In article ,
"Phil" wrote:

Hello
I am a welder by trade , used to work as a certified A/C welder for major
company , still do Alum . and 4130 A/C welding , a man brought a wing tank
to me from his Piper PA- 12 Super Cruiser today , he has a small leak around
one of the fittings , the tank has been soldered together , he says it's
Alum. but I am not convinced , the sheet metal is very thin and is non
magnetic , I scraped some of the solder material and it was soft like lead ,
the man called an older fellow A/C restorer and he thinks it's Alum , all
the fuel tanks that I have worked on were made from 5052 of whatever
Alum.and TIG welded , 1946 may pre date the Heli-Arc process , wonder if
someone can shed some light on this wing tank question.
Thanks
Phil
EAA 12873

In those days, they welded aluminum with acetylene/oxygen, using a
reducing flame and special blue goggles. In recent years there has been
a resurgence of this technique.

I am not specifically familiar with the tanks on the Super Cruiser,
however.

I did a Google search on "gas welding aluminum" and came up with a lot
of hits.

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