Tooling up for silver soldering

Acetylene in combination with oxygen is too magical to pass up. The propane, propylene, et al don’t bring the heat as quickly as O/A.

My O/A cart is my favorite welding cart, by far.

If you find the Ag/Ni wire too pricy, give bronze a try. I use C-04, and I find it easy to work with. Remember Henry James Bicycle!
 
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I have an old N.Z.I.G. Oxy/Acet setup that is over 40 years old and still going well,(not the bottles),it was my first major tool purchase. Recently I have been using a Henrob 2000 I got a couple of months ago and I love it because it is so frugal, also a revelation to not have to use flux on many jobs. Buy bare rods and powdered flux. Have a look at some Jewelers torches as they should handle what you are doing and are small, light and easy to maneuver.
Some information: https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/brazing

ESAB | Home

ESAB is a global leader in welding and cutting equipment and consumables. Explore how our complete line of products can provide a complete workflow solution.
www.esabna.com www.esabna.com

Brazing Fundamentals | Lucas Milhaupt

www.lucasmilhaupt.com www.lucasmilhaupt.com

Please take note of the second paragraph of the ESAB Handbook. The American term 'Braze Welding' has and continues to create confusion. Personally I would love to see a return to the standards of Brazing & Bronze Welding as the two processes are quite different.
 
most of my hobby silver soldering is done with Mapp gas,, sometimes bringing the heat up slower can be better,, for larger work I have added a second torch,, jewelry supplier Rio Grande has fine wire silver solder to match colors,, they also carry titinium strips that can be bent into clamps to hold things in place while soldering (they work great)
 

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erikmannie said:
...I use Victor products, and they are superb. I have a medium as well as HD combination torch. I have 000, 00, 0, 1, 3 and 5 tips.
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I can read these words but I have no idea what they mean.

Even my brother-in-law, who was an aircraft mechanic, doesn't weld or have a O/A torch. I don't know anyone who does. OK, I do have a buddy that has a coal forge and he has attempted forge-welding. OTOH, he only gets the forge out 1-3 times per year.

Craig
 
I have heard of some special torches that will, give high temps with BBQ gas, but i have no experience with them. Disposable propane gas cylinders are OK for silver soldering small parts. Cheaper than MAPP gas. Also copper can be fusion welded without flux just like steel. It's quicker and cheaper, but you might need oxy acetylene, as it needs to hotter than for silver soldering, but much cheaper, I've used it for all my plumbing.
 
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WCraig said:
Who is "they"?
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I'll post a bit more info on the product I use when I'm back home later today, Craig. If memory serves, it's Harris StaySilv-45 I think, and is pretty available at welding supply shops and also Home Depot I think. I'll also a picture or two of a typical corner I would use.

-frank
 
WCraig said:
I can read these words but I have no idea what they mean.

Even my brother-in-law, who was an aircraft mechanic, doesn't weld or have a O/A torch. I don't know anyone who does. OK, I do have a buddy that has a coal forge and he has attempted forge-welding. OTOH, he only gets the forge out 1-3 times per year.

Craig
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Victor is a (quality!) brand that sells equipment for gas welding and brazing.

000, 00,...,3 and 5 are tip sizes. The 000 is quite small (for thin sheet), and the 5 is large (for plate). These welding tips are used for gas welding or brazing.

Go back 100 years, and most welding was done with oxyacetylene, and gas welded joints are just as strong as with any other welding process.

Many people consider gas welding to be obsolete, but if you are not in a hurry, away from a power source, working on thin material, on a low budget, or a metalworking history geek, gas welding may be a great choice. Gas welding is also excellent practice for TIG welding.

Understand that soldering is up to 840 degrees F, and brazing is at temperatures up to the melting point of the base metal. Welding is at temperatures above the melting point of the base metal.

When you titled the post "silver soldering", I assumed that you would be open to either silver soldering or silver brazing. When I solder, it is on electrical wires, I have done silver and brass brazing. The silver brazing makes for a particularly strong joint. A joint brazed with brass is not as strong as a welded joint or a silver brazed joint.

At home, I do a lot of brass brazing because I was too cheap to buy the silver wire. If you have the money, silver soldering or brazing would get you a really strong joint.
 
@dbb-the-bruce I can't speak for your suppliers in your area. That will be a research project for you if you need to change equipment.

Here are a few ideas to consider: the type of work you are doing is very well suited to a jewelry sized Oxy Acetylene outfit. There are other options, however...

Modern HHO outfits can be had from offshore for a moderate price and would work very well for the kind of SS or bronze brazing you need to do.

If you are looking to do metalworking long term, you might want to move toward TIG (bronze) brazing instead. Less finicky. fewer flow problems, but needs different and nontrivial skills to do. TIG is your most versatile but most expensive option.

The problem with MAP gas is your flame temperature is marginal to do a good job, and it isn't concentrated enough to do a long edge bit by bit. That's where HHO brazing comes in. You can do 1/2 inch of HHO brazing or OA brazing without having the SS flow out of your joint or getting burnt up - both are super common if your entire SS job is larger than your flame envelope.

I hope this helps.
 
Other points that I would add are:

(1) a regulator assembly will be for a specified gas. You wouldn't use an acetylene regulator for propane, for example.

(2) getting back to matching the flux to the filler wire or rod, I would advise a beginner to buy the wire and flux from the same place in order to assure that the flux is designed to be used with that filler. I can see a noobie buying some silver wire here and some flux there, and then becoming frustrated with the results if there was a mismatch between the filler material and the flux. Harris Products sells these items, but Henry James Bicycle is the only place I have ever seen where both products are on the same page and it explicitly states that they are matched (with regard to application temperature).

(3) I was unable to get my O/A cart going without a few trips to the local welding supply. Some fittings (with regard to size and type of gas) are best chosen by somebody who does this for a living.

(4) flashback arrestors and a high awareness of safety are highly recommended.

(5) the great news is that there is a lot of room for error. It is okay to use too much flux--the only penalty is cost and more of a mess to clean up. Done properly, you will never melt the base metal, so you will probably never blow a hole or damage the workpiece. An increased margin of error makes for a more enjoyable work experience, in my opinion.
 
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