Silver Brazing Stainless Steel

ChipsAlloy!

ChipsAlloy!

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Hi all,

I am in need of advice for a problem here in the shop. I have a hole in a 1/32 thick sheet of stainless i need to fill. A guy here tried to fill a very small tear in the material with tig welding but ended up making a hole. Further attempts ended up enlarging the hole.

I wondere if silver brazing could be done. This is 1/32 stainless steel, hole is rectangular'ish 3/16x 3/8.

I have never done that. All tips are welcome. What I have on hand now is a small roll of silver, some silver brazing flux, propane torch and oxy acetylen torches and good will :)

Thanks for any input
 
use the acetylene. It is mush easier to control the heat with acetylene. You will end up heating a much larger area than needed with propane and this will cause the solder to spread out more.

I would stand it on edge and build it up vertically. A touch of heat, small bit of solder, touch of heat above it, rinse and repeat. Don't glob the solder on, it will fill the hole in small layers. grind flat when done. If you struggle getting it to work, try build the thickness up around the hole and then working it towards the center.

Other method is to find someone competent with the TIG welder.
 
for the carbon you should be able to flame burn a piece of wood till its good and chard , use that as your backer should work well.
 
About carbon, I have large carbon brushes from big dc motors would these do as a backing? I have these readily available and they serve no purpose.

Joshua, you suggest having the hole installed vertically instead of working on it flat on the table right?

BTW thanks a lot for the info.
 
ChipsAlloy! said:
About carbon, I have large carbon brushes from big dc motors would these do as a backing? I have these readily available and they serve no purpose.

Joshua, you suggest having the hole installed vertically instead of working on it flat on the table right?

BTW thanks a lot for the info.
Click to expand...
yes. But that is just me.
I find it easier in the long run to do it with the material on edge. It takes a bit longer, but there is les material to grind back off.
When I used to have to do this sort of thing working on flat rate, I found that grinding flat took longer than soldering or brazing.
I never tried using a carbon backer though, it might make things easier provided the solder does not just flow out and tin the whole sheet lol.
 
copper backer works well with tig for me with aluminum and steel. I use a piece that is 2x5x3/8 thick. Not sure when soldering if the flux would make the solder stick or not.
 
I advise to get some practice on some similar scrap first if this work piece is valuable.
Too bad the TIG welder didn't practice a bit first.
-brino
 
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