hi all i'm starting to get the bits together to nave a bash at soldering i have bought some Fluxite but am not sure what solder i need do i want 60/40 tin lead or 63/37 ? (i know i don't want lead free) and what size is best i'm looking at 0.7mm or 1mm at the moment i need wirewool any grade in particular? i bought a sievert torch a while back but am going to get something a bit smaller to start with or would i be better off getting a finer nozzle for the sievert and using that as a new nozzle is cheaper than some of the smaller butane torches i have considered? i have a few more questions as to kit i might need but if i get these answered first i can get the kit ordered up then ask again thanks in advance for any help you can offer atb Bill
Bill for wirewool, go with the 000 as they will take out most of the crud lead and minimal scratches. I use a craftsman pencil point propane solderer. Will send you pic when I get back to work. As for the solder I use combination of tin...I forgot the percentage but works.runs well with flux. Hope this helps. Have you checked your email lately? Ron
hi Ron nope haven't checked my email in days firefox died on my old OS so i have installed the latest ubuntu but have also reinstalled 8.10 lts on another drive and downloaded 9.04 as for some reason the latest version of ubuntu (9.10) won't let me use image zoom and it's playing havoc with my auctions i can't see bugger all on them the postie called today i meant to pm you that it's here atb Bill
some plugins don't work with latest version of FF. You can deinstall FF & then reinstall an older version. I think it's easier to do that via command line. I usually google such commands & copy & paste them into the command terminal.
Hi Bill Solder. 63/37 has the lowest melting point. 60/40, a little higher. 50/50, a little higher yet. Multiple flavors might be useful if you have several parts to solder adjacent to each other. Exeteryak recommends a very thin solder in his tutorial on the Campingo tank. It's been working for me. You can clean your brass anyway you would normally shine it. Steel or brass wool is a possibility in 000 or 0000 "grits". You can mask areas that you don't want the solder on with Milk of Magnesia or with clear fingernail lacquer. It cleans off without too much trouble after the job is completed. For solder, I have used both a propane powered torch and a MAPP gas powered torch. I would suggest propane (or butane) over the MAPP gas. The MAPP can easily get hot enough to melt brass. A trigger ignition torch, as exeteryak pointed out, gives you the ability to add heat in little bursts = control. All the stuff above is stuff I have learned here at CCS in various threads thanks to a number of excellent posts. Thanks posters! And by no means is this all there is to know. I'm sure others will be along to provide their wisdom and perhaps correct any mis-statements I may have made. Best wishes, Gary
hi Gary i don't need any better advice than yours (if there is any ) so i have taken it i have ordered 250g of 0000 wirewool 100g of 63/37 solder 0.7mm the thinnest i could find 100g of 60/40 solder 0.7mm " " i couldn't find 50/50 but will look bought the flux earlier and will treat myself to some nail varnish depending how i get on i'll order some more solder before it go's out of the shops/is banned i'll also pick up a smaller nozzle for the sievert is there any other essentials i'll need ? as i have read of soldering mats/hearths also i want to fix a couple of burners i have that will require silver soldering i have read of borax cones and a dish for making up the flux what do i need for solder as i might just as well get the lot ordered up and get on with it as i have been avoiding having a try for ages now edit extra easy /or easy ? one melts lower than the other is there a preference or should i get a bit of both? thanks for the advice, i have tried reading up in the past but 99% of it go's over my head atb Bill
Hi Bill I think the nail varnish is Doron's idea originally. And, the Milk of Magnesia idea I seem to recall coming from kerophile. Wanna give credit where credit is due. A couple of years back, we had a portion of our house siding replaced with this new concrete siding stuff. It's about 1/4" thick. I have a couple of scraps about a foot square that I solder on. For brazing, I have two kiln blocks. It's what potters use to build ceramics firing kilns. I just looked up a ceramics supply place in the phone book. I think they were about $4-5 each. If you want to fix burners you will need to do silver brazing, also known as silbrazing. Silver soldering is a lower temperature operation, but still higher temperature than standard soldering. In spite of building all these mini and midicaps, the breadth and depth of my knowledge in this area is very limited. I sorta just found something that works for me and have stuck with it. I'd welcome critique-ing from folks who know more than I. Oh, heck. I'll go take some pictures and be right back. I'll show ya what I use to braze a cap, some materials I use, and some tools. Be right back. Cheers, Gary
nice one mate i'll do a google as well see if i can learn anything there, but i have a sneaking suspicion that the propane torch i have won't be up to the job i didn't realise silver soldering and silbrazing were different i just thought it was an English/American difference in terms good job i had the sense to ask first as i was all set to buy a silver soldering kit on the bay atb Bill
Hi, I'm back. OK. Here're the kiln blocks I was talking about and they are resting on the piece of concrete siding. (I dropped one of the blocks. Oops.) The flame plate is from a Primus #71 and it is there to give you some sizing perspective. Here are the two types of flux I'm using for silbrazing. I bought both at McMaster-Carr (Link) . The one on the left I use for brass. The one on the right I use for the 4130 alloy steel I use. The alloy has chromium, so I needed to have this type of flux. What's inside. Silbraze filler rod and wire. The rod I get from a local welding supply shop. It's $7.00 for a rod. I only use it on brass. But, I am using the wire on brass more these days. I have wire filler for the steel alloy, too. Different type, apparently. Both types of the wire filler I use are 3/64" in diameter and come in 1/4 troy ounce rolls. The rolls are almost ten feet long and range from $25 - $35 per roll depending on filler properties. An odd picture looking into the bottom of the babyfood jar where I keep my cut pieces of rod and wire. It's expensive stuff, but I use little itty bitty pieces of it. Other tools. Tweezers for placing filler and brush for applying flux. Sadly, I do not generally have steady enough hands to add filler by hand while brazing. Here's how I'd set up to braze an outer cap onto a base. The base is NOT sanded bright in this photo. I would do that before applying all this stuff. You can see that I've used my brush to dab some flux in a little "bed" in three places around the baseplate. I used the tweezers to place the filler. I also buttered up the bottom edge of the cap with flux using the little brush. The next step would be to flip the cap over and place it on the base. I apply heat with the torch and work it around the base joint of the cap until I can see a line of filler all the way around the joint. But, Bill, for a burner.... I think I'd use a cut length of the wire or rod held in a pair of pliers (for distance gain from the heat) and do it freehand. Anyway, that's what I'm doing. I'm guessing it's not necessarily the best way, but it's working. Other ideas? It would be great to hear them. Fire away, please. Best, Gary Whoops! Crosspost. Um, yea. I'd say MAPP for brazing. You could do it with propane, but you might fall asleep while waiting for things to heat up. Solder and propane work just fine. And, goodness, I hope I'm right about all this. Ack!
i think i might be better off just binning the burners and setting my sights a bit more down to earth if only i could just use a mortice and tenon or even a tusk tenon i never was much use at metal work thanks for taking the time and showing me what it entails i am now even more impressed with the caps i received on the bright side at least i can get on with the soldering i need to do, or at least have a go i never imagined that it was all so complex and it seems it's best left to the experts perhaps i'm better off buying a little wood burner and giving up on all this paraffin stuff (or stick with a trangia) thanks again for the insight atb Bill
Recently I dropped a trangia burner. It cracked around the rim... fixed it by silver soldering (a friend with a very steady hand did it for me, next time will try to do it my self). Dan
good luck Dan i think i'm better off just stalking ebay till one comes up cheap, it's best if i stick to what i'm good at i reckon
right not to be one put off for to long i have done a search in the uk for silbrazing and have come up with some stuff that looks like it might be suitable and isn't so expensive that it's not worth a try if someone could cast there eye over these two links and tell me if any would be suitable for repairing a burner they are ebay links so i apologise in advance for posting them but i can't find it elsewhere at the mo the burners are useless at the mo so i have nothing to lose by trying silbrazing rod i'm looking at flo 55 melting point 630-660c or flo 24 melting point 740-800c i have read the description and am not sure if these are up to the job but 800c sounds bl**dy hot to me and they mention being good for brass through to stainless Link as for flux Tenacity™ No. 5 suitable for below 850c Link let me know if you think these would do the trick please as i might as well give it a pop atb Bill
This is what I use for simple soldering using ordinary soldering wire. I works pretty well as I can turn it on and off in the collar as well as adjust the flame. The zippo lighter is there for size comparison. I use the 1 lb. propane tank for small handy work. Ron
Bill Soft soldering really isn't hard, you just need to do some. It's all about experience. I learned from my dad, he just gave me some pipe and some fittings and said get on with it. So I did. Silver soldering is just the same but because the process requires more heat, you need to be careful about over heating the brass. The products in the links you posted are fine IMHO, I use easyflo No.2 and borax for flux and it works for me. That flux looks to be a good buy. Another substance you can use to stop solder sticking is toothpaste. I've always use wire wool for cleaning before soldering but a plumber friend of mine says it's not the done thing anymore. He says I'm old fashioned bloody cheek. :frown:
hi Gary (red) nice one mate, i have got it in my watch list and will buy some tomorrow when my money go's in to the bank (unless i can find cheaper/smaller quantities of flux in the mean time) i really do need to learn how to solder and as long as i have the right materials and tools i'll know that if i mess up then it's down to my own inabilities rather than using the wrong tools/materials for the job, just in case anyone reads this thread after the links have expired silver soldering - silbrazing the flux is Tenacity™ No. 5 Flux and the solder is Easy-flo™ No.2 google or ebay search will find it for you one last question Gary (red) what gas do you use for the Easy-flo™ No.2? if it's Mapp then i can see a few ebay sales on the horizon btw thanks everyone for your help and encouragement i'll try not to let you down atb Bill
Bill I just use my faithful primus blowtorch with propane. blowtorch With this burner. medium burner 2kw There is a bigger burner. Big burner 7kw I have never needed the bigger burner for silver solder, if you look at the specs for each burner it gives you the maximum size pipe it can be used to braze. If you have something 2kw or bigger you will be fine for stove work if you use a hearth IMHO. Cheek Alert. When taking advice from our colonial cousins you would do well to remember that many live by the code. Some Is Good More Is Better Too Much Is Just Right Some may recommend.
hi Gary is that a Mapp burner nice one for the advice i read it just after you posted and have been trying to find the torch i bought and have checked the burner against the ones you listed , mine is fitted with the standard Sievert burner 3941 and according to a search Power - 3.1kW Diameter - 22m the next size down was rated at 1.2kw so it looks like i have the right one for the job i picked it up months ago on the bay for a pretty good price and this is what turned up in the post, i took the cable ties off it before i took the photo's i haven't even fired it up yet ,well i was scared that once i had i'd melt everything in sight i'll have to get my propane cylinder refilled as i used it all up on a radiant heater i bought btw is it just me ? but i can't help thinking of every time i think of (Strickland) propane atb Bill
