Originally Posted by
Kontact
No one is going to be welding an inch away from an epoxy bond.
It would be interesting, but you can cool with dry ice or liquid nitrogen, or those pipe freezers that plumbers use on water pipes - the challenge would be to maintain a steady heat gradient while welding, as you can't chill the weld pool. But I suspect it's not a weldable alloy anyway.
Originally Posted by
Kontact
The world was absolutely full of non-replaceable aluminum derailleur hangers at one time, and it really wasn't a big issue. Dropouts like that are much tougher than the soft stuff replaceable hangers are made from, and can take quite a bit more impact
Indeed - whether steel or aluminium, good forged ends are remarkably tough. OTOH early bonded frames tended to be rather flexy and make worrying noises.