HP-2116A chassis (or repairing cast aluminum)

On Apr 16 2005, 16:33, Tim Riker wrote: epoxy, Glues aren't going to be effective at all, and you can't silver solder aluminium. It's possible to TIG weld aluminium and that might not be expensive if you know someone who has a TIG welder (they're often found in small engineering shops and car body shops). It's also possible to MIG weld aluminium, but TIG is more common and tends to give better results in my experience. If you want to try it yourself, there are various forms of aluminium solder, but most need special fluxes to cope with the oxide, they can be tricky to use (depends on the grade of aluminium, which is rarely pure, it's normally really an alloy), and not very strong. They also need a lot of heat because aluminium conducts heat away extremely well (this is also one of the problems with MIG welding it). Aluminium is often soft-soldered with a stainless steel scratch brush to remove the aluminium oxide under the solder pool, or done with an ultrasonic soldering iron (expensive -- I once nearly bought a *cheap* one for UKP300). For hard-soldering, or fusion welding really, the best stuff is Techno-Weld. It really works, and you can get it in the States as well as in the UK: http://www.techno-weld.com http://www.techno-weld.co.uk One of the basic "kits" of rods would have all you need; they also include the scratch brush, abrading wire and instructions. Or just rivet or bolt an L-shaped bracket on each side. Whatever you do, be prepared to file a bit off the broken edges to make sure it fits back together; whatever broke it probably stretched and bent it too. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York