robmort
Hi-poster
3.5" Duchess, finishing 2.5" gauge A3 and building 3.5" King
Posts: 174
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Post by robmort on Sept 2, 2016 21:07:05 GMT
I need to make up to maybe 400 such rings for my King boiler. The problem is that I have several types of 55% or similar, 1mm thick silver solder from different manufacturers but most of them will not bend to an inside diameter of 3.2mm or so, but are too brittle and break at a diameter well above this. I do have one 1.5mm rod that will bend like this but I don't know the manufacturer.
Suppliers I've tried are not able to help in this regard.
Does anyone know of a source for suitable silver solder?
Rob
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jma1009
Elder Statesman
Posts: 5,917
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Post by jma1009 on Sept 3, 2016 11:06:04 GMT
Hi Rob,
Ive used 1mm silverflo 55 from Mac Models. No problem winding it up like a spring and sniping off the rings and flattening them.
You can anneal silver solder rod, but I have never done this, plus I like the rings to remain tight and springy on the stays so they dont move and also stop the stays moving whilst assembling and fluxing up.
Cheers, Julian
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robmort
Hi-poster
3.5" Duchess, finishing 2.5" gauge A3 and building 3.5" King
Posts: 174
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Post by robmort on Sept 3, 2016 17:03:11 GMT
Hi Rob, Ive used 1mm silverflo 55 from Mac Models. Thanks, but do you mean 1.5mm or 0.5mm silverflo as Macc don't sell 1mm? The extra 0.5mm can make a big difference to bending, and the 0.5 is too thin. Also it would be good to know how to anneal it without melting, but I can find no information on this.
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Post by builder01 on Oct 22, 2016 21:05:10 GMT
Hi Rob,
I have had this problem. Some silver solder is a bit brittle and will not bend to make a small ring. So, what I have done is to anneal the solder before bending. It was just something I suspected and it worked. I have a roll of solver solder that is some new old stock. It is way too brittle to make rings from. So, I played a propane torch on a single loop of the roll just to see what would happen. As I played the torch on it, the loop uncoiled just a bit. Obviously don't get it hot enough to melt it, just enough to see the loop uncoil a bit. It should be much too hot to touch. I did it right on the concrete floor of my shop. After the coil cooled, I polished it up a little with steel wool. I brought the now annealed solder back to my lathe to see if I could make a spring from it and wound around the mandrel with no problem.
I then cut the silver solder "spring" into single rings for my stays. My stays are a little bit larger than yours, 3/16" in diameter. But, my solder broke into little bits before annealing just like yours. My solder diameter is 1/16". I don't know if what I have done has actually annealed the silver solder or not. But, the end result is that it now bends easily. YES!
David
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robmort
Hi-poster
3.5" Duchess, finishing 2.5" gauge A3 and building 3.5" King
Posts: 174
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Post by robmort on Oct 23, 2016 17:50:42 GMT
Thanks, David.
Taking your initiative, I also tried annealing and it worked, surprisingly, since silversmiths seem to anneal silver by heating to red heat which is clearly too much for the solder.
So heating has to be judged to a level high enough without melting it.
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Post by builder01 on Oct 23, 2016 22:01:07 GMT
Hi Rob,
Glad to hear it has worked for you! After annealing it, you can really tell just by bending the wire in your fingers that it has changed from brittle, to bendable!
David
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