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Old March 26th 05, 07:56 PM
ORVAL FAIRBAIRN
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In article ,
Matt Whiting wrote:

Fortunat1 wrote:
"Cy Galley" sednews:4V41e.103754$r55.32258@attbi_s52:


I would check with a Van's builder. RVs have aluminum riveted tanks
with pro-seal. If you know a good tig welder, then a welded tank can
be built.



OK, thanks.There are two down the road from me, in fact! I'll probably try
and weld it myself, though I've never welded aluminum before. Then again,
most ofthe things I've done on this contraption I've never done before.
I'm assuming baffles (and I think I'd need them in a long shallow wing
tank) aren't welded, though. I'm supposing that the tank would be
assembled, but the back left open until the baffles are all riveted, and
then closed up and welded?


I see no reason not to weld the baffles as well. Probably less messy
than sealing the rivets.

Matt



that depends on the aluminum alloy used -- and, how much warping you can
tolerate. Van's tanks are "wet" cells -- part of the wing and are
2024-T3, which is NOT weldable. The nice thing about wet cells is that
they add only the weight of the ProSeal to the airframe weight, while
separate tanks add their own weight to the plane.

6061 and 5052 are common weldable alloys, but you will get some
distortions from the welding process.