silver soldering steel to steel
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Mostly, It is all about the lead content of the steel - peroid. The higher it is, the more difficult it is to silver solder. Not impossible, but much more difficult particulary if the lead content is > 2%. Mild (low carbon) free machining steel has a lot of lead (6-8%), as do many cold rolled steels, so I do not try to silver solder with them. Structural (hot rolled steel, lead free) is easy to silver solder once the basics are learned.
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Hi,
One thing I forgot to mention is that I do all my silver soldering on an insulating brick "hearth." This makes a big difference, since you don't have to worry about the heat getting away from the underside of the part. Don't use firebrick, it isn't a good enough insulator; what you need is the white insulating brick. Mechanically, it has no strength, but it is a very good insulator. It gets white hot almost as soon as you put the torch on it, but take the torch away and you can put your hand on the heated surface a minute later.
I find that with oxy/acetylene, it is too easy to overheat the joint so I always use propane/air, I just choose the size of the tip to suit the job. I also still have a supply of cadmium silver solder; I haven't tried the new stuff yet. Its amazing how long a coil of wire lasts because you only use a little bit at a time. Don is posting from sunny Spain, he's missed the one foot of snow we got Monday night.
Hope this helps.
Richard Trounce
One thing I forgot to mention is that I do all my silver soldering on an insulating brick "hearth." This makes a big difference, since you don't have to worry about the heat getting away from the underside of the part. Don't use firebrick, it isn't a good enough insulator; what you need is the white insulating brick. Mechanically, it has no strength, but it is a very good insulator. It gets white hot almost as soon as you put the torch on it, but take the torch away and you can put your hand on the heated surface a minute later.
I find that with oxy/acetylene, it is too easy to overheat the joint so I always use propane/air, I just choose the size of the tip to suit the job. I also still have a supply of cadmium silver solder; I haven't tried the new stuff yet. Its amazing how long a coil of wire lasts because you only use a little bit at a time. Don is posting from sunny Spain, he's missed the one foot of snow we got Monday night.
Hope this helps.
Richard Trounce
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
An excellent point. I rarely use anything besides hot-rolled steel (or sometimes stainless) for a silver-brazed assembly.
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
Chattanooga, TN
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
For small stuff you need to heat from below:
https://www.riogrande.com/product/solde ... ens/502085
Brook
Rio Grande, lists their's as 9"-high (229mm) steel tripod with 4-3/4"-diameter (121mm) ring and a 6" square screen.https://www.riogrande.com/product/solde ... ens/502085
Brook
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
This was what I was afraid of... I'm not sure if it's doable. I'd hate to invest a ton of time in several pieces, then find out that I can't solder them together..
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Re: silver soldering steel to steel
1018 has no lead in it. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6115#2
Soldering steel: https://www.muggyweld.com/video/braze-s ... gK0KfD_BwE
Soldering steel: https://www.muggyweld.com/video/braze-s ... gK0KfD_BwE
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Interesting, I always thought 1018 had some lead in it, thanks for posting that..John Hasler wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 3:16 pm 1018 has no lead in it. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6115#2
Soldering steel: https://www.muggyweld.com/video/braze-s ... gK0KfD_BwE
John
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Re: silver soldering steel to steel
perhaps you are thinking of 12L14 or similar, which is full of lead....
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Hi John,
The obvious question is; why not take a couple of pieces of the steel you are going to use and try to silver solder them together? This should give you all the answers you need before you put any significant work in what you want to make.
From what Don & the others are saying it should work just fine. The only material I have ever had any difficulty with is cast iron.
As they say, "Try it, you'll like it!"
Richard Trounce.
The obvious question is; why not take a couple of pieces of the steel you are going to use and try to silver solder them together? This should give you all the answers you need before you put any significant work in what you want to make.
From what Don & the others are saying it should work just fine. The only material I have ever had any difficulty with is cast iron.
As they say, "Try it, you'll like it!"
Richard Trounce.
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Good advice! I have just done this with the N&W tender bogie frames. I used the practice pieces that are from the same stock as the real ones and the same size. This is my first time silver soldering steel and I didn't expect it to go as well as it did. Clean joint. Flux and clamp. Heat with O/A and apply the solder, which flowed very nicely following the heat.
Here is the result:
Hard to see in the photo but the fillet is nice and small which it what I was hoping for.
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Hi
I was reading this over as I am about to silver braze a steel two throw crank, ie 4 webs, for a model engine.
The webs are hot rolled and the shaft and throw rod are drill rod. I did an experiment run using Harris black and some
non cad braze. Came out fine but I have two questions
In the past I used to use Sparax 1 for pickling steel but have searched around and not found any locally, so I am going to use Muratic acid 32% diluted to 15% - 18%. Is that a good reduction?
Second my setup uses firebrick and I was looking for the "insulating brick" mentioned above. I keep getting back a ceramic brick material. Is that what I need to get?
Thanks
Bob
I was reading this over as I am about to silver braze a steel two throw crank, ie 4 webs, for a model engine.
The webs are hot rolled and the shaft and throw rod are drill rod. I did an experiment run using Harris black and some
non cad braze. Came out fine but I have two questions
In the past I used to use Sparax 1 for pickling steel but have searched around and not found any locally, so I am going to use Muratic acid 32% diluted to 15% - 18%. Is that a good reduction?
Second my setup uses firebrick and I was looking for the "insulating brick" mentioned above. I keep getting back a ceramic brick material. Is that what I need to get?
Thanks
Bob
Re: silver soldering steel to steel
Insulating fire bricks are available on Ebay. Here's the type I got:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/K-26-Insulatin ... :rk:1:pf:0
These are not exactly cheap, but, they are the correct type and work well. I used them with a Sievert propane torch to completely build a copper boiler for a 1" scale locomotive. The barrel is 5" in diameter by 19" long.
For pickling, I use food grade citric acid. (get it from Walmart) Works great and is completely safe.
David
https://www.ebay.com/itm/K-26-Insulatin ... :rk:1:pf:0
These are not exactly cheap, but, they are the correct type and work well. I used them with a Sievert propane torch to completely build a copper boiler for a 1" scale locomotive. The barrel is 5" in diameter by 19" long.
For pickling, I use food grade citric acid. (get it from Walmart) Works great and is completely safe.
David