AN EFFICIENT• ALUMINIUM SOLDER.
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VEELICLE owners are often chary of having broken aluminium parts . welded or soldered, -chiefly owing to the comparatively high cost of the former operation and, with regard, to the latter, to the difficulty of obtaining an efficient aluminium solder. It will be readily realized that there is a large and comparatively nnexploited market for a really first-class aluminium solder. One that comes into this category is marketed by Retlaw Products, of 45, High Road, Kilburn, London, N.W. The maker advances some interesting claims .concerning its composition and
the results of its use, amongst these being that the alloy used contains a minimum proportion of zinc and that no oxide is formed in, the metal during its application.
A feature of the use of this particular solder is that no separate flux is needed to make it combine with the metal to be repaired, the unifying chemicals being contained in the actual alloy. Another advantage is that it remains in a semimolten state until it has become quite cool, thus enabling the metal to be worked into any desired shape: The melting point of the alloy is very much
lower than that of aluminium, so no great heat is needed in using it, and this ensures that there is no danger of the metal of the part under repair becoming impoverished owing to its being subjected to high temperatures.
In a demonstration which we recently witnessed, a large piece of the solder was applied to the crown of a small piston. When it had cooled, efforts were made to dislodge the rough lug thus formed and only after great efforts with a cold chisel and a two-pound hammer were we able to remove any of the metal.