[TheForge] Re: Vise squad

Tue May 10 06:21:46 EDT 2005

Hi Pete, Thanks for this info.  I'm going to have to plead total ingnorance
to the silver solder.

What kind do you have?  The only one I ever bought was in trying to fasten
bits into air chisels on time and I found the longevity of a mig weld to
hold up better than what ever the welding supplier had sold me.  No doubt
they probably passed on some crap that they were trying to get rid of, but
what kind would you buy for a silver solder to repair blades and tools?
This would be very helpful - as I don't have a stitch of it around the shop.

Ralph

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer" <artgawk at thegrid.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 12:30 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Vise squad

> Ralph:
> I've had pretty good luck of late using ground tapers and silver solder.
> First cut off blase at matching angles and grind opposing flat faces to
> a 3/8 to 1/2" bevel.
>   Welding jig....Cut a 2"X1" gap lengthwise in the corner of a  12"X2"
> chunk of angle iron..square up inside corner..weld on bolts for
> thumbscrews to hold down blade on each side.
> Degrease blade.
> (Flux beveled surfaces before putting in jig.)
> Line blade  up against angleiron with bevels overlapping in the angle
> iron gap, and tighten thumbscrews.
> Use air/propane torch to slowly and evenly heat joint till flux
> flows..watch closely, testing till hot enough to wet with silver
> solder...use cappilary action to flow solder into the overlapped
> gap..add solder from all sides. At just the right temperature, the
> solder will follow the flame wherever you wish.
> Reheat to black heat and cool slowly.
> Unclamp and check straightness..correct with gentle blows of hammer on
> alternating sides of blade. File to even thickness and width.
> There's a certain amount of pissing around here, but aside from the
> sharpness of the teeth in the heat effected area, they last pretty
well....
> Raining and blustery again on the far left coast....PF
>
> Ralph Sproul wrote:
> > Hi Mike,  Once again I'm impressed with the progress as you've gone from
a
> > chevy cavelier friction wheel to a line shaft and flat belt
> > drives............      You must be a master tinkerer as I can barely
keep
> > everything going that run off direct electric motor drives at my place!
Is
> > your whole place run off a line shaft? 0r was the band saw that
vintage - so
> > you were test firing her for blade testing?
> >
> > I've had very limited success when welding blades together myself on the
> > "Blade Welder" that came with an old Walker Turner band saw I have.
I've
> > ground the edges square and flat for a resistance butt weld - then hit
the
> > power button to anneal like Bzzzzzzzzzt,  Bzzzzzzt, Bzzzzt,  Bzzt, Bzt.
> > Letting the red go out further on the blade less and less each time.  I
> > found on that whole role of blade stock that I bought that I did give it
an
> > honest effort - but found my success rate just didnt' merit buying a
second
> > roll and have bought factory "premade's" since then on.
> >
> > My question to you on the brazed blade repairs is the slight bevel your
> > mentioning is square to the blade? or did you bevel them like you'd weld
a
> > truck frame and angle that slight bevel with the length of the blade to
get
> > more surface area for the braze?
> >
> > I'm guessing this was a but weld with the butt being square but slightly
> > beveled in the vertical height of the blade not the length.
> >
> > I think this is one of those if I saw it we wouldn't be writting so
much -
> > but such is keyboard show and tell.
> >
> > I did feel mastering the blade welding thing to be economicly better
than
> > buying premade ones - but I got frustrated with my success rate and the
time
> > I was taking to prove to myself I could do it.  I do know how to braze,
and
> > there is a little bit of that blade stock left on the roll, so I'd give
> > myself a second chance if you feel this works well.  I think open flame
> > brazing at less than half the temperature on high carbon or bimetal
blade
> > stock would take away that electric annealing process that I could never
get
> > consistent with.  Some would last months, others wouldn't make the first
> > turn.  :-(
> >
> > The jig I'm guessing is just a way to hold the blade flat and straight
while
> > brazing? are you leaving the center open for flow? or is it tight to a
> > ceramic surface or something so it won't stick?
> >
> > The ability to take a blade that someone using your saw and breaking a
tooth
> > cuz they dropped the head to fast or cut too close to a torch cut would
be
> > great to cut out the broken tooth section of a $50 blade and rebraze it
for
> > some continued use........instead of tossing it begrudgingly into the
> > trash - or in my case.......putting it on that pin sticking from the
wall
> > where there are five "repairable" blades for when I'm real bored and
want to
> > try my hand at electric annealing - or Mike gives me the true secret to
> > success in brazing blades.   :-)
> >
> > Ralph
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
> > To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 12:24 AM
> > Subject: [TheForge] Re: Vise squad
> >
> >
> >
> >>>I almost hate to admit this, but I was standing there one day with
> >>>four of these really thick 0 rings...
> >>
> >>Good yarn, Ralph.
> >>
> >>
> >>>I think this qualified for one of those rare and treasured moments
> >>>in the shop when ignorance turns to bliss...
> >>
> >>Yes.
> >>
> >>BTW, some time ago -- I forget how long -- I asked advice about
> >>brazing bandsaw blades.  After several failed experiments, I went with
> >>my "ordinary" brazing rod, a jig and a slightly beveled joint,
> >>i.e. just a little overlap.  And tehre it sat for months.
> >>
> >>Yesterday I finally dragged the saw over to where a flatbelt would
> >>reach from the lineshaft and fired it up.  Works like a charm.  Blade
> >>didn't go !SPUNG!.  Home-made clutch arrangement needed one mod to
> >>keep the belt on.
> >>
> >>Horrible location, blocking the walk-way and no room for a long
> >>workpiece but it's proof of concept.
> >>
> >>- Mike
> >>
> >>--
> >>Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
> >>                                 (902) 543-8375            /V\
> >>mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> >>http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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