Alu frame repair

[Psyrax]

Hi there Hubland.

 

Do anybody know of a person/place/business where I can get my aluminium frame repaired in the Cape Town area? I know it can be repaired and alu welding is very difficult, so I need someone who knows how to weld alu.

 

Thanks all

[Dubbin]

Where on the frame is it damaged? Might be a good idea to post a picture.

[BaGearA]

weld and then heat treat , if you do only the welding the frame will break 5min into the ride

 

Heat treating is the important part but obviously the weld needs to be made first.

[BaGearA]

Still under warranty?

[Goodbadugly]

Warranty replacement is the best option.

Yes it can be welded. But then it must be heat treated. And painted.

Alu that cracks in one place usually spells the end of a frame.

Secondhand alu frames are inexpensive in the bikehub classifieds.

I would not go the weld route.

[DJR]

There is nobody in SA that can weld AND HEAT TREAT an Alu frame properly. In any case, as said before, you will have to strip and re-paint the whole frame, which alone makes it uneconomical (unless it is a very rare valuable frame or something you attach great sentimental value to). Ditch it, get another frame and transfer your old parts to it.

[edkin]

Hi there Hubland.

 

Do anybody know of a person/place/business where I can get my aluminium frame repaired in the Cape Town area? I know it can be repaired and alu welding is very difficult, so I need someone who knows how to weld alu.

 

Thanks all

Contact Janos at Evobikes. He knows somebody that does Laser welding for aluminium. He repaired a crack in my subframe beautifully.

[CdT85]

Contact a hubber called  Ampandy. He repairs and heat treats frames

[Psyrax]

Contact Janos at Evobikes. He knows somebody that does Laser welding for aluminium. He repaired a crack in my subframe beautifully.

Contact Janos at Evobikes. He knows somebody that does Laser welding for aluminium. He repaired a crack in my subframe beautifully.

Thank you. I will.

[Christie]

Be careful of unspicified "heat treatment." In the manufacturing sector in SA, heat treatment generally refers to annealing (pretty much standard procedure for important welds in steel) but which could reduce the strength of all the tubes of an alu frame. The welding already anneals the frame on the area of the patch, which is why welded frames often crack next to tne weld.

 

6000 and 7000 series aluminiums are made using a precipitation hardening process. It involves 3 steps:

Solutionizing, where the metal is heated above solvus temperature

Quenching

Aging

 

Like DJR said, nobody in SA can do that an a frame.

 

But that said, I think some broken frames could be fixed with a clever joint design, perhaps by placing a tight fitting smaller diameter tube inside the tubd being welded.

[jimmy hardtail]

So if no one in SA can do it why havent all my older Morewood frames broken yet? If they are not heat treated post welding then surely they can be repaired. I ask cos i just found a crack in my shova st swingarm.

[DJR]

So if no one in SA can do it why havent all my older Morewood frames broken yet? If they are not heat treated post welding then surely they can be repaired. I ask cos i just found a crack in my shova st swingarm.

I'm pretty sure Morewood did it right in the manufacturing process.

 

What I meant was that nobody seems to be able to do it for a repair of a broken Al frame. Surely no welding expert that I know of can do it.

 

Perhaps ask Morewood what they think. That should give us a REALLY good idea.