I am considering brazing some HSS to stainless for the tips of tweezers used for glass blowing in order to give them a longer life. What I am not sure about is whether this is going to work. Many years ago I silver soldered HSS to mild steel for some reason and the HSS broke near the join. Can anyone give any advice?. I have appropriate stainless flux.
The two will silver solder very well, but the temperature at which you use them could be a problem. As long as you don't get the solder to its melting point in use, it will be fine. Make sure you have very clean surfaces before fluxing and soldering. Be sure to let the thing air cool after soldering. Any quick cooling will likely cause the HSS to crack and break as you suggested. Slow cooling is the order of the day.
Harold
Chuckle. Amazing how when I read your post my mind went, automatically, to silver brazing (soldering), not bronze brazing. I've always used silver solder, but I've also seen silicon bronze used with TIG for attaching HSS toolbits to shanks. That works well, too. If I had to choose between brazing and silver soldering, I think I'd stick with the silver solder, if for no other reason, it penetrates all surfaces providing you heat it appropriately. In either case, you should experience reasonably good results.
Good luck!
Harold
Me too. Silver. Put a blanket over it when done, the slower it cools the better.
IIRC, this link is a storehouse of info.
michael
Any chance you could get a hold of some Stellite? I have fused Stellite #6 to various metals (steel, stainless steel, Nichrome) to produce a hard and/or heat resistant end. If you could join a short length of Stellite TIG rod to the tweezer ends then grind or machine (carbide tooling) to the desired sahpe, you need have no worries re operating at red heat or somewhat above.
Ted
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.