Help! trying to solder 303 stainless to copper
Ed
of twentyfive 3 foot pieces of 3/16 inch 303 stainless steel rods to
fit on a 3/4 inch copper tube. I'm trying to solder the coiled SS to
the copper and have had very minimal sucess with getting the solder to
stick to the SS. I've tried acid core solder and Harris stay brite
silver solder using a propane torch for heat. Would I be better off
trying a big soldering iron instead of the propane? Any tips will be
much appreciated, I've got quite a bit of time in this project and
have to get over this hurdle. Thanks for any help, Ed
Ecnerwal
Ed <det...@commspeed.net> wrote:
> Any tips will be
> much appreciated, I've got quite a bit of time in this project and
> have to get over this hurdle. Thanks for any help, Ed
You need flux, not just flux-core solder. I personally prefer a long Oxy
Acetylene feather (very carburizing flame), but a propane torch should
do it if that is what you have. Polish/clean the coiled ends of the
stainless, and flux immediately after polishing. Beware of overheating
the stainless (it conducts heat poorly, as you should know). I've had
good success with Eutetic Castolin 157 for soft-soldering stainless, but
any other highly active acid flux that needs to be washed off afterwards
should do. NoKorOde or other typical copper plumbing flux won't cut the
stainless oxide layer.
--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by
Jeffrey Lindemuth
news:3ivuc091is1hbb01f...@4ax.com...
I find www.indium.com a real wealth of information on solders of all types.
This data sheet for Indalloy flux #2 is recommended for stainless steel:
http://www.indium.com/documents/pds/97808.pdf
Also this application note:
http://www.indium.com/documents/applicationnotes/97751.pdf
recommends these solders for stainless steels
#1E (52In 48Sn)
#106 (63Sn 37Pb)
#121 (96.5Sn 3.5Ag)
However, the solder task will still be difficult
Jeff Lindemuth
Lane
You need a special flux to solder SS. Any welding shop should be able to
supply it.
Lane
Don Foreman
Photo or sketch in dropbox please? This should not be a problem.
I've had very good results with Harris Staybrite on
stainless-to-stainless and stainless-to-brass or copper, and Harris
indicates that Staybrite is suitable for use on stainless. Are you
using Stay-Clean flux? Only problems I can think of would be work
not clean or overheating. I would heat the copper with the torch,
let the copper carry the heat to the joint. Directing the flame
directly on the joint can overheat the flux and render it inactive.
Dan Caster
bAg1 ) and then there are other stainless steels that require
different silver solders.
Hardy and Harman have a nice booklet on silver brazing and selection
of filler alloys and fluxes. I don't have the booklet closeby but a
silver alloy with a bit of nickle in it will work better for the
stainless steels that are hard to solder.
I will look up 303 and see what the recommendations are for filler
alloys.
Dan
Don Foreman <SPAMBLOC...@goldengate.net> wrote in message
Ted Edwards
> Hardy and Harman have a nice booklet on silver brazing and selection
> of filler alloys and fluxes.
http://www.handyharmancanada.com/
Ted
Dan Caster
All the alloys they recommend have some nickle in them or maybe
lithium. BAg3 is one of the ones recommended. But BAg1 ought to
work. At least it has for me on 304. Could not get it to work on
some 7-17ph stainless.
Dan
dca...@krl.org (Dan Caster) wrote in message