Unbelievably basic question

Glue Bluetack Sellotape magnets

What did you have in mind ?

I can't believe you forgot duct tape!

| > Is welding the only way to join two pieces of steel, or can it be done | > with | > a lower temperature process like brazing or soldering? | |

You beat me to it by about an hour !! Duct tape has been used to hold everything in the universe together !! Then there is hot glue and the ever wonderful JBweld ...

mikey

Absolutely!

Ah yes, young Skywalker, duct tape...................... Its like the force. It has a light side and a dark side, but it holds the universe together.

Or JB Weld!!

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

The joining process is dependent on the shape of the metal at the surfaces to be joined. Lower temperature processes work better where the flat faces of the metal overlap and the forces on the joint fit the strength of the process used. For instance, brazing a butt joint that will be loaded in tension will likely fail under load. Sweating copper tubing joints is done every day and produces a leakproof joint if done properly. There are cold processes (adhesive), hot processes (adhesive - parent metal not melted) and fusion (parent metal plus weld metal melted together). What loads and temperatures must the joint withstand?

Silver soldering aka silver brazing is a great way to join two pieces of steel provided there is a reasonable amount of surface between the two. Done right you get around 100,000 psi strength.

Dan

snipped-for-privacy@krl.org wrote in news:1115009788.447997.118050 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

There is very little surface shared between the two. I'm joining two pieces of rigid, 1.25 millimeter wire, in a '+' configuration, at the point where they cross. My plan is to score one of the two pieces with a rattail file so that the other one can seat itself in the groove, prior to joining.

Honestly, I don't feel too optimistic about silver solder, because a really tiny spot like this can develop sufficient stresses to fail, under fairly small forces. Can precision welding be done on pieces this small?

Yes welding can be done with the proper equipment. What kind of budget do you have? How many do you need to weld? What kind of wire? Stainless, copper, mild steel, titanium?

Silver solder is unbelievably strong, it sure surprised me. I would suggest you try it before you dismiss it. Sure would be cheaper than buying special welding equipment. Lane

"Lane" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

That sounds right, now that you mention it, because they use silver solder to make jewelry, which has to be able to withstand any challenges that the unaided human hand can pose. And some people are very strong, IMX.

I was worried about surface wetting preventing me from soldering it, but the consensus seems to be that silver solder is fine, so that's my next step. Do you know what materials (besides silver, of course) are contained in silver solder?

My material is spring steel, a simple high carbon steel with no other alloying metals included. I think it gets its strength from being cold- wrought, but I'm not sure about that. It's extremely hard, but extremely brittle, as much like a ceramic as a steel. Nothing less than carbide can grind it, and it will eat an oxide grinding wheel for lunch.

But my budget is quite limited, since I'm just a self-employed, freelance inventor, working out of my garage. I live in suburban Detroit, where there are welding shops on every corner, and since the pieces of wire are only about 4 inches and 1 inch, I was hoping to get a bargain basement price.

But now that I think about it, I can calculate the surface area of the weldment and use a yield stress of 100kpsi to calculate the yield force. And the area of contact will be multiplied by some number between 2 and

So I'm coming to the conclusion that I should get a very strong joint with this approach. Suddenly I'm feeling very optimistic about this project.

I silver solder 1" bandsaw blades together. They are then stretched very tightly and subjected to lots of vibration and stresses, as the teeth each take a bite out of steel. As the posted indicated..silver solder is some "tough stuff" when properly applied. And of course..not all "silver solder" is the same. Some research is necessary.

Gunner

Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli

Silver solder comes in various grades rated by hardness/temperature. The components contain amounts of copper to the silver. If you go to the hardware store (aka ACE) you will find they have a flat box that contains some liquid flux, and three or four rolled solder 'wires'. Each typically a different hardness and color.

A propane torch or propane oxy will melt them. Just start clean and then re-clean.

Martin

A spot welder is perfect for what you are trying to do. Do some googling on this newsgroup and I think you will find information on how to make a spot welder using power transformers from Microwave Ovens.

I have kludged up a spot welder and used it to weld a couple of 3/8 ths bolts in an + configuration.

But silver soldering is likely to be the quickest solution.

Dan

snipped-for-privacy@krl.org wrote in news:1115271243.495702.305830 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

This is what I thought. What do you use for electrodes? if I took it to a welding shop, what would I expect to pay, and could they get me the precision tolerance I need for precise locksmithing.

"lionslair at consolidated dot net" wrote in news:42797be3$1_1@127.0.0.1:

I did the soldering, with easy grade silver solder, since I only have a hand held butane torch. But the joint is really crappy looking, because the solder didn't wet the surface. Even though it's made a strong joint, it looks really unprofessional, because there's a huge bead right in the middle of my '+'. Is that because I was sloppy about cleaning the pieces? If so, which solvent do I use to clean spring steel?