Is regular silver solder what most use for non heat area soldering? Plumbers solder and a butane soldering torch? I read several posts about 'plumbers solder' and electricians solder but wondered what most favored for general tubing and parts soldering. Also, anyone ever make pressure canisters out of stuff they have laying around? Like putting a pump and what not in a can to make their own stoves? I dont know that its trustworthy, but also I dont know what kind of pressure they use either. I used to do bodywork, repair wrecked cars, and now I seem to have retired quite early due to not being stupid. Thusly and therefore I have nothing to do anymore. The fishing is spotty, so is the hunting, I load ammo and shoot regularly but the rest of the time I do nothing. I started this whole dang stove shenanigans with a tin can and my hole punch with 1/2 inch holes. I made a gassifier biomass stove. It works great, but the can glows cherry red with thin soup can bodies. Still its good. Then I got a kelly kettle, then a vulcan safety stove (imagine that for a first one), and then a Hot Ter alcohol heater. With not a lot to do as far as making things and what not I messed around with the stove ideas and ran across the coleman 530 and 520 (which I dont have yet) and wanted to goof around with pressurized/hand pumped stoves. After seeing the franken lamp/stove in another post I fear I may biuld monstrous stoves/lanters like something out of a Johhny Depp movie. I also fear I shall burn myself severely. However, I have my trusty tools from my shop days, what knowledge I can bring from the collision industry, and an imagination that a mother and wife hate. Anyway, enough rambling. Im looking forward to learning something here. You guys seem like your not afraid to try something new, or either you all have good health insurance.
Welcome to the mad hatters ball then. I use a stick of 50/50 plumbers solder for everything except burners. Rosin coated stuff I don't seem to have much luck with. Ignorance is bliss. or if you like the odd Suprise every now and agin. Keeps the heart going and and the freckle twitching.
Hi, Welcome to CCS. If I can offer some words of advice. It is a good idea to work and become familiar with "normal" kerosene and gasoline stoves, as supplied by the makers, before starting on Frankenstoves and home-builds. This is because you get to understand how a stove should operate, what the flame pattern looks like and how it sounds when working properly. This does not have to be expensive as there are many sound but un-used stoves available from Yard Sales, Ebay etc. As for the soldering. 1. With classic brass-bodied stoves the stove body was fabricated from a number of parts using lead-tin solder as the main method of joining. 2. I suspect that classic plumbers solder was used. As you know this "Mix" does not go from liquid to solid directly on cooling, but instead passes through a "pasty" stage where the plumber could make final adjustments and "wipe" the joint. 3. Electricians lead-tin solder has a single melting/freezing point and therefore goes directly from liquid to solid when cooled through this temperature. There is no "pasty" stage so you get immediate grip. This solder also fully melts at a slightly lower temperature than plumbers solder so if you are repairing an old stove you are less likely to melt a nearby joint.....however you should still try to protect adjacent solder joints with a wet cloth or similar. 4. Modern solders are lead-free and I have never used them on stoves. They use a different flux and I believe they melt at a slightly higher temperature than traditional lead-tin solders. They are also much more expensive. 5. I would say stick to the old-fashioned environmentally-unfriendly lead-tin solders for stoves. 6. "Silver solder" has a very specific meaning, at least here in the UK. It is a silver bearing alloy which is available in a range of compositions and melts at much higher temperatures (above 600-700 deg C) than lead-tin solders. It would not normally be used on brass stoves. 7. A wide range of "silver solder" alloys have been developed to provide suitable jointing properties for an even wider variety of parent materials and applications. Although silver is predominantly used, other elements within the filler materials include copper, zinc, tin, nickel, phosphorus, manganese, silicon and cadmium. 8. Here is a link to some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder Good Luck with this absorbing hobby (or Madness) Best Regards, Kerophile.
When I am fabricating something that needs soldering (not welded or brazed) I generally use silver solder for most things that arent electrical. Not sure why, I suppose that its one of those things you just do. Ive had stoves for camping for at least 20 years and never really thought all that much about them or fixing them so I generally tossed them when a seal went out or something needed fixing. I never thought about cannibalizing parts, even though they arent the same model, or even maker. Its been a month now that I have quit working (my own choice) and need soemthing to do, its not repairing wrecks or modifying cars, but its something I like to do, work on things and be outdoors, so they kind of go hand in hand a little. I dont think that Id make an appliance to start with, Im using to systems that use fuel and are under pressure, etc, but I know how they work properly and how they dont work. Im sure that with some common sense and a little background Ill try to make something later.
bntbrl, Welcome to CCS. You'll love it here. You can get good stoves on eBay. Don't bid too high, because I want to win. Best, Al
I dont know what Im looking at anyway. I dont even use these stoves for camping. I normally use a campfire or a kelly kettle...
bentbarrel, the lamp'n'stove was mine. It was assemblied using 50/50 solder. Having spent nearly three years at a trade school learning to weld, solder, braze and silbraze, (the correct name for joining with silver solder), all done while still attending high school, and then over twenty years in the U.S. Coast Guard as a Damage Controlman, I was and am well versed in the use of these materials and processes. I was a ceritified (California shop and field) welder before the age of 19. And I was Coast Guard certified to weld steels up to and including a hundred forty thousand pound(140,000#) tensile strength. I am now approaching my third score. I prefer to use Silbrazing for stoves because of the heat index which the joint will withstand. That said however, when making repairs or when making a frank'n'stove one must remember that the origional stove or parts you are using, if already soldered, will not stand up to the heat of silbrazing. With your years of experience i should think you would not have a problem making a "frankenstove". The only thing i would warn you is to test your stove outside and well away from any sturctures or open forest land. If you need any advice feel free to ask here and i or one of our brothers equaly well versed in fettling will be ready and willing to assist you. Lance
I had been building biomass stoves for a while and have just about ran out of ideas for them. The only thing left really is folding stoves or something similar. I bought a couple junkers for parts Im going to take apart and clean and see how well they go back together. Has anyone ran their tanks or parts through a tumbler? I have a large brass tumbler for reloading bullets. A squirt of polish, some walnut shells, and some corn cob will make a crappy looking brass round found in the dirt nice and shiny. Maybe Ill see what happens when you throw a whole stove in it. I dont have access to an oxy anymore as my work had always supplied it, now I am finding myself wishing I had a small oxy tank to make things with. I can only do so much with solder and rivets. I like the look of things brazed together as opposed to rivets. I made a wood gassifier stove and used some silver solder to hold some vents that I thought wouldnt get hot. When the stove got going and started burning the gass off the wood like a stove burner the can got really red and started making noise and the solder fell off. So, Im gonna see if I can find a small oxy hobby size kit. You can be pretty sure that Ill ask an opinion before I do something. I dont really know the different between a lot of the burners yet. Here inthe states we use the coleman or its equivalent pretty much. The alcohol burners, sveas, optimus, etc are far and few between with most people.
Hey, Bntbrl, I've used my huge Dillon case polisher to clean both an Optimus 00, and a SVEA 123. They came out perfectly!! One problem you may have, however, if you want to solder/braze/weld on them afterwards, is that they will be coated with film from the polish. This does help keep them from oxidizing, but might make joining parts a real PITA. Have fun, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
I lik eme case polisher. I shoot a 300 weatherby and big shiny cases are nice to look at. It doesnt make me any more accurate though lol. Have any of you guys used mapp gas or is it a waste of time for small repairs and prototypes? The cheap kits are 50 and the small portable oxy kits are 300. will the oxy kit make up the difference in those tank refills at 8 dollars each? The oxy kit bottle sare about 12 or 14 inches tall, both oxy, and acetylene.
A quick question that comes to mind for any of you guys (or girls) that have an Oxy-Acetylene set-ups. Does it affect your house insurance at all? I'm assuming the butane/propane/MAPP stuff you can get at DIY stores is considered normal home use stuff. But a full blown (no pun intended) Oxy-Acetylene set-up is getting into the realms of industrial/commercial kit and I wonder whether if the insurance companies found out there would be additional cost or limitations on obtaining insurance?
I have no idea about the liability with the insurance. As far as safety goes I dont see why it would be any more dangerous than the mapp gas. If you use some common sense like dont use the oxy cutter over a pile of old newspapers (unless they are stacked and folded flat, then you will notice it before it flames up), its relatively safe. The small 12 inch tanks could blow up, but so could your cars gas tank.. Or the 1 gallon gas container on the shelf next top the hot water heater. I want the small oxy kit but Im going to hold off, maybe something will come off craigslist or something cheap. The borde bomb is a good idea. I dont fully understand everything about them yet but it looks simple enough to figure out. If I can put half a car together with 100 pieces of parts and sheetmetal and have the doors close perfectly I think I could figure that out. Oh, and with the mapp gas, how long does it last, 15 minutes per container? Also seems like it woul dheat everything up instead of a small locale like an oxy torch would do. I thought about it but...
In the body repair theres an old long running saying when you are working on your own car. "I know the owner and he'll be okay with it". Thats my motto anyway. Im not going to build perfection, but if Im going to do something Id like to do it to an acceptable degree and safe as well. I want the oxy kit but I dont need it. It would be useful to build things. I build a lot of stupid things that most people ask me why I even bother. I was not going to teach my young sons how to work on things because I hate the auto collision field ( at least the people we work for, they are usually self centered, care only about their own money, and will treat you poorly and steal from you if you arent on top of your tickets). I retired from it not too long ago, quite early Im happy to say. I didnt want my son going into it later if I taught him. One of my other co workers 20 something year old son came in and needed help changing a headlamp bulb. Then I decided to teach my sons anyway. We make things from recovered broken toys and whatever else we can pull together. Most of them are quite silly or serve no real purpose other than amusement. He is getting old enough now to put things together with help so I think we will work on a stove next ( refurbishing one). First we are building an electrolysis tank ( mostly me working though, him fetching things).
