[DeTomaso] Soldering/brazing aluminum

[Thomas Törnblom]

A few weeks ago I learned that you can solder/braze aluminum and pot metal using zinc solder. I assume you would be able to solder/braze magnesium alloys too, which would be interesting as I recently bought a used camera that turned out to have a cracked front cover and it is made of a magnesium alloy.

I ordered some pure zinc wire from Amazon, which arrived yesterday.

I had already gotten a used, non cracked,  front cover and fixed the camera, so I could play with the cracked piece without any risk.

Tonight I played with it and started by brazing together two pieces of aluminum, which turned out good. I then tried the front cover, but that is very thin and it melted through before I could get the zinc to flow properly.

Here is a picture of the brazed two aluminum pieces:
 
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So this seems like a simple method to fix non critical pieces like pot metal.

I?ve seen people play with this and the joint appears stronger than the aluminum. 

/Thomas