[TheForge] metalworking question- soldering brass

[James Binnion]

Sanding w 220 grit or steel wool will be adequate for surface prep you  
don't need to pickle to prepare joint just clean metal. Use a good  
paste flux like handy flux or staysilv. Braze alloy will follow the  
heat so if the joint is the hottest point it will stay in the joint.  
You may not be able to do this  so you can buy stop off coatings that  
will inhibit solder flow. You can also use yellow ocher mixed w water  
to make a paint that acts as a stop off. If you are working outside  
and wear a good respirator the cadmium bearing silver solders have the  
lowest flow temperatures. But you really do not want to get that stuff  
in your lungs. The silver solders without cadmium have higher flow  
temps but don't poison you.

What about TIG brazed joints? Use your TIG torch and the silver copper  
eutectic solder as the filler metal. You don't want to heat the base  
metal to the point of fusion just hot enough to melt the silver copper  
eutectic. You don't want to try this with the other silver solders as  
the zinc and or tin or cadmium content will vaporize and raise hell  
with your arc and lungs but silver copper eutectic or copper  
phosphorous braze alloys work quite nicely with the TIG torch.

Jim
On Jan 20, 2010, at 12:56 PM, Andy Gladish wrote:

> Thanks so much, this is exactly the info I need.
> Any recommendations for a suitable solder?
> Also, what about preparation? Using jewelry solder, I've always  
> cleaned
> with an acid bath- would filing and flux be suitable?
> It's not so much perfect preservation of the patina, more that we  
> don't
> want to get into having to polish the entire length because of a joint
> needing to be filed/sanded smooth.
> Originally, they liked my TIG/silicon bronze welds, but then it  
> seems a
> finer joint was needed- I'm still lobbying for TIG and some minimal
> smoothing, but we'll see...
> Andy
>
> On Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:47:43 -0800, Bruce Freeman <freemab222 at gmail.com 
> >
> wrote:
>
>> non-eutectic solder
>
>
> -- 
> Naive you are / if you believe / life favours those / who aren't  
> naive.
> -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
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James Binnion
jbin at well.com