Best Way to Make Soda Can Sculpture?

Question

whats the best glue/solder to use for this project?

i have tried some solder and and old soldering iron my school had but the solder wouldnt stick to the aluminium can. im thinking of using a hot glue gun now cause it would give the flexiblity i need without the %@$& of superglue. is there anyway i can actually to solder the aluminium together, i did notice that while i tried to solder the stuff that the aluminium got really really hot from the transfer of heat from the iron. getting a welding torch is outta the question cause its in school, expensive, etc.

so any suggestions?

Answer 1

Aluminium needs to be welded, as you found out soldering wont work.

You could try riveting, a hand pulled rivet gun can be found really cheaply in most hardware shops and the rivets themselves only cost a few pence, they are easy to use, require no heat and no other equipment except a drill or pushpoint to make the initial hole.

Another way to think is not to use any connecting materials at all and think in terms of interlocking parts. You can make small cuts into the aluminium through which you can push another piece, before opening behind like a split pin, literally bending the tab to keep it in place.

The best thing to do is to work with the metal and not fight against it, from soda cans you will find the metal has a now "natural" curve to it, try to exploit this rather than struggling against it, without a blowtorch to anneal you will find it hard to gain a completely flat piece.

Answer 2

simplified version of what Maia told you:

you cannot solder Aluminum.

You could use a hot gluegun.