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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 8:23 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:13 am
Posts: 135
Location: Shepherd, Michigan
If you are in Michigan or can get them here I have a contact with a small manufacturer that welds aluminum several days each week. (no heat treating). Or, I have an extra set of Mag's for sale - $850.

Crucial factors to look at when deciding if / how to repair include any corrosion if present (& how much), additional stress on other welds already showing (future failures), and how nicely the wings "fit" your Hobie...poor fitment equals more problems, sooner. Pic below shows beginnings of weld tension failure on an SX leg...

Basically, if your wings are worth repairing / repairable, they need only be fixed to the expected lifespan of the rest of the wing...possibly through a combination of welding, gusseting / riveting and/or sleeving. Heat treatment may not be affordable compared to the cost of a replacement set of wings.

Also, I would figure on spending $50-$60 per hour for an hour or two of shop time if you hire someone to work on them for welding operations. Will only take minutes to do, but they have high overhead. The area to be repaired will need to be thouroughly sandblasted before any welding to completely remove the anodization, or it is likely to contaminate the weld. Like, almost a guarantee. Most fabricating shops will have that capability.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 12:46 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:25 am
Posts: 4267
Location: Jersey Shore
I know it's been said here before about the loss of strength due to welding, but here is an excerpt I found on wikipedia for anyone considering doing welding on wing tubes (or any other aluminum components). It seems the consensus is that Hobie uses 6061-T6 alloy (although I've never seen it in writing from Hobie). So if you're going to repair a wing tube by welding and the shop can't restore the T6 heat treatment, you better have them add some gussets or a sleeve.

Welding
6061 is highly weldable, for example using tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) or metal inert gas welding (MIG). Typically, after welding, the properties near the weld are those of 6061-0, a loss of strength of around 80%. The material can be re-heat-treated to restore -T4 or -T6 temper for the whole piece.

6061-O
Annealed 6061 (6061-O temper) has maximum tensile strength no more than 18,000 psi (125 MPa), and maximum yield strength no more than 8,000 psi (55 MPa).

6061-T6
T6 temper 6061 has an ultimate tensile strength of at least 42,000 psi (290 MPa) and yield strength of at least 35,000 psi (241 MPa).

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