bulldog
Well-known member
Durafix is a zink alloy product that can be used to "weld" aluminum. I saw this product and purchased it before I saw that everyone on here uses Steelflex. I got 60 sticks for $85. I only used about 30 sticks. The sticks are approx 16" long and .125" thick. I had 240 rivets to do so I got on it as soon as I got off of work today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijW310xvp4
Here is a link that sold the product to me. Looks too good to be true but it really is easy to use and the tin can hole patch is the first thing I did as soon as I got the product and it really is that easy.
The product has a melting point of 732 degrees and as soon as the aluminum gets that hot the Durafix just melts on there and as long as you keep it above 732 you can move it around and work with it all you want.
First thing I did was take my motor off and flip the boat over. I had some help from 3 of my buddies and a fork lift but all in all it was pretty darn easy to do even though we did not even use the fork lift. The boat is heavy but I was surprised how smooth it went.
Next thing I did was prep the rivets. The manufacturer says to use nothing but stainless. I looked flippin everywhere for a soft stainless brush wheel for the grinder or a drill and I could not find them anywhere so I went ahead and got a regular soft steel brush for my drill and went to town. The wheel I chose worked great and before I welded each rivet I used a stailess brush to re-clean each rivet.
The product does have a learning curve but in 3 rivets I caught on as well as the two other guys helping me. Pretty user friendly and supposively after cooling down, the druafix has better strength that the parent material. I was very impressed at the usability of the product as well as the easy of use. At first I was VERY sceptical but the product came through. I'm anxious to see how it holds up over time.
The 240 rivets and a couple holes took about 4 hours to do with 2 guys working non stop. Started with 3 but beer makes people lazy.
Any questions, just ask.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijW310xvp4
Here is a link that sold the product to me. Looks too good to be true but it really is easy to use and the tin can hole patch is the first thing I did as soon as I got the product and it really is that easy.
The product has a melting point of 732 degrees and as soon as the aluminum gets that hot the Durafix just melts on there and as long as you keep it above 732 you can move it around and work with it all you want.
First thing I did was take my motor off and flip the boat over. I had some help from 3 of my buddies and a fork lift but all in all it was pretty darn easy to do even though we did not even use the fork lift. The boat is heavy but I was surprised how smooth it went.
Next thing I did was prep the rivets. The manufacturer says to use nothing but stainless. I looked flippin everywhere for a soft stainless brush wheel for the grinder or a drill and I could not find them anywhere so I went ahead and got a regular soft steel brush for my drill and went to town. The wheel I chose worked great and before I welded each rivet I used a stailess brush to re-clean each rivet.
The product does have a learning curve but in 3 rivets I caught on as well as the two other guys helping me. Pretty user friendly and supposively after cooling down, the druafix has better strength that the parent material. I was very impressed at the usability of the product as well as the easy of use. At first I was VERY sceptical but the product came through. I'm anxious to see how it holds up over time.
The 240 rivets and a couple holes took about 4 hours to do with 2 guys working non stop. Started with 3 but beer makes people lazy.
Any questions, just ask.