attaching aluminum alloy to steel... how to?

[Rocan]

find a small welding shop that has a nice TIG set up. walk in, with a case of beer, and your tank. ask them to weld it up in exchange for the beer. a lot of places will do it no problemo. i know 3 or 4 people who got BMX frames with cracks welded this way. its really a quick weld; shouldnt take more then 10 minutes to do if the pieces fit well.


and i only have an ARC welder that will blow through even 1/8" steel

i just happen to know a great fabricator with a nice MIG who knows how to use it.

 

[overdraft]

the threaded neck that comes with the cap is brass so it's probably a brazing project... but i don't know if that makes a difference to these guys who know their stuff...

 

[rockcitycafe]

you can solder the neck to steel... what I would do if I were putting that setup on a steel tank is to have a bung machined that was a loose fit to the brass neck, then weld the bung into the tank, and solder the brass neck onto the bung

 

[MakeshiftPatriot]

you can solder the neck to steel... what I would do if I were putting that setup on a steel tank is to have a bung machined that was a loose fit to the brass neck, then weld the bung into the tank, and solder the brass neck onto the bung

Exactly what I'd do. With such thin metal on the tank, soldering/brazing would be the way to go because it requires much less heat. I have seen people attach necks to frames with braze. Much stronger of a bond than some would think.