Welding
Aluminum does not weld like steel, and it does not forgive the same mistakes.
Cracked brackets, broken castings and equipment parts, cleaned to bright metal and welded correctly the first time. One of the four services KRS lists, and one a lot of local gate shops skip.
Chapter 01
Aluminum is not thin steel, and it does not forgive the same mistakes
Aluminum pulls heat away from the joint fast, it carries an oxide layer that melts at a far higher temperature than the metal underneath, and it goes from solid to a puddle on the floor with very little warning in between. A steel-shop approach to it burns straight through the section, or leaves a bead that looks fine on top and is cold and cracked underneath.
Working it correctly means cleaning back to bright metal before anything gets struck, picking the right filler for the alloy actually in front of us, and managing heat for the real thickness of the section, not a guess at it.
Close detail of a matched pair of aluminum cable-rail gates with MagnaLatch hardware, built by KRS Fabrications in Lubbock
What actually comes through the door
A lot of Lubbock gate and fence shops will tell you flatly that they do not weld aluminum, and send the part somewhere else. That leaves a broken piece sitting for another week while it finds a shop that can actually touch it.
Aluminum welding is one of the four things KRS lists as work it does. Most of what comes through the door is repair: a cracked bracket, a broken casting ear, a trailer or equipment component that let go at a joint. Bring the part in during shop hours, or send a photo of the break first.
Chapter 03
When a repair is the wrong answer
Running a new bead onto a part that is fatigued along its whole length does not fix it. It just moves the failure point to sit right next to the new weld, and the part fails again in a different spot.
When that is what a part looks like, the honest answer is to say so up front and fabricate a replacement instead of billing for a repair that will not hold. Honest answer first, invoice second.
KRS Fabrications. Residential, commercial and industrial work. Call (806) 548-1260.
Before you drive out
What helps us tell repair from replacement
- A photo of the break, taken close and in decent light
- Whether the crack runs all the way through or is a surface chip
- What the part does and what it normally carries or takes load from
- Whether it is on a trailer, a gate or equipment that runs daily
Lubbock and the South Plains
Aluminum trailers, gates and equipment out here take a beating from the West Texas wind corridor: blowing caliche dust, hard freezes in January, full sun past 100 degrees in July. That is exactly the kind of daily fatigue that ends in a cracked bracket. KRS Fabrications is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (806) 548-1260 or bring the part into the shop.