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Post by havoc on Feb 20, 2008 12:03:53 GMT
Silver soldering small parts is harder than doing large parts.
- is your flame in relation to your piece? It's no use trying to silver solder a nipple with the burner you do your boiler with.
- do you really need silver soldering the job? Maybe for your nipple soft 2% silver bearing soldr is ok. It has a higher melting point than plain soft solder and better resistance.
- small parts do not have the thermal capacity to let you solder them with taking the flame away and rely on the heat captured in the piece to melt your stick. You will have to keep the flame on the piece or just next to it to heat it while you add the solder. And isolate everything well.
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tbsteam
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 231
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Post by tbsteam on Feb 20, 2008 12:36:28 GMT
I have got some of the silver bearing solder but that doesn't work either.
I will give it a go again either tomorrow or thursday because i ordered some other stuff which might work better.
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Post by chris vine on Feb 20, 2008 14:59:30 GMT
Hi Again,
Once you have the joint clean and fluxed there is one vital thing.
It must be the metal which is hot enough to melt the solder. So heat the metal either side of the joint (I put little bits of solder onto the joint before I start but most people feed the solder in. The advantage of putting the solder in place is that you can see when it is hot enough because the solder runs and you don't overheat it.) As the metal gets to the right temperature the solder will run into the joint like water. It is really fun once you get the hang of it.
You can let the flame touch the solder, that is fine, but it should not be heating the solder too much. If you think about it, if the metal is not hot enough to melt the solder without the flame, then as the solder tries to run into the joint (it must go into it by capilliary action) it will be out of the heat of the flame and will solidify before it has penetrated. This is what gives a little round ball of solder. If the joint is not clean and fluxed properly the effect is much the same.
get it to work on scrap bits of copper/brass first.
have fun
Chris.
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Post by 02jcole on Feb 20, 2008 16:15:14 GMT
Hello, I sometimes use the silver solder wire which is availble from various model engineering suppliers, you can then just make some flux paste with a bit of water, apply it to the pipe, push the nipple on, wind a couple of length of the wire around the pipe, and heat the whole lot up until the solder melts and flows around the joint. The club member who helped me construct my simplex boiler used a similar technique to the above for soldering the stays in place, but using silver solder rod coiled around a suitably sized drill or bar and made into rings. Similar to this idea: mokei-jouki.hp.infoseek.co.jp/eW-boiler3.htm(the rest of the site is worth a look too...) Regards James. |
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Post by havoc on Feb 20, 2008 18:23:15 GMT
Can you say why it doesn't work? It doesn't make sense just to order other stuff if you have no idea what is going wrong. Mind you, it isn't always easy to tell. Soldering is a lot about experience as well.
The 2% silver solder is to be used like ordinary soft solder. Use the "grease" type of flux. It smells but works very well.
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tbsteam
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 231
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Post by tbsteam on Feb 20, 2008 18:32:52 GMT
The solder that i was on about is some plumbers stuff.
I ordered some 45% solder with some flux as i think there could be something wrong with my flux.
I will see when i get my new stuff.
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Post by chris vine on Feb 20, 2008 23:36:48 GMT
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Post by houstonceng on Feb 21, 2008 0:05:55 GMT
Will someone living near tb, please go round there and demonstrate how to solder a nipple onto a tube. If I was a bit closer, I'd go myself. Reading this thread - and I can't stop myself - is becoming painful.
I get a bad feeling that - as in the film "Cool Hand Luke" - what we have here is a failure to communicate.
tb seems to be buying different solders in the hope that this will cure the problem and, as far as I can tell he may be trying to silver-solder with soft-solder flux or vica versa.
One demo is worth 10,000 words so who's game for it ? (A demo that is)
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tbsteam
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 231
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Post by tbsteam on Feb 21, 2008 10:04:37 GMT
I have found someone that lives on the next street to me. ;D
I am going round tonight to hopefully get some help.
The solder and flux i ordered is from johnson matthey which should arrive today.
I also ordered some extra nipples so i can practice.
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Post by houstonceng on Feb 21, 2008 22:00:37 GMT
tb
Keep us informed. Hopefully, by the time I post this, you'll have cracked it.
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tbsteam
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 231
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Post by tbsteam on Feb 21, 2008 22:46:14 GMT
;D I have got the blanking plugs done  Thank you very much roger. Will see you tomorrow. I am going roung tomorrow to do some soldering. Just got some pipe bending to do first. Also i need to get a different steam regulator from ACS Engineering but the website is currently being updated. Does anybody know how to get hold of sandy at acs? Cheers tb ;D |
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paul
Member
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Post by paul on Feb 22, 2008 8:56:25 GMT
;D I have got the blanking plugs done Does anybody know how to get hold of sandy at acs? Yes, PM me your e-mail address and I'll forward it to him. |
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Post by stoney43 on Feb 22, 2008 18:56:46 GMT
will be at Ramsbottom station Sunday at 11.30 with Wife shopping in craft shop, small brown Dog and old mucky dark blue french car. shall i put some fire bricks in the boot?
dave
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tbsteam
E-xcellent poster
Posts: 231
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Post by tbsteam on Feb 22, 2008 22:40:38 GMT
Thanks for the offer but it is all done ;D ;D ;D
It turned out that there was someone a couple of gardens away (Thank you very much Roger, pop round tomorrow if you want).
I might get it running tomorrow just as a test but the main thing is it is finished!!! ;D!!!
Cheers
tb
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Post by charles on Feb 23, 2008 15:09:44 GMT
one thought which you should think about,, if you have been using soft solder which to me sounds like you hav... pleas dont try and silversolder on top of the soft solder it just wont work the order of the day new nipples new pipe and put the old bits to one side for another job some time ,, just take it easy heat the joint up ad flux then proceed to solder and if you have the temprature wright you will see the solder flash around the joint when you have watched it do that the job is done ,, we all had to start some where and you wont be the last person to have a go....i am a bit to far away to give you personal help ,, unles you can afford a plane ticket and a hire car ( me thinks i need a holiday)
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