Joining stainless steel "bus"

Hi,

I have a small ceramics oven to repair. The fault was easy to find, one of the internal conductors has a break in it, where it has been folded over itself to make a right angle turn.

The problem is, what is the best way to join two stainless steel strips, each about 1/4" wide by maybe 15 thou thick? They look very similar to the strips used in battery packs to interconnect cells.

I was thinking of one or two spot welds. Or maybe braze them, although I haven't researched what rod and flux to use. I have a TIG set, but its lowest setting is 50A and there wouldn't be much strip left..

Any thoughts? The strip is only handling 2-3Amps, so it isn't going to be too critical, getting the lowest resistance join possible.. But it probably gets to a few hundred degrees, so soldering it is probably not a good idea..

Reply to
Palindr☻me
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drill hole in strip. use stainless nut and bolt to clamp.

Reply to
TimPerry

I've repaired toaster elements by crimping them together with a bootlace ferule. You need to be sure the extra weight of the join isn't going to cause it to move and touch something it shouldn't.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Thanks Andrew and Tim. The strip is sandwiched between the fire bricks and so there isn't much room to play with. I did think of using a stainless steel pop rivet, but there wouldn't be room unless I did a bit of brick sculpture. What thermal cycling would do to such a join, I am not sure - welding or brazing seems a better approach than something which just clamped the components together.

I have a friend who is a jeweller and has a tiny oxy-hydrogen set* - I think I will ask how he joins tiny ss bits together..

*Really neat - it just runs off water (and a bit of electricity)..
Reply to
Palindr☻me

stainless is really tough. it wont take solder. from working with theater and disco lights i find that crimps dont seem to hold up in the long run. this link may prove useful to you

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i wonder if this is oxygen free stainless? (just kidding)

Reply to
TimPerry

If you have a spot welder it will do a VERY good job on welding SS.

The problem with heater wire repair is that the repaired section has a slightly higher resistance than the original stuff. The repair may "run hot" and burn out early.

A way around this is to "double up" on the repaired section so that the current through the repair has more than one path.

Reply to
John Gilmer

We do a lot of stainless welding and some brazing at my company. TIG and Electron Beam (EB) welding mostly. We also do some brazing, I think you'll find brazing pretty difficult w SS. The chromium (which makes it stainless) is a tough oxide: we use vacuum brazing at very high temps (about 1500). See if you got a buddy who can TIG weld it: probably for a one-up it will be the best way

Mark Walter

Reply to
Mark Walter

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