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Welding around cartridge heaters

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tomcannon

Mechanical
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
26
Location
GB
Hi, just a quick one- I am using cartridge heaters in a job for myself and due to awkward installation it may be necessary to weld around them.

They are being inserted in thin wall aluminium tubes and require a cap welded on the end (opposite end to wires), due to the other end of the tube being bent it is not possible to do the welding first. Do you think this will be ok?

Aluminium melts at around 660 Celcius, most cartridge heaters seem to have a maximum operating temperature of 470 Celcius (from a quick google search), the end of the tube could actually be crimped over to make the welding process very quick instead of welding a cap on, and then the piece could be cooled quickly afterwards.

Also different question- do small cartridge heaters have a life span that is generally estimated?
 
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