Welding Aluminum Grille????

[chev-obsession]

Has anyone ever tried to patch weld the aluminum grille’s?

I have 2 69’ grille’s, one has a good center section and the other has a great outer frame. It’s like if I could cut and re-weld the 2, I’d have 1 really nice grille.

[Jrainman]

That is really specialized welding because you have to deal with the anodized coating on the grill , I have mutiple welding certifications but never welded anodized aluminum .but heard that its not easy and I dont think you could hide the welds without painting the whole grill to match or removing the hard anodized coating off the entire grill.

[chev-obsession]

Originally Posted by Jrainman

That is really specialized welding because you have to deal with the anodized coating on the grill , I have mutiple welding certifications but never welded anodized aluminum .but heard that its not easy and I dont think you could hide the welds without painting the whole grill to match or removing the hard anodized coating off the entire grill.

That’s what I was afraid of. I’ve tried welding anodized aluminum and it just doesn’t work. Just wanting to see if someone here has tried re welding our old grilles somehow

[jeffahart]

I would be looking into playing around with some solder. Maybe try some Muggyweld super alloy 5 for aluminum rod and flux.


j

[Spartan]

The anodizing will cause problems as you know.
But... remove the anodizing layer, back it, and run a bead. Then sand the bead off and polish the grill or re-anodize. However if you decide to re-anodize remember that 5356 rod should be used over 4043 because the 4043 will turn black under anodizing.
I prefer 4043 because it flows better. I haven't tried it yet but i have thought about it since the 69 grills are a little different.