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| Hey,
I'm planning to use Oxyacetylene to weld copper sheet, and i was wondering of anyone could give me advice on this(or possibly just tell me it's a stupid idea). My main source of materials will be old hot water tanks and plumbing scrap, i dont know if this is too thin to weld, or too dificult for a begginer?
So....can it be done? Any advice would be great thanks Scarlett |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| "...old hot water tanks..." They better be very old. Steel tanks with a glass (AKA porcelain) lining have been the 'standard' for at least 50 years. |
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- Posted by sudsmaster (My Page) on Sun, Apr 23, 06 at 0:12
| Why not solder it? |
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| Hmm..Ive had no dificulty getting hold of copper ones, the one in my house is copper and that was only installed 5 years ago. Maybe we're just behind in England? I will solder it if i have to, but i would rather not because 1- soldered joins will remelt and fall apart if a nearby area of metal is heated, while surely welded ones have the same srength as the rest of the piece? and 2-because solder is a contrasting colour to copper i think welding will look far better. If anyone knows of a readily availible solder which is not lead coloured, it would be a great help, but i'm not aware if anything like that existing. One option i was considering is brazing, but i havnt tried it before, so i dont know what it's like to use compared to soft or hard soldering. |
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| Use brazing rod and braze the joints. Almost the same as solder but the rods melt at 800F and higher. An 85% Cu, 15% Ag, 5% P rod looks very much like copper when cooled. |
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- Posted by sudsmaster (My Page) on Thu, Apr 27, 06 at 3:49
| 5% Phosphorus? |
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| The phosphorous acts as flux. No other flux is needed with these rods, called 'self fluxing'. Clean the surfaces, heat, and braze. They are relatively common in refrigeration work with TXVs that would be damagede by the flux residue reamaining inside the pipes. |
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- Posted by lazypup (lazypup@yahoo.com) on Sat, May 6, 06 at 12:10
| Refrigeration brazing rods are commonly made in 15%, 6% and 0% silver. The higher the silver content the lower the melting point, conversely the lower the silver content the stronger the material and also the cheaper the rod. I typically pay $15/lb for 15%AG while zero percent Silphoz rod is about $6/lb. The zero percent is a bit more difficult to work with and will require a bit of additional practice to get the feel of it. Back in the mid 80's when silver went to nearly $75/oz the zero percent rod was the norm in refrigeration work because 15% rod was selling for $48/lb. |
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