Silver soldering Hot Rolled Steel

[Al_Messer]

I realize to that get a good solid joint in Silver Soldering, the mating surfaces must be almost surgically clean, this involves taking off all the scale and surface impurities before applying the flux. Question: when the heat is applied, is there a danger of warpage as when using CR Steel?

[UnkaJesse]

Al, Hot rolled steel is pretty stable as long as heat is evenly distributed across the jointJust make sure you use a thin flowing silver solder so it will wick into the joint. . Electric welding is what really does a number on any type steel as far as warpage goes.

Unka(I am still upset about that remark you made a few days ago about my new bio-pic making me look better)Jesse

[Al_Messer]

I'll buy you a cup of coffee on Saturday as a peace offering. Oh, better leave the jug at home!!

[FredR]

Unka(I am still upset about that remark you made a few days ago about my new bio-pic making me look better)Jesse

Well, atleast it makes you look like you lost a lot of weight [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[UnkaJesse]

[/quote]
Well, atleast it makes you look like you lost a lot of weight [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img] [/quote]

Fred, you just jealous 'cause I have lost weight and you ain't. I have found that a straight diet of nothing but corn squeezings will cause you to lose weight. Of course you may lose your wife, drivers license and everything else in the process! Also, note the exercise I am getting as I dance a jig in the bio-pic.

Unka(Naw, I don't really sip at a jug, now or ever)Jesse [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[David_W]

-How do you do 'em, save 'em? I "right click" and all that jazz, and I only get a still picture- Unk and TEL, you seem to have it right, I'm a little (not a lot) younger than you and I still "ain't got it," don't that make you feel good?

[Hanz]

After you saved them, did you drag it's icon onto a browser window to view it? If you are opening them with an image viewing app (photoshop, etc) it won't be animated...

[UnkaJesse]

David, If you right click on a .gif file to save it, it will not be animated unless you stick it onto an email and then it should work alright. It also animates as you know when posted as a bio pic.

Unka(Way off the original silversoldering topic, but we did answer it, didn't we Al? Al? Are you there Al?)Jesse

[C_Ray]

Al, Hot rolled steel is pretty stable as long as heat is evenly distributed across the jointJust make sure you use a thin flowing silver solder so it will wick into the joint. . Electric welding is what really does a number on any type steel as far as warpage goes.

Unka(I am still upset about that remark you made a few days ago about my new bio-pic making me look better)Jesse

Believe it or not, Unka J & I are going to be the only one's on this thread to actually stay on topic! What's the world commin' to, anyway?!??!?!?!?!

Anyway, for what it's worth, I remember reading an article or a section in a book about layering a pan with asbestos cubes, setting the shell into the pan, filling the shell with cubes & surrounding it with cubes... basicly the idea was that the only part of the shell exposed would be the joint, the asbestos was supposed to allow you to run your soft torch all over the joint to heat it evenly while keeping the heat from running to the rest of the shell & warping/distorting it. I realize before everyone's tits get into their perspective wringers that asbestos is now a no-no, but the idea is sound, from my weldor's point of view & if you substitute KAOwool for asbestos, I think it may just work... Definitly worth a try with some scrap anyway. If you check with refractory suppliers in your area, Al, you should be able to pick up enough KAOwool to do your boiler for around $20 or so... If ya show him the parts & take him pic's of what the finished project will look like, he may even "find some old wool layin' around back here you could have if'n ya blow the dust off'n it yourself." I've had it happen before- depends on whether or not he's a "cool hobbie" kinda guy or not...

C.Ray (See, there's a chance for snowball fights in hell afterall!

[Al_Messer]

Well. C. Ray, I appreciate the good advice, and I ain't skeered of Asbestos---got a brand new roll of asbestos paper stashed to insulate/lag the boiler of my UGLY LOCOMOTIVE. When time comes for making the boiler for it, I'm HOPING that I can PERSUADE Unca Jesse to weld up "just one more for old times' sake" for me, for a fee, of course!! What I'm doing here is making up side rods, brake rods, and connecting rods out of bits and pieces of HR scrap.

[C_Ray]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! If it's bar stock, etc. wouldn't it work well to braze with brass and flux? Just a thought.

C.Ray

[UnkaJesse]

C.Ray, Al needs something that will flow in between the joints to make them become as one piece. Brazing will work well if you have a deep "V" joint for it to flow down in to plus it is extremely strong, but I think Al will be better off with thin flowing silver solder.

As to heating and insulating. I do a lot of my silver soldering with the parts lying on a fire brick and backed up with pieces of fire brick to hold some of the more cantankerous pices in place while heating. For this type work, I use a propane torch and wear safety glasses in case a piece of fire brick pops off (never has happened). I used to use a material called (Maranite [sp?]) for this, but after leaving the aluminum mill in Jackson, I can no longer get scraps of Maranite. (I think the stuff had asbestos [SHUDDER-SHUDDER-Gasp] in it. Like Al, I think the asbestos scare was just that, a scare, unless you had to work in the stuff full time.

Unka(How did we manage to get back on topic (?) gotta watch that!)Jesse