"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:
Jim Logajan wrote:
"dirigible designer" wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions to my question of how to join aluminum
sheets [without rivets] for making a dirigible.

Hi "dd" (Allen?). I am familiar with the history of aluminum airships.

One remote possibility it to look into/experiment with aluminum
soldering. Once upon a time I did not think it was possible to solder
aluminum, but if you do a Google search on the subject you should find
some information on the subject. It's not impossible, merely
difficult.


What about welding it?

Might work with joining sheets to ribs, but sheets-to-sheets? Don't know
either way, actually. :-)

I never got around to experimenting with it, but I had considered trying to
use a flux of some kind (something to deal with the formation or thickening
of the oxide layer) applied between two overlapping sheets and then
applying heat using a high-temperature heat gun. Some of the heavy-duty
heat guns claim air temperatures near the melting point of some alloys of
aluminum.