Silver solder?

Re: Silver solder?

Ed Snow

>You can with mapp/air. It burns at about 2300 if I remember correctly. Hard and IT silver solder melt at about 1353 and high 1400's respectivly. You will need some good flux. Go to your welding supply for some handy flux and some hard silver solder if you don't have them yet.

Re: Silver solder?

Doug Reynolds in Seattle

>I used silver solder to make small brass hand planes. Used the normal propane torch. Worked just fine. Got my silver solder from a jewelry supply company in Oakland. They sell a small kit with the solder and flux. Had no luck with the local Seattle welding supply shops.

Re: Silver solder?

ThomD

>http://tinmantech.com/html/silver_brazing_rod.php

This is the hard solder, and for some reason it says not to use it as you are planning. This guy is pretty expert, so I would want to check it out. Maybe the turning tools are large enough and used at slow enough speeds.

Braising

Derek

>I was recently reading in an old machinist book I have. They advised braising for attaching dissimilar metals. That is what is done with carbide tipped saw blades and router bits. They said to use a specific kind of flux - can't remember the type off hand and that technology could have changed over the years.

Re: Silver solder?

Jerry Nicholson

>I have worked with silver solder using a normal propane torch so I would think a MAPP torch should work just fine. I don't know anything about hard brazing alloys now but silver solder used to contain cadmium, among other things, so it should be used where there is plenty of ventilation. (Like outdoors).

There is also silver bearing soft solder, silver and tin I think. What I used was listed as food safe but you wouldn't want to use it for anything under much stress.

Be careful with that torch - you don't want to set Kansas on fire like Oklahoma and Texas.

Jerry

Re: Braising

Todd Hughes

>I have done lots of Forge Braising, Used to make many ferrules for knife handles by braising them, using both copper and brass wire. I always just used Borax like you get in the super market for the flux and worked fine. Forge Braising is very easy to do if you can figure out how to hold the pieces together. I have made Long Rifle iron trigger guards and but plates which I riveted together first and then braised which was how many of the old ones were done apparently ....Todd

Whoa - Hard and Soft Silver are Different!

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>Soft "silver solder" is really tin solder with a wee bit of silver...melts at less than 600 degrees and ain't much stronger than tin solder.

Hard "silver braze" has more silver and melts at 1100 degrees and up with a joint strength of 40k psi and up.

Propane for the first, but MAPP or O/A for the other if the parts are any bigger than yer finger.

There's some formulations in between, but those are the two basic choices. Visit your local welding shop and ask.

Re: Braising

Derek

>Todd,

Thanks for info. I do believe they recommended borax for the flux as you used - again from memory.

Re: Whoa - Hard and Soft Silver are Different! *LINK*

Melvin in Calgary

>I've used an air/acetylene turbo torch extensively to silver braze up to 1.5" copper fittings to steel lines and vice versa for HVAC work. Way cheaper than MAPP, sowewhat cheaper than oxy/acet. Plus it is pretty fool proof, no pressure settings to mess with. Just screw the torch hose onto a tank and fire 'er up.

This setup along with a hack saw will also allow you to make steel and brass fittings that you can't buy anywhere.


http://www.jandrweldingsupply.com/store/TurboTorch