top of page
Search

Story of learning Aluminium Gas welding & Building Aluminium Tanks


I wanted to make the tank out of Aluminium so it can never get the rust as well as I also took it as an opportunity to build my first aluminium tank and experience the process which can help improvise my skills of shaping aluminium.



It was early 2018 when I was working on the Royal Enfield Cafe Racer kit. My initial idea was to build all the parts from Aluminium, something which I had never tried before. I had just shifted to my new workshop and it was going to be a difficult task to work on aluminium. I lacked both the equipment and skill set for working on aluminium. I could not even experiment as the TIG I had bought earlier was not AC/DC. When I inquired for the machine capable to do Aluminium welding, it was very costly, almost around 50k so there was no chance I was going to buy it. So only option left was Gas welding setup as it was cheaper compared to the TIG welding.



So, I setup everything as per YouTube videos and with the help of some information available on internet. As we all know, things look much easier on YouTube but they never turn out to be when we actually get down to doing it.


I started wasting a lot of aluminium during this. I practiced for a week and learned some basics with which I could experiment on actual parts. I had wasted almost 4x4ft 1.5mm aluminium sheet but it was all worthy.


Then I took the risk of trying my new welding skills on actual part which was fuel tank, I somehow managed to weld the pieces but the welding line were very rough and I faced a lot of difficulties during the final finishing, as I wanted to keep the bare metal finish.



Sadly, after wasting two weeks, I decided to switch to Mild steel for completing the kit on time. As in business there is always a time limit which you cannot cross. The project turned out great and I got busy with other things.



After a year I got the opportunity to restore A Mini Bullet 200cc. All the original parts of bike were in good condition expect the tank. It was totally rusted and in a bad shape.