get a chance to combine with the aluminum.

[@oscarmotions5630]

Very useful! Thank you

[@tigranohanyan3321]

Hey, you can use just used engine oil. Its the same effect.

[@TonyLing]

I never knew that

[@AjLloyd-uy2tr]

Great idea!

[@mudittomoods]

Bravo! Many thanks.

[@Flederratte]

good video!

[@yeshecan7]

Thanks a lot.

[@therealjammit]

I've been using engine oil.

[@uploadJ]

What I've heard works too.

[@itsme123669]

I literally said "wow" when you stripped the wire's jacket off

[@keymaster2108]

wish I seen this before I started over on a section of my project

[@forward876]

this would have saved my life a couple of times years ago. Now im dead!...great

[@absolute___zero]

wouldn't it be easier to build a nitrogen jail (a box with nitrogen atmosphere), with some gloves inserted into it? Then you just sand the aluminum like you normally do, and then solder the tin layer. After you coated the areas you want to solder, you remove the aluminum parts out of the jail and solder in the usual atmosphere

[@BrekMartin]

As an electronics hobbyist, it hasn’t come up often enough to warrant something like that.. for me anyway.

[@appatula]

Genius. The things we must do in presence of oxygen.........

[@MrMelodyCold]

I feel like an idiot now, more than 15 years of my life thinking this was almost pure luck to get the solder to stick to it

[@bunnybabybevytv6434]

Bravo

[@JohnSmith-yv6eq]

Your technique has been given a mention by a commenter in James Condon's vid kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqeomGygZ9NqqqM where James was reluctant to try to solder AlCo wires on a generator stator not trusting the normal soldering repair to last the distance with the vibration and corrosion.

[@umutturan4751]

Use zinc chloride. Easy and definitive solution. There is no need for any other awkward attempts.

[@murrrr8288]

Now i know why i failed in soldering onto aluminum

[@tamerx5]

Not working for me

[@rumble_n0w]

basically you could just soldiering it on a vacuum CHAMBER 🤣

[@ilhemedu31]

Pehaps cocola is not aluminium but to be zinc

[@_RocketRooster]

I couldn't get it to stick at all! Not saying it doesn't work, it just didn't work for me! Thanks anyway. :)

[@raymondisaac199]

Pardon.

[@user-zb6ke7gy7e]

the early 1980s coke cans are made of steel so are easier to solder to. j/s

[@tluva1020]

Aluminium is just ONE WORD !!!

[@BrekMartin]

Not everyone lives in the same country as you.