I had some squares and welded them up it was nothing impressive. I had 5356 filler and it sucked. It was a PITA.
I talked to some of the machine shop guys and they said the best common filler to use would be 4043, I don't have any of that yet.
Is there a better filler for 2024?
I'm willing to buy some thing speical just for 2024, Is there a "best" filler for 2024?

 

i think 5356 is the best overall filler metal. welded tons of 4043 with it in mig or tig. do you know if 2023 is weldable? some isn't or not recommened to be welded.

 

i looked at one source and 2024 isn't weldable, didn't think it was when i first read this thread

 

It can be welded, I do know this.
I want to be able to weld it good.

 

how do you know it's weldable? like i said i checked one source and it said NR in the weldable column. don't get confused into thinking it's weldable just because you stuck two pieces together.

 

It’s “weldable” but in most cases it will crack as it cools off. Even if you manage not to crack it you won’t have anything structurally sound when you finish.

Something that it seems that most people don’t realize is that most aluminum used in aerospace and racing is bonded and or held with mechanical fastners, not welded. That is quickly becoming the case on newer cars also.

 

Just when I thought rivits were going out of style.

 

It is weldable, our welders do it where I work all day long (areospace industry).

 

I'm guessing that 95%+ of home shop welders like me do all of there Al welding with 4043 or 5356.
I have yet to find any one that welds on there own that uses any thing other than those 2.
The Air Force metals tech guy that I talk to said that if he only had the 2 to pick from he would use 5356. He also said that weld woudn't be good for much.
They don't weld weld it.
If I knew what filler to use it would turn out better.
What filler do you guys use???

 

I know a few people that will cut strips of whatever aluminum they're welding and use them as filler... makes matching alloys much easier.

 

That was quick.
That cuting strips thing is a great and cheap idea and I like it.
I will do that when I get a TIG welder.
It beats the hell out of buying wire for Ti welding. $10 for 100 g of filler for a tig welder, that's crap.
I did a little search and found that 4145 filler is the best filler all around for 2xxx alloys.
I think I might pick me up some of that.

 

heh, I run sheets of aluminum through my table saw all the time just to get perfect little strips...

 

The guys up at metals shop have big shears and I'm sure they would cut me up some stock. When the time comes.