Knowledge Center

Cast iron is strong, wear-resistant, and inexpensive. Because it's an extremely versatile material, this metal is used in literally thousands of industrial products. Therefore, welding cast iron is an essential process that welders and craftsmen in the industry must learn. Despite the brittle and temperamental qualities of cast iron, welding it is not impossible to do, provided that you have the right materials on hand.

Cast iron is difficult to work on because most nickel rods used by welders are harder compared to the base metal. Welding cast iron increases the base metal's tendency to crack, just like how a window with a rock cooled in the center is more likely to shatter into pieces. However, our electrodes possess a different metallurgical makeup—they are softer, highly machinable, and have unique properties that allow the weld to stretch and elongate up to 300 percent more than other rods. This helps prevents the base metal and weld from cracking in the process.

Inexpensive casting alloys or pot metal can be difficult to work on because of their low melting point. Whether you're soldering pot metal for a repair job, or restoring original pot metal classic car parts, you can work on the alloy with ease and prevent it from pitting or breaking easily when you use quality rods from Muggy Weld.

Other rods melt at 700º and can be dangerously close to melting the metal before you even apply them. On the other hand, Super Alloy 1 from Muggy Weld has a melting point of 350º and unique properties that make pot metal restoration and repairs easier than ever before. To help you prevent damaging the base metal, the non-corrosive flux acts as a temperature guide turns root beer brown when the base metal reaches 350º. As the rod and flux work synergistically, Super Alloy 1 helps you make repairs that are as strong your base metal.

These days, more and more parts are being replaced with aluminum parts. Why? Aluminum is lightweight, durable, and inexpensive in comparison with other metals. The problem is, most aluminum repair shops have been trained to believe that expensive machinery is needed to properly weld this versatile metal.

Aluminum melts at 1218°F. Unfortunately, it does not turn red like other metals before it reaches the point that it liquefies. If you have ever tried to weld aluminum you know that without an accurate temperature guide, you may end up cleaning your aluminum off the floor. For this reason, most shops in the past have recommended replacing aluminum parts rather than repairing them—which is not only expensive but unnecessary. Fortunately, times have changed.

Our unique line of welding alloys and fluxes for aluminum repair work synergistically to act as an exact temperature guide when welding aluminum. While many aluminum brazing products are sold without flux, we believe the use of flux to be superior for several reasons.

First, it allows the rod to flow better than aluminum rod alone. Any welder knows that flow is an important factor in successfully welding aluminum. Also, our flux acts as an exact temperature guide: Our Super Alloy 5 turns from powder to liquid at the exact moment when the rod should be applied. One the other hand, our Super Alloy 1 starts as a liquid and turns brown when ready for the rod. Finally, our Alloy 5 flux chemically reacts to clean up oxidation as well as other contaminates, which is very unique in the aluminum repair business.

Whether you are welding close to heat sensitive materials and need a super low solder or are welding through dirt, oil, paint or grease, our welding alloys allow you to weld aluminum quickly, easily and inexpensively with your own torch at less than half the temperature aluminum melts.

Note: Aluminum dissipates heat very quickly, therefore, oxyacetylene and Super Alloy 5 are required for all thick aluminum or large masses of aluminum.

Although stainless steel is one of the most widely used metals, stainless steel welding can be extremely challenging. Cutting, drilling, soldering, and welding stainless steel is difficult mainly because the metal is a poor heat conductor and has a high rate of thermal expansion. It also reacts badly to excessive heat, causing it to warp. Thankfully, we have a unique line of products that can help make stainless steel soldering and brazing tasks easier.

Super Alloy 1, SSQ-6, and SSF-6 silver solder are all designed for use with stainless steel. Allowing for easier and more effective repair and welding jobs, many of our products melt at high temperatures and can be used on a variety of metals, such as brass, copper, bronze, cast iron, and stainless steel. For soldering and brazing tasks, or for welding stainless steel, SSQ-6 and SSF-6 can also be used with any heat source and can last for long periods with minimal care.

Steel is an alloy composed of iron and carbon—the higher the carbon content, the stronger, harder and more brittle the steel. There are many types of steel that can be used for steel welding jobs, all of which are categorized based upon various physical properties and carbon content. High carbon steel is very strong and it is used for files, cold chisels and various metal tools while low carbon steel is used for tubing, nails and castings.

Before you start welding steel, you will have to first determine the weldability of the metal. This is inversely proportional to its ability to be hardened by heat. Basically, this means that varieties of the metal with fewer alloying agents can easily be welded better than others.

Next, measure the equivalent carbon content of the different alloys of steel. This compares the properties of any steel alloy to those found in ordinary carbon steel. If possible, use only high strength, low-alloy metals specifically designed for welding steel.

Most jobs require only a hand held propane torch. Super Alloy 1 is recommended when heat or aesthetics is an issue. Otherwise we recommend our SSF-6 Silver Solder for torch welding: with a holding strength of 71,000 PSI, SSF-6 is as strong as a MIG or TIG weld, with a beautiful finish.

Steel repair on stainless steel can be very difficult; it is difficult to cut and is prone to distortion because of its high thermal expansion. Control the amount of ferrite in the weld to minimize hot cracking, preheat, and use steel welding and solder products such as Super Alloy 1, SSF-6, and SSQ-6 when working on different types of stainless steel.

While copper, brass, and bronze may not be applications that are used every day in welding, industries such as refrigeration, electronics and plumbing—as well as ornamental artists, encounter these metals and perform brass, bronze, or copper welding jobs daily.

Here are some things to remember when working on brass, bronze, or copper:

Brass melts at around 1652-1724º F range and is fairly easy to cast. During any brass welding job, use high quality filler if the color doesn’t have to match the metal. Because of its relatively high melting point, low zinc brass can be braze-welded.

Super Alloy 1 can bond all of these metals in any combination, and can be used in bonding with other metals such as aluminum—at 350º F.

SSF-6 Silver Solder is 56% silver and is especially useful when high strength is needed, or when you need high flow to get to those hard to reach areas.

SSQ-6 Silver Solder Paste is the same formula as our SSF-6, in a convenient 1 oz syringe.