The Shop > Metal Stuff

SOLDERING BRASS

(1/5) > >>

allanchrister:
Hi Guys,

Enjoying working with brass, but soldering the stuff is something new to me.  I'm building a clock (The Strutt Epicyclic) and am now in the process of assembling the dial.  This comprises outer and inner rings grooved to take the brass numerals.  The numerals are quite thin - about 0.5mm, and have to be soldered into grooves in the 2 rings.

My problem is that the instruction book recommends 'silver' solder, and I have had a try with Silvabrite which has been a disaster.  The silver solders I have apparently have a melting point of 440F and above, which is way too hot for such thin numerals, and the brass dials which conduct heat away very quickly.  I then found out about 'TIX' low melting point  (275F, but tough) solder, which is supposed to be ideal, but here in Germany I can't find a source.  The UK supplier I found (Midway) would not sell it to me in Germany, and finding a UK source is very hard, but apparently there are other manufacturers who sell something similar. 

My question is - are there other suitable low melting point 'harder' solders that would be OK to use?  ... and can anyone recommend a UK supplier??

Thanks,

Allan

raynerd:
Hello, it would be great to see some pictures of your clock! I`ve just started building Woodwards Gearless over in the project logs section.

http://www.cupalloys.co.uk/   is an excellent source for silver solder - I`m still learning to silver solder but I`ve had no problems at all using their 842 with their general silver solder flux. I believe there is one called easyflo which many on here talk about and I`m sure they`ll chime in with info about.

Just curious - why the need for silver solder? I can`t imagine it is going to work at very high temp and I`m pretty sure there won`t be huge forces acting on the dial. Can you not just soft solder?

Chris

raynerd:
Just googled the clock and understand what you mean about the dial and how it is put together. I`d go for using a standard propane torch, 842 silver solder and flux. With it being so thin, it`ll not take much heating and with sufficient heat and flux, it`ll only take a dab of silver solder on the joints and you will secure the numbers in place. Using silver solder, I expect you`ll have to aim your flame at the joints and as it has a higher melting point, I expect you`ll be able to get it so that only the bit your aiming at will be melting - so hopefully the rest won`t melt free when your doing another joint. With soft solder, I expect the heat would cause them all to keep melting as your working your way around.

Only my thoughts.... many on here will come in with much much more experience than me.

Chris

allanchrister:
Hi Chris,

Thanks for your recommendation and I did go to Cupalloys. 

Unfortunately, their 842 silver solder has an extremely high (for clock work) melting point in the region of 610C .... the TIX I previously mentioned has a melting point of about 140C and the Silvabrite i used, which did not work (melted the numerals due to their thin-ness!) has a melting point of about 225C. With the lower melting point solders, the heat transfer around the dial is much less and can be resolved using heat sinks.  I think the 842, is used for model loco boilers, and although being their lowest melting point silver solder, is not suitable for more delicate clock work.

So ... I need a high strength low melting point solder, from a UK supplier who will send to me in Germany, with a melting point of abou 150C or less.  Anyone used TIX ???  I guess that the 'straight' non-specific silver solder recommendation may be incorrect, although TIX, I understand, is 96% tin and 4% silver...

At the moment, there is really nothing to photograph...the dial seemed to be the most complex and detailed part, so I decided to get that done and out of the way first. The soldering job was not pretty.....and I'm not too proud to show it at the moment - when I've finished the dial - maybe. Smiths instruction book is really good, but it seems like a lifetime job!!

Thanks,

Allan

raynerd:
Sorry Allan, I see.

Just curious, why does it need to be of high strength? I`m not clear why silver solder is needed and why they can`t just be soft soldered.There is no strain on them is there?

Chris

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page