brazing tools

[wcdfmt510]

Im a noob at doing my own tube work and things of that such. i have done a little searching but im confused on what i need to buy to make my own tube work and brackets. What items do i need for brazing and what kind of materials work best for tube and brackets?

[AX10wannabe]

to make it simple you'll need these items.

if you got a lowe's, home depot, canadian tire any of those places will have a torch like this

Shop BernzOmatic OX2550KC OxyMap Torch Kit at Lowes.com=

get yourself one with the hose so your not trying to hold the whole bottle while brazing. this torch at canadian tire is $80.00.

next you'll need to decide on if you want to silver solder or use brazing rod.. i just got this torch for xmas and have found what works best for me.. i use 3/32" flux coated brazing rod found at the same isle in the stores as the torches. i just went to home depot yesterday and found a plastic tube of 3-36inch sticks of brazing rod for $6.95... sweet.. if your going to silver solder you'll need to "manually" add flux to the joints first also found in the same section. get yourself a pair of darken safety glasses too.. for materials i use 3/16" solid rod just because its easy and i find there's less dinking around just bend to shape clean up the ends and braze together.

some use brakeline some use solid rod its just a personal preference thing but the concept is the same. i say buy the torch and try the brazing rod that comes with the kit and see how you like it..

happy brazing and do some searching there's a ton of info on brazing. check out the brazing sticky thread there's lots of good stuff in there on what people are using.. of what i've learned so far is it takes time to get the heat right but once you get into it its kinda fun. also do a search on benders too..

[j-bird]

Most of the top builders use safety silver 45 or 56 it's kinda pricey but it works great and the joints are damn near indestructible .. You'll need a map gas bottle and some safety silv flux paste.. You can get the kit at home depot I think I always go to my local welding store good luck


J-bird

[wcdfmt510]

Shop BernzOmatic Soldering and Brazing Torch Head at Lowes.com



how about this?
What kind of solid rod do you recommend? I can get stainless steel welding rod from a friend

[navyeoseabee]

good advise "AX10" i am subscribed, i sucked onmy last attempt!

[AX10wannabe]

i've never used one but im sure it would work. you want something that uses oxygen because it heats up the materials faster.

i use just plain old 3/16" steel solid rod found at the hardware store, i get mine from canadian tire just picked up a bunch more yesterday because im building an exo cage for my honcho and im not planning to go to town for the rest of the week so i didnt wanna run out.. worst case i start building another trailer.. the solid rod i get is like $2.80 CDN for a 3foot length.. i have probably 5ft but i picked up a couple 4ft lenths for $3.64 CDN each..

here is what i've bent up so far. the rock sliders are built with 1/4" and 3/16" solid rod but are MIG welded together. im thinking about making a how-to video on how to bend this stuff for the newbies. i've spent a lot of time searching on this forum on what materials work and what doesnt and the type of tools you need to accomplish this bends.. i made my own bender, sure it doesnt look pretty but i was going for functional not looks. haha.. i'll try to explain how made the wheel wells..

with the body on bend your main hoop first cut it to size now with the rest of the 3ft piece (should be about 18inches or so) and hold it up to the wheel well touching the rock slider, grabbed a felt marker and eye balled roughly the middle of the bend would be. took it to the bender (already clamped into bench vise) and bent it a bit, take it back to body check it, nope more bending and repeat this process until i have the inside bend of wheel well.. sweet that part is done. now i trimmed my body and the wells are curved and i wanted to run with them so hold rod up to body mark where the middle bend will be roughly. if you look at your rod its in the shape of an L hold it like this and spin it 90* to the right, so its on its side.. now hold the short end and start bending slightly, stop move rod over in the opposite direction of the bend you want and start bending it slightly, repeat this process until you have a smooth curve. then you can figure out what you want to do with the front end.
its hard to explain typing it so i will make a couple video's.



hope these helps.. as you can see brazing or welding the pieces together is only half of the job clean welds and tight joints is what your going for, also take your time dont be in a rush..