steveo3002
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ive seen silver solder mentioned in a few articles ..suggesting it can be used for repairs on steel ?
can anyone tell me more about it and its uses?
can anyone tell me more about it and its uses?
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Tiggy_dorset
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Silver solder is extremely versatile, I use it often. I use oxy/acet, but some people have some success with oxy/propane and similar.
Silver solder can be used on: mild steel, stainless, brass, copper and similar alloys. I havn't tried it on pure aluminium yet, but I believe it can be used. I have however used it on Alu alloys ie. Ally/bronze without problems.
It is basically brazing, requiring a flux (unless the rods are self fluxed). Aluminium alloys require another type of flux specifically for that purpose though.
You get different grades of solder. I think generally most use 55% silver content, but I prefer 40% for most applications. The higher the % the lower the melting point of the solder.
So to answer your question simply, yes it can be used for steel
BrokenBiker
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basically the same as brazing to any hobbyist. I have used it on a few aplications, mostly steel. I just use a regular propane torch in a forge made from breeze blocks to trap the heat.
myfordboy on youtube uses it in a few of his videos
myfordboy on youtube uses it in a few of his videos
the artfull-codger
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Silver solder or silver brazing as it's known as as stated above can be used on copper & its alloys & most steels but I've never heares[or used] it on alloys,I use techno wald for that or tig weld I use easyflo flux for copper & brass but you need tenacity no5 for steel especially stainless as it takes prolonged heating.
Aluminium alloys or aluminiumbronze? Suitable flux aside AFAIK there are no silver solders that have a low enough liquidus point to be usuable on aluminium and it's alloys. Some of the cadmium bearing flavours get close but still talking about 620ish C by which point many Al alloys will have begun melting
As great as silver solder is it often becomes less useful after pricing 1kg of the stuff... [/tongue in cheek]
IIRC it can be used to braze ally to steels albeit not directly... tin the steel side with it and then braze the ally to that using 4047?
Tigman
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we used to assemble thermometer casings from brass plate and tube and we silver soldered it all together , we used oxy \ acety to heat up and Bakers flux powder mixed with water , we had a machine (Induction ) I think it were called ! place the assembled parts inside a coil of copper , press the switch for a few moments and the parts glowed , add the silver solder job done , but we found it was quicker with the gas !
Tiggy_dorset
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I was under the impression that different flavours of Ali-bronze can have different melting temperatures. I am interested now to find out exactly what it is that my customer is giving me. Was told it was ali-bronze, given the correct flux and off I went. Have done them ever since no questions - Basically some pipes (ali-bronze?) with brass fittings soldered on. I need to learn to be more inquisitive I think.
And yes, despite the versatility of silver solder, it is bloody expensive (£3.50-£4 per 500mm rod)
It's just a terminology thing, aluminiumbronzes are copper alloys with something like 5 - 14% ally and melting points somewhere around 1000C
Tiggy_dorset
It looks just like a bought one!
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Thought you were previously saying ali-bronze couldnt be soldered--Just me getting confused
