Aluminized Piping

[Robbbby]

I am looking at buying some 'aluminized' piping for a small project for my car and was just wondering about howto weld this stuff. What exactly does aluminized mean? Is the material aluminum or steel?

[BillDaCatt]

According to this website http://www.roadraceengineering.com/mandrelbends.htm

Aluminized Steel Exhaust Bends
These aluminized pipes have a thin electro-coating of aluminum on them that drastically reduces corrosion over time. This thin coating does not affect welding and can be welded with any MIG or TIG welded with regular steel welding rod. The thicker 14 gauge wall makes for the best bang for the buck exhaust piping.

Hope it helps.
(btw: I found this by searching for "welding aluminized pipe" on google)

[Masher Mfg]

I usually hit the area to be welded with a grinder, it makes for a cleaner weld. After welding hit the area with spray galvanize to slow rust of the now bare steel.

[coalsmoke]

I usually hit the area to be welded with a grinder, it makes for a cleaner weld.

i agree. Alum. pipe used lots for exhaust. Sometimes I get lazy on my own stuff and don't clean it up first, and if you are running a hotter arc, the alum will pop off just before the bead.

[JoeS]

Don't even worry about the aluminizing. You will weld right through it like it's not even there. It simply burns off, much like silicon, or the copper coating on the mig wire. But defintely use it. It keeps the whole system from rotting off, although it does tend to rust from the inside out.

the hard part is finding the right coating afterwards to keep the welds from rusting immediately. I usually hit them with a quick coating of aluminum paint, but after awhile, the rust shows though. I'm thinking maybe that VHT high heat coating may work a bit better.

I usually use JCwhitney for mandrel bends. Summit and Jegs also carry them.

[Zrexxer]

I welded up a 3" Flowmaster cat-back aluminized system with MIG, didn't even scratch the stuff off, it welds like bare steel. Like Joe says, the welded areas will rust though, I gave up trying to find something that wouldn't burn off.

[enlpck]

the hard part is finding the right coating afterwards to keep the welds from rusting immediately. I usually hit them with a quick coating of aluminum paint, but after awhile, the rust shows though. I'm thinking maybe that VHT high heat coating may work a bit better.

...
Bloxide.

[Chuck W]

aluminized Pipe

I have a trailer load of this stuff, picked up in Metairie, LA apparently tore up by storm and most joints are twisted or pinched off on one end. I would like to mig weld some joints together, this is thin wall stuff, should I butt weld or leave a small crack. i do plan of buffing with wire wheel prior to welding? all help appreciated

[JoeS]

Bloxide huh? I'll have to search out that stuff to see what its all about.

I usually have the best luck leaving just a tiny gap, maybe .030" (using .030" wire), but either way will work if you have your welder settings right, and practice. If you leave a small gap, the weld tends to lay flatter and look better. Thin tubing is tough with MIG, if you are not careful. Actually, the other welder I have is stocked with .023", its a migmate, or something like that, miller, 110v. that one makes some nice small pretty welds.

on nice trick is to use those vise-grips that have the forked heads, they hold the two pipes fairly straight and lined up, and leave the joint exposed so you can weld them. Gets tough above 3" pipe though.

[Robbbby]

Thanks for the help guys.

[coalsmoke]

I use cold galvanising. It comes in a spray can, and is a very high concentration of zinc. Try Home Deopt, that's where I get mine. If its up close to the manifolds, top coat with a high-heat gloss paint.

[enlpck]

Bloxide huh? I'll have to search out that stuff to see what its all about.
.

Weld-through aluminum flake coating. You really can weld through it and pass X-ray and metallurgical. It will protect steel against corrosion quite well for a good long time. Several years, it the coating isn't damaged.

[Greenbuggy]

I work in a small auto shop that fabs custom exhaust. We flare the ends of the pipe to fit up to collectors or over existing factory pipes that come off stock manifolds, and also flare the ends of the mufflers we install to fit over the bent pipes. I do most of the welding as my beads look nicer than my boss's Generally after cutting we hit the edges with a file on the outside and a deburring tool on the inside to make it easy to handle, I do a downhill mig with an inverted "U" shaped weave, and try to tweak the weld settings for a wide, flat bead. The aluminized burns off for about 1/4" around the weld area. We use a high temp black engine enamel to cover the welds and prevent rust

[coldfusion21]

just this last time around i used some of the VHT high heat stuff thats supposed to be baked on and i just drove the car good and hard for about 30 mins, seems to have done the trick, but we will see in a few weeks.

[timg]

Hi guys,

Just picked up a HH140 and a bottle of gas (asked for C25 but the guy said they were all out and this stuff was 'more expensive' but should work fine, it was 92-8.. is that 92% argon, 8% CO2?).

I need to weld some aluminzed piping as well. Any suggested settings on my HH140 for this job? I will be butt-welding and some overlapping joint welds as well. Any ball-park figures on the HH140 would be REALLY helpful. I'm completely new at this.

Also, reccomended gas settings as well (I set the flow-rate on the regulator gauge correct?).

Lastly, gun/tip orientation would be nice as well. How much tip out should I have, and should I come in perpindicular to the joint (looking down at it) or have a angle (pulling with the tip angled?)

Sorry for the newbie questions. Hope to participate a lot on these forums.

Tim