Help with brass

What is the best way to weld cast, brass bed parts, about the diameter of a pencle.What gas, filler rod, and flux is recomended?

Reply to
Dan
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A mapp torch and sil-phos-bronze.

On brass no flux should be needed.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Hello Ernie.

I'm coming in way late on the tail end of this short thread but I have a similar situation to Dans and would greatly appreciate a few clarifications on fusing brass.

The reference to "sil-phos-bronze", this is the type of filler rod to be used?. It goes by exactly that name or is that an abbreviation of the longer proper name?

If I use a mapp torch to apply the heat I assume I'm going to be brazing as opposed to welding the brass pieces together?

I've posted images to the metal working drop box of an ornate brass crank handle off of an antique pepper mill that got dropped. The handle broke into two pieces and I've been asked to work a small miracle and make it one again.

How ever I approach fusing the pieces together again I was thinking I could fill in the "valley" on either side between the radius of the handle "hub" (the diameter with the square key hole at its center) and the first half inch or so of the actual handle. This would not only repair the handle but reinforce it as well. The deposited filler metal could be dressed to finished shape with a file and/or on the mill (very carefully).

Do you suppose color match between the base metal and the filler rod will be the same or obviously different?

Is there any merit to carefully playing a TIG torch over the joint without filler rod to start the parent metals to fusing before filling the valleys with filler rod heated by the mapp torch?

Any prior knowlege or experience would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty good with aluminum and steel but I have no clue where to start with brass.

The images are;

Brass_Handle_.txt Brass_Handle_1.JPG Brass_Handle_2.JPG Brass_Handle_3.JPG

and can be found at;

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Dennis van Dam

PS I hope it's not improper to post images to the rec.craft.metalworking drop box for a sci.engr.joining.welding thread. My apologies if this is frowned upon.

Reply to
Dennis van Dam

Sil-phos is a standard brazing compound used for copper and brass, used extensively for refrigerant lines.

For clarification this is a brazing process where the base metal is not melted, only the filler melts. Welding melts the base metal, filler melts at roughly the same temp as the base metal. Soldering is the same as bazing except at lower temps. Soft solder in the 400 degree F relm, hard solder (silver solder) has various compositions in the 500 to 600 degree F range, brazing implies 800 degrees F

Sil-phos will give you a decent color match > >

Reply to
RoyJ

Roy,

Thanks for the reply. I inherited some brazing rod from a buddy who cleaned out his shop when he moved. I've never used any of it. Some

3/32 and some 1/8. The rod proper is brass colored but it's coated with this uniform white powdery substance that I assume is flux coating (unless it's corrosion?) . Is it possible or likely that this is sil-phos-bronze or is there no way to be sure? In other words is sil-phos-bronze the more common variety of brazing rod or, just as with arc welding, are there many different kinds of brazing rod one of which is sil-phos-bronze?

Thanks again for the reply.

Dennis van Dam

Reply to
Dennis van Dam

Reply to
RoyJ

That jibes completely with what I just finished trying. I cleaned up a chuck of 2" thin wall scrap brass tubing and fired up the mapp gas torch. It was all I could do to get the end of some 3/32 rod to glow red and it didn't change the color of the brass tubing at all. I'll go hunt down some sil phos tommorrow.

Roy, thanks very much for the help.

Dennis van Dam

RoyJ wrote:

Reply to
Dennis van Dam

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