2020 test8 productsPower Tools
Which Aluminum Welding Rod Brand Wins?
We compared 8 aluminum welding rod options head to head. Hobart came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Hobart
Price shown in test: $18.90 for 7 rods, $2.70 each (most expensive per rod)
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Budget pick
Blue Demon
Price shown in test: $23.65 per pound or $1.08 per rod
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Made In | Dimensions | Melting Claim | Melting Test Result | Tensile Strength | Weld Integrity Butt Weld | V Weld Bend Test | Price By Gram | Cylinder Head Repair Test | Claims | Sold At | Weld Integrity And V Weld Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Hobart$18.90 for 7 rods, $2.70 each (most expensive per rod) | USA | 1/8 inch wide, 13/128 inch narrow point, weighs 19.85 g | heat base metal to 700F, do not heat the rod itself | melted at the advertised melting point | 1237 lb, best of all brands tested in the plug-weld pull test; the aluminum bolt broke rather than the weld | weld broke instead of peeling away (the desired outcome); described as 'an extremely thin weld' that held up fine | very impressive; the aluminum bent and the weld held up | most expensive of the five brands the narrator names in his price-per-gram comparison (Blue Demon, Alumiweld, Master Weld, IC, Hobart) | chosen as the 'best product' for the final test: patched a hole cut through a 6 hp Briggs and Stratton cylinder head, welded on the outside (the harder option); took about 7 minutes to heat the head to about 740F; held a steady pressure reading for 30 minutes without failing; thermal imaging showed the repair area ran cooler than the surrounding material | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 2Blue Demon$23.65 per pound or $1.08 per rod | USA | not perfectly round; widest point 1/8 inch, narrowest 13/128 inch; weighs 21.56 g | not tested | melted in about 10 seconds at approximately 736F, close to advertised temperature | 730 lb in the plug-weld pull test (moved into the lead over IC at that point), notable given a smaller 5/16 inch weld area | weld broke instead of peeling away (the desired outcome) | amazing job; aluminum bent at 127 lb and the weld held, though some cracking began along the main part of the weld | named the least expensive of the five compared brands by price per gram | not tested | stronger than aluminum, harder than mild steel, excellent corrosion resistance, no flux required, welds zinc base metals, brazes aluminum | not tested | not tested |
| 3Bernzomatic$2.08 per rod or $4.16 for a pack of two | USA | 1/8 inch wide, 13/128 inch narrow point, weighs 11.65 g | not tested | melted in about 10 seconds; described as flowing easily and less viscous than Blue Demon | 1109 lb, third highest in the plug-weld pull test; did not detach from the bolt head but tore away from itself, the failure mode narrator was hoping to see | weld broke instead of peeling away (the desired outcome) | very impressive; formed a good weld and proved stronger than the aluminum itself | not tested | not tested | tensile strength claim of 33,000 psi, working temperature 720 to 750F | not tested | not tested |
| 4Alumiweld$16.99 for 8 rods or $2.12 each | not tested | 1/8 inch wide, weighs 22.94 g | not tested | took a little longer to melt than the Bernzomatic | 1011 lb, fourth highest in the plug-weld pull test; did not detach from the bolt, tore away from itself (a desired failure mode) | did a great job, weld broke instead of peeling | very impressive; aluminum bent instead of breaking, a crack formed in the weld but it still held up | second least expensive of the five compared brands by price per gram | not tested | stronger than aluminum, harder than mild steel, low working temperature, no flux or fumes, excellent corrosion resistance, low cost, Rockwell B hardness 55 to 60, ultimate tensile strength claim up to 40,000 psi, working temperature 730F | Harbor Freight | not tested |
| 5Iceyyyy$9.99 for 60 rods or $0.17 each (cheapest per rod of all brands) | China | close to 2 mm thick, weighs 1.49 g | not tested | did not melt at its advertised temperature; after a minute of heat on 760F aluminum it made no progress, so actual melting point is higher than advertised | 554 lb in the plug-weld pull test, but narrator had a lot of trouble getting the metal hot enough and the aluminum bolt itself failed rather than the weld; in the earlier plug-weld demo the bolt head reached at least 1131F (aluminum's own melting point) before this rod finally melted | not tested | not tested | fourth of five in the price-per-gram comparison (cheaper than Hobart, more expensive than Blue Demon, Alumiweld, and Master Weld) | not tested | working temperature 716 to 752F | not tested | excluded entirely: 'Since IC has a very high melting point, we'll leave it out of the test this time' |
| 6Simple$21.95 for 10 rods or $2.20 each | not tested | 1/8 inch wide, 13/128 inch narrow point, weighs 12.34 g | not tested | melted in 10 seconds, same as Blue Demon and Bernzomatic, at an advertised working temperature of 728F | 1177 lb in the plug-weld pull test, moved into the lead over Bernzomatic at that point; the aluminum bolt broke rather than the weld, so narrator says the weld itself is capable of even more than the number shown | weld was not as thick as some other brands so it failed at a lower load, but stuck well to the aluminum | only 24 lb, did not perform well; narrator attributes some of this to his own application technique and notes the weld did not stick to the test piece as well as other products | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 7Master Weld$22.95 or $2.30 per rod (third most expensive) | USA | 17/128 inch narrow point, 1/8 inch wide, weighs 22.19 g | not tested | melting at approximately 740F | first sample only 88 lb because it did not stick well to the aluminum bolt; retested on a second sample at 348 lb, both described as 'nowhere close to the competition' | performed well, weld broke instead of peeling | only 20 lb, did not do nearly as well as some other brands | third least expensive of the five compared brands by price per gram | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 8Saker$25.99 for 10 rods or $2.60 each (second most expensive) | USA | 1/16 inch, weighs 3.5 g | not tested | took more heat to melt than all other brands except IC, due to the flux core | first sample 186 lb; narrator had trouble getting the metal hot enough and overheated/failed the bolt rather than the weld; retested on a second sample at 316 lb, still described as not as good as the competition | took longer than other brands to melt; poor result, narrator says 'the weld just did not stick to the test piece,' partly attributed to his own technique | skipped entirely: 'Reaching melting point with Sacred is pretty tough and filling in this large V weld is going to be very difficult with Sacred, so I'm going to go ahead and skip it.' | not tested | not tested | comes with detailed instructions; melting temperature listed as 385 to 410 C; has a flux core, unlike the other brands tested | not tested | not tested |
How it was tested
- melting point test at advertised working temperature
- tensile strength / pull test on a plug-welded aluminum bolt and washer
- weld integrity / butt-weld peel-vs-break test
- single-V weld bend test
- price per gram value comparison
- final real-world repair: patching a cut-through Briggs and Stratton cylinder head and pressure-testing it for 30 minutes
“In my opinion, Hobart is the best brand, but Blue Demon, Bernzomatic, and AlumiWeld also did very well in this showdown.”
Data notes and caveats
No single runnerUp is named: the narrator's closing line groups Blue Demon, Bernzomatic, and Alumiweld together as all having 'also did very well' behind winner Hobart, without ranking those three relative to each other. runnerUp is left null rather than arbitrarily picking one.