Welding a old water fountain, small decorative pieces. will try to list all details. looks dark gray w/ what looks like glass shards. believe this might be diecast (potmetal), spark test showed aluminum like surface, no sparks. was told 150 yr old fountain and thats why not sure if this really could be diecast. really no piece i could test to see melting temp.
any leads would be helpfull
By DaveBoyer 
Date 11-09-2010 03:40
Edited 11-09-2010 03:43
It could be cast pewter or some other non-ferrous metal/alloy. "Pot metal" could be sand cast, or lost wax [investment] cast too, at that age, some pot metal just crumbles apart. Iron or steel would have made sparks. Aluminum was not in common use 150 years ago, if it is that old.
Is the material fairly soft? Try scraping the broken edge with a pocket knife.
You might have the best luck with a rub-on type aluminum/non ferrous solder, they melt at about 700F. These solders are available in farm stores like TSC and are often sold at antique car parts & antique engine shows & flea markets.
Could it be wrought Iron ? The no sparks is a hint -
Thats what i thought at first but the metal is soft when i grinded it and is really heavier than any cast aluminum that if seen.
thanks for the replies I dont have the option of a chem lab or those material identifiers. was leaning towards a brazing type rod that would be used for die cast, just thought i pick ur brains before i destroy a antique fountain
The rod suitable for die cast is the rod I mentioned in the other post. I never used it to repair anything, but have soldered up holes punched in a soda can where the guy was demonstrating it.
Wrought iron does make sparks, but not the bursts that indicate carbon.
For those who may not know what the spark test is that cddolan74 is speaking about.....
http://www.tpub.com/steelworker1/5.htmUse the next button on the upper right to go to the next page to continue reading
Presently, with the new equipment that are available, chemical labs need just a few decigrams of sample to run a chemical analysis. With a file, you could file away those few decigrams and send them to a qualified lab near you. They'll run a complete analysis for a reasonable price.
Here in Brazil, for example, I paid 80 Reais (about 50 US dollars) for the complete analysis of an unknown steel that turned out to be SAE 1020.
Don't tell me that you can't afford to pay 50 bucks to know what kind of material you're dealing with.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil
