Welding
pot Metal

Welding Pot Metal…

Here’s an example of an attempt to weld this pot metal bracket.

You may have noticed, but lately there have been quite a few pages promoting “Welding pot Metal” advise: a/c tig welders, 80 amps 5 to 10 seconds, “Takes Time and Talent” (stolen form my front page), etc.  These folks, while well-intentioned, have no way of understanding our process or duplicating our results.

Let’s say you go out and buy yourself a a/c tig welder for welding pot metal.  You get it all set up and ready to go. You set your new A/C tig welder on 80 amps and light up on your pot metal parts…. This is where it gets interesting… In less than a second, you will have noticed that your pot metal part has instantly started to melt and before you could add filler rod to the small puddle it starts to grow rapidly!  Second #2, by this time you will be staring at a pretty shiny molting puddle of pot metal on your work bench and believe you me, it’s one riveting sight to see!

But don’t take my advise. Give a try – follow the advise of these content creators and let them know how it went for you. I bet you’ll have some interesting words to say about their “Welding Pot Metal” advise. lol

Enough about that…

To be successful at welding pot metal, it takes so much more than knowing the process and/or what  equipment to use and how to set it up. it takes a significant amount of metallurgy understanding – casting impurities, what form of zamac was used to create the pot metal part or antique decor etc. There are many things you must know and fully understand to be successful at welding pot metal. Things that I’ve spent many years to perfect and still refining. You see, welding pot metal isn’t like any other form of welding and damned sure nothing like welding aluminum. It’s an art that only a handful can do an fewer that can do it well.