Soldering Brass and Copper

EmilioG

EmilioG

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What is the best way to solder brass and copper? Either to each other or copper wire to
copper wire. I'd like to use various gage wire, from 14-23. What type of solder and flux
and what brand of mini flame torch is best? Max. temp?

I'm fabricating light but strong sculpture armatures that need to support clay.
Thanks
 
Depends on how thick the brass or metal is. I used to solder wires alot to custom flashlight parts I used to make in brass & copper. On these small parts I was able to solder them with just a soldering iron but mine is adjustable & I turned the heat up. Otherwise a small torch will be needed. Brass needs more heat.

I just use plain ol 60/40 or 62/36/2 solder & rosin flux. No references for temp though.
 
Like Darkzero says plain old 60/40 would work fine. I prefer a liquid zinc chloride flux for non-electrical work. Something like this. http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/en/Products/Alloys/Soldering/Fluxes/Stay-Clean-Liquid-Flux.aspx

Apply with an acid brush. The big box stores normally carry this type of flux in the welding supply section, your local welding supply should also have it.

A small butane pencil torch would be my choice for fine work. Available at Radio Shack and most hardware stores.
 
the lead solder alloy will melt somewhere around 360-370*F
you really wont need much hotter than 450*F for a while to solder the joint.
a propane or butane torch would suffice
a heat gun could also be employed to do the same work without a flame.
an acetylene torch is also very handy if you have a lot of soldering to do on large work, the torch can be fitted with tip sizes from micro to large.
(admittedly the acetylene/air torch is overkill but i like the way the torch sounds)
 
If it is 360 alloy brass,which just about all round bar stock is,use lead free solder. It doesn't like lead solder.

If you heat the brass red hot with lead solder,it will alloy into the brass,and will be impossible to get the joint apart without big stalagmites of brass coming out and ruining the whole part. This can be done to your advantage if you want a super strong joint just using lead solder on TWO SIXTY alloy(260) brass without the expense of silver solder.

I haven't tried heating 360 red hot using lead free solder to see if it will work the same way. Or bronze either. Needless to say,there are many bronze alloys,too.

Tony reported having the same thing happen when overheating brass radiators.
 
11-26-14 12:05 PM

The best solder to use is OATEY "Safe Flo" silver solder which I believe is a mixture of tin & silver. Along with this the
flux you should use is OATY 30374 No. 95 Lead free tinning flux. I have used this combination for many years and
my experience with this has been outstanding. Granted the Silver Flo is a bit pricy but worth the cost. I have used this for
electrical work as well in plumbing. If you have any questions please feel free ton contact me on this site.

Regards, :))

jbollman
 
I'm not sure what sculpture armatures are. If you need to make soldered electrical connections with AWG 14 to AWG 23 copper wire then I would use electronic grade Sn63Pb37 eutectic solder with flux core, such as Kester 44. Radio Shack carries a suitable product. And I would use a soldering iron, not a torch.

Brass is another story. Soldering brass requires a more aggressive flux, although electronic grade flux will work if you clean the brass parts really well and then solder immediately.

If you are trying to achieve high mechanical strength then my advice is may be wrong.
 
Sculpture armatures are "skeletons" of stiff wire or other material,depending upon the size of the sculpture that soft clay can be formed around when making statues or any other shape that will sag under its own weight. The armature keeps the sculpture from sagging until it can be fired,or the clay hardens.
 
Hi
As a retired plumber, we soldered copped to copper, copper to brass and brass to brass regularly.
I recommend going to any plumbing supply of Lowes/ HomeDepot. Buy a roll of lead free solder, a small container of flux(acid). Sand both joining surfaces to remove oxidation, flux both surfaces, heat until solder melts when touched to heated parts, actually pretty simple.
For electrical connections, don't use this, instead use a rosin based solder in which the rosin flux is in the solder core.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the great information.
I need to solder small parts and wire, 22g copper and brass sheet, 30g wire, etc..
Thin wire to thin sheet. I'll try Oatey silver/tin solder and flux.
I'm also looking at the Proxxon mini butane torch.
Thank you all!
 
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