Can a DC TIG unit be used for silver soldering?

[no idea]

I do some silver soldering occasionally using either a propane or MAPP torch. I wanted to know if a DC TIG inverter setup could be used instead of a gas torch. I wouldn't expect this type of setup to require any form of shielding gas since the TIG will only be used to heat up the base metal i.e. low amperage, rather than melt it.

Any idea?

 

[irondarren]

I have to say the answer is going to be no. Tig heats up a very local area where as propane heats up a wider area, i just dont believe you would be able to get the area surrounding hot enough for silver solder to flow. The instant you take the tig torch away it would be to cold for solder to flow. If you tried to use the solder like a filler rod, the rod would melt with no heat in the base materal. if your try to speed up the silver soldering process, then i would suggest oxygen/acetaleyne with a no 1 nozzle, that would give you more heat than propane.

 

[Drains]

Even if it would work, you'd still need shielding gas as one of it's main purposes is to stop the tungsten from becoming contaminated . You must always use shielding gas on TIG.

I imagine you could use the Tig to heat up a wider area, and it might work, but still there are better and maybe cheaper options (oxy/acet, for a start, as suggested)

Si

 

[snowcat]

i use an oxy propane with a peperpot for silver soldering boilers, cheap and efective.

 

[Graham]

Tig brazing

Hi All,
Some years ago I was a full time tig welder in a company that did lots of very interstin stuff.
One thingh I made was a heat exchanger in copper with fins on the outside.
I was making filler by trimming thin strips from copper sheet which I use to tack the fins in place but to get the good thermal conductance to the fins I flowed each fin with a braze wire from Eutectic, using the tig set.
You wait until the base metal is just hot enough to take the braze then run the joint end to end as fast as possible.
Everything got pretty hot even with the water cooled tig torch.
This was not siver solder though, and I thing things would be different on steel as the heat would build up locally.
It OK if your working with copper.

Graham