Brass Brazing: Please Help!

[Mastah Kyler]

Maybe I will give it a shot. It seems to be more flexible

[boisetrucker]

Originally Posted by Mastah Kyler

thanks everyone! i will finish the RTI tomorrow @boisetrucker yes it is cheap and not very hot but i did get it to work

That's cool maybe I need to let mine run longer and try it again.

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[Mastah Kyler]

I couldn't get it to get red but after about 10-15 of direct heat and continuing to apply heat when applying solder I got it to work

[trwelds]

I've tried this a bit too using different types of flux and solder. I also have a pencil torch but I quickly scrapped it as it took too long. I have forgot the names of the products I was using but I found that the thinner no name solder than came in the pencil kit I got worked best but I soon ran out. I switched to just electronic solder with no resin and it worked okay and then bought a metal solder kit and it really sucked. Tried another kit and it also sucked but no so much. If the gap in your two peices it too big it wont solder well. I like to use metal clamps to hold the pieces together. Sometimes you will have to "Tin" the surface before making the joint.

Another thing i found using different types of brass and different thickness of brass changes everything! If your putting a thinner piece to a thicker piece you will want to put heat only on the thick piece and let the heat off that transfer to the thin piece.

Also adding solder too soon can get messy in a hurry. practice will help telling when it is good time to add. After a while you will start to add and let the heat of the brass melt the solder rathre than the torch.

[Rockridge]

The problem is the solder and flux.... I tried that same stuff from HD when i first started out.... didnt work worth a crap. quickly went to Harris stay silv flux and 45 silver solder... Works a hundred times better/easier

[hrddrvr]

After reading this thread, and seeing cephas's recommendation for using a soldering iron, I decided to try my hand at brass tube work. Sorry Master Kyler for jacking your idea for a first part to make, but I figured that would be simple for design and fab.

I have never used a torch for this, but I can say for sure, the iron is the way to go. I had enough control to hold the pieces in my hand while I was putting them together. This made it easy to make sure everything lined up, and was square. I don't want to have to build a jig for every two pieces I solder together, and doing it like this, I won't have to

Anyway, here is an example of my first work. Expect to see a brass build in my future

Test with 3/16' tube.....





....and then onto the small stuff for bronco accessories



Just need to find out how to accurately bend now

[Crimson Rock Crawler]

Originally Posted by hrddrvr

.....Just need to find out how to accurately bend now

Invest in a tube bender from either Home Depot or Lowe's Home Improvement. They cost less than $30.

David

[Mastah Kyler]

and people say to put salt or sand in it to prevent kinks

[Mastah Kyler]

what torch do you have?

[hrddrvr]

I used a team check point soldering iron, just like the one in the link cephas posted.

[Mastah Kyler]

how does that work? do you just touch the tip to the joint and let it heat?

[hrddrvr]

I'm on my phone, and don't want to type too much. I'll reply tomorrow with a good description, and/or video.

[Mastah Kyler]

video would be amazing

[hrddrvr]

Didn't have time yesterday. Had some today though. I've been trying to upload the video to youtube since 4 o'clock. I got something that I think will show how simple the soldering iron works.

Just to let you know though, I basically just dipped the ends of the pieces I was soldering together into some flux, then tinned them, just as I would if I were soldering electrical wires. Once in place, a gentle touch with the soldering iron would join the "tin" on each piece good enough to hold them together, but not so strong that I couldn't manipulated them if they weren't perfect. I tacked the whole thing together like that, then made sure it was square. Once everything is square, I dip the iron in the flux, and add a lot of solder to the tip. I drop the tip onto the joint, the glob of solder falls off onto it. I did this for each joint on the piece I was working on, then come back and smooth out the glob til it looks good, adding more solder/flux if necessary.

I'll still share the video whenever it gets uploaded somewhere. Ive got it going onto youtube for the third time, and on photobucket now!

[Mastah Kyler]

cant wait!

[hrddrvr]

Here you go bud.
http://static.photobucket.com/player...-35-29_416.mp4

Keep in mind too, this is only the second time I've ever done this. I'm sure the process will get even easier in the future.

[Mastah Kyler]

i need to get me one of those

[Absurd]

I had this same issue, the info from everyone and the vids were great so great would love to attempt it again if I can find a decent bender. Thank you search button!

[spoo76]

There is also a youtube video on the first page of this thread with links to other videos some that go into more detail than others. Dont forget to keep everything clean! shinny light colored brass is what you are looking for

[Skunkworkz054]

The bernzomatic pen torch is a great torch... For the size bass that will be used on a micro truck it is perfect... Anything bigger is overkill.. So keep using it and practice with it.

I use the torch, solid wire solder (the larger wire and not the thin stuff), and just regular paste flux.. Not sure if its acid or not but it works great. All I do is put the flux on the pieces I intend to solder, heat the joint, place the solder on the joint. As soon as it wets remove solder. If you having trouble with the solder wetting the joint then focus on heating the metal that is immediately touching the ball of solder and also don't be affraid to add more flux, it is going to clean the metal and the solder will only go where the flux is. Also keep the flame moving side to side try not to keep it on one spot, solder wets more evenly... Lets say you have the solder wet the joint and you heat evenly but it still doesn't fill the joint completely, try taking a qtip with flux on it and apply the flux to the problem spot. Make sure you do it while the solder is still in liquid form. The flux should pull the solder to the spot you just added it to. Once it looks the way you want it to remove the heat, once the solder cools enough to harden up take a old tooth brush dipped in water and scrub the black stuff off i like soapy water..


Like I said, stick with the micro torch and learn how to use it. Once you get it down and learn how to control the heat you will love it... For those who say it doesn't get hot enough either A. They are trying to heat something that's way to big or B. Blame their lack of knowledge of soldering on the torch.

Also, soldering and brazing are two different things. What you explained is soldering. The difference is that brazing uses a filler metal that is almost to the melting point of the brass.. The filler metal usually comes in rod form and will be almost as hard as the metal you intend to braze. Where as solder is soft bc it has a much lower melting point. People confuse the two and consider soldering brass as brazing... When soldering, red hot is not needed... You only have to hit the melting point of the solder... Brazing does have to be red hot because the line between the melting point of the filler metal and the melting point of brass is VERY thin...
The micro torch is great for soldering but for brazing you will need either an oxy/acedylene or oxy/mapp mix.