bonding metal

Hey Muttley,

Try any hardware or automotive store for "JB Weld", an epoxy.

For thin flat-to-thin flat very smooth/shiny surfaces, the glue to mount rear-view mirrors to windshields is also very good.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

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Stainless steel is _not_ a good material to use for bonding zinc-plated hardware :).

The zinc plated stuff will solder very nicely with a propane torch. I haven't gone shopping for plumber's solder since people have gotten sensitive to lead, so I don't know what there is to buy -- but anything that works well on copper should do a bang-up job on zinc, and should polish better than lead solder would.

If you think you might be doing this some more in the future, I would recommend learning to silver braze. It can be done with an inexpensive propane torch and is extremely strong. Less strong but probably sufficently strong is soldering with silver bearing solder.

There are structual adhesives, but I don't have much information about them.

Dan

Epoxy? Bob S.

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Ed Angell

Check out

Their Cyanopoxy system is amazing...it works like super glue with the strength of epoxy.

It will glue almost anything to anything else.

Jeff

...

Yeah, but you to register to even look at their stuff. No thanks.

The OP didn't say he was going to paint or otherwise finish his projects, and if he isn't going to then I'd expect propane torch brazing of zinc plated fasteners would discolor them quite a bit.

Better to go with a silver bearing soft solder, if he wants to keep the white metal zinc look.

the OP didn't give a clue as to how large his projects were going to be, but unless they are only a couple of inches across, I'd expect he'd get a lot of accidental breakage if he used an adhesive on small contact areas.

Jeff

-- My name is Jeff Wisnia and I approved this message....

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public schools"

experience,

You won't get much of a bond on either zinc or stainless unless you have a way to get under the oxide. Unless you do, you're gluing to zinc oxide, which has a very weak grip on the metallic zinc underneath; or you're gluing to chromium oxide, in the case of stainless, which is not bonded much more strongly than the zinc oxide to zinc.

If it has to be strong, you have trouble with both metals, using adhesives. If it doesn't have to be strong, any number of adhesives will stick them together weakly, including cyanoacrylate (Super Glue), polyurethane (Gorilla Glue), epoxy, etc.

Ed Huntress

There will be no zinc left after subjecting to brazing temperatures.

Loctite 430 is intended for metal to metal bonds. They are also pretty good about responding to questions. I'd shoot them an email.

-Justin

I don't know WHAT kind of crap all you people use, but galvanized iron is to brazing what tinned copper is to soldering.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Zinc boils at 907C. A lot of brazing is done at temperatures higher than this. Even at silverbrazing temps (650 to 850C) the zinc often (usually) burns under the torch flame, leaving a white residue.

Usual practice when braz>> There will be no zinc left after subjecting to brazing temperatures. >

Nickel or cupronickel brazing for instance...(I think those are used). But I'm talking hardware store brazing rod, melts at 1620°F.

You must suck with your torch. :^) Hell, the rod falls away long before it gets hot enough to burn...

I've done a *lot* of brazing in the basement with the good ol' medium burner (propane/air) and never got the slightest bit of sickness. Or even haze in the air.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Good for you Tim. That's not an excuse to advocate bad practice for others who may lack your superior skills and perhaps even "suck with a torch". It is well documented that hot zinc produces fumes and that breathing those fumes is not good practice.

Zinc exits your system within days, or at least a week. It's not like lead or mercury (which like anything these days, are overrated anyway). I *have* had the basement smoky enough that you can see haze around the lights, but I've never had any smoke from brazing. It simply doesn't get hot enough.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

Oh, yeah, brazing gets zinc plenty hot enough to produce fumes. You're just lucky. Zinc Fume Fever feels like a rotten flu. I had it once, and then I started buying those cheap 3M metal-fume masks. One of them lasts for months.

Ed Huntress

Go to a store that specializes in autobody repair materials.There are several Manufactures that offer adhesive designed just for bonding metal. You can buy them with different cure rates from a few minutes to overnight. The stuff is extremely strong and you can bond zinc plated stuff if it is properly prepped. We use 3M brand and have had good luck with it. Lord Fusor, SEM, and others are availble. Be prepared to shell out some money, they don't give this stuff away.

Charlie

If you make instant coffee in a microwave do you go back in time?

I know what zinc burning looks like (and I see it quite clearly when I do a bronze pour with a good 20% or more zinc content), but I don't see *any* colored flame when brazing.

Zinc poisoning also takes a lot more than you'd think, although that might simply be because here in Wisconsin we go through a lot of dairy.

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @