Using Soft Solder Only

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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby Sam. » Wed May 02, 2012 8:51 pm

Soooo, what soft solder do you use? Edit: Nevermind
Last edited by Sam. on Wed May 02, 2012 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby maheel » Wed May 02, 2012 8:54 pm

McStill wrote:
maheel wrote:bunnings do have (in some stores) sticks of lead free in the copper pipe / fittings area



They're brazing rods, just to save any confusion ;-)



nah mate not in my store

thin sticks of lead free soft solder about 25-30cm long 3mm thick +-$9 and 250g rolls of aquasafe 100 about $40

but yeah they also have the 100cm (?) thin wire brazing things as well

but i know not all stores carry it as even mine did not for ages and i used to see it at another across town
they are not as thick as the old 50/50 sticks you used to see everywhere +-9mm (?)

i often wonder why the lead is still sold in the plumbing section ?
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MacStill » Wed May 02, 2012 9:06 pm

ok cool, I've never seen those sticks at any Bunnings I've been to.

I've only been using the Bernzo stuff and quite like it, never seen the aquasafe there either :roll:

Been going to a good hardware over here called Parkwood hardware and plumbing, the Bernzo rolls are $5 cheaper than at Bunnings too :mrgreen:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby crow » Wed May 02, 2012 10:27 pm

Aquasafe geez I asked them about that was told no good copper to copper with a torch sorry bud just buy the dear as fuck stuff , lead free sticks in the plumbing section if its like my bunnings I was told no good for potable water i think he was spot on there I'm sure its call rasin solder or similar its tin and antimony which as i understand doesn't build up in your body like lead and chronically poison ya , as you piss it out but its so very toxic that you may be acutely poisoned and may die of organ failure before your body has the chance to expel it and recover , of cause this all depends on how much you are exposed to it or ingest it . In other words to my understanding if ya only planning to poison yourself a bit at a time apart from be slightly unwell you'll probably ok . I could be wrong wouldn't be the first time but I did spend a quite a few hrs researching this stuff EDIT :In this thread posted by devotus is a link that tells ya whats in what solder and just google those elements some pretty scary shit man :-s
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby R-sole » Thu May 03, 2012 4:04 am

croweater wrote:Aquasafe geez I asked them about that was told no good copper to copper with a torch sorry bud just buy the dear as fuck stuff , lead free sticks in the plumbing section if its like my bunnings I was told no good for potable water i think he was spot on there I'm sure its call rasin solder or similar its tin and antimony which as i understand doesn't build up in your body like lead and chronically poison ya , as you piss it out but its so very toxic that you may be acutely poisoned and may die of organ failure before your body has the chance to expel it and recover , of cause this all depends on how much you are exposed to it or ingest it . In other words to my understanding if ya only planning to poison yourself a bit at a time apart from be slightly unwell you'll probably ok . I could be wrong wouldn't be the first time but I did spend a quite a few hrs researching this stuff EDIT :In this thread posted by devotus is a link that tells ya whats in what solder and just google those elements some pretty scary shit man :-s



. . . . . . :violence-bowandarrow:

Thought you may be able to use these full stops :mrgreen: :))
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby crow » Thu May 03, 2012 2:59 pm

Don't drink and type kids , your grammar will give you away . I went to Bunnings this morning and its called lead free resin solder , it is the uncool stuff . personalty I wouldn't use it in a fit near anything that might be consumed . I have no Idea why they are selling electrical solder in the plumbing section with no warnings :roll:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby maheel » Thu May 03, 2012 3:58 pm

well i just rang them at Underwood BNE and spoke to two people 1st guy said no and then put me onto some one more important...

it's called AQUA safe hey...

he told me NO antimony this is the data sheet
http://www.cagroup.com.au/files/Aquasafe-100-2.pdf

i trust them more than Bunnings idiots ...


i asked him for a off the shelf walk in off the street price for 250g solidcore no flux wire roll

he looked it up and told me $11 a roll :o

might be worth you calling your local branch and checking the price before you get some
http://www.cagroup.com.au/contact.asp
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby crow » Thu May 03, 2012 6:37 pm

No I already found out aquasafe is good its the cheaper lead free resin solder thats bad news , lead free because the lead is supplemented by antimony . $11 fark bunnings is $37 be looking into that ASAP .
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby maheel » Thu May 03, 2012 6:56 pm

croweater wrote:No I already found out aquasafe is good its the cheaper lead free resin solder thats bad news , lead free because the lead is supplemented by antimony . $11 fark bunnings is $37 be looking into that ASAP .



no worries CE i reckon the $11 may have been wrong, i should have been in the car and bought a carton and sold them on ebay for $25 :)

your lack of ... fulls tops had me confused about what you were talking about :))
not that i can talk with my shithouse grammar and punctuation :laughing-rolling:

there is a big roll of 1kg lead free but with antimony on ebay... hope no one buys it as that antimony does sound pretty bad for you
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby crow » Thu May 03, 2012 7:32 pm

ya want to see it before spell check goes through it :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby Gas on » Fri May 04, 2012 2:52 am

G'day, I needed to solder some stainless to copper today so went to one of the local Bunnings stores in Perth at Bibra lake they had a flux called Comweld 965 comes in a 125 ml bottle and cost $9.
bit of flux, gentle heat, bit of bernzo soft solder & holy fuck thats a nice join. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:
It worked very well with copper to brass also its bloody good stuff.

cheers
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MR-E » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:34 am

Hey guys, just done my first S/S to copper solder thingy, here's the result.
Image
Switched from mapp to propane, used comweld 965 flux & bernzo soft solder.

Image
A bit rough, but it will do :D

I just followed McStills plan of attack, I'm sure with a bit more practice I'll improve :dance:
I've learnt more on this site in 2-3 weeks than I learnt in 2 years on the spoon feeding site :laughing-rolling:
just wish I found this site earlier :angry-banghead:

Cheers :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MacStill » Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:06 am

A bit rough ????

That looks fucken perfect mate..... well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

MAPP would be too hot & the solder would run away from the SS leaving a puddle on the copper.

Slow n steady wins the race :clap:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MacStill » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:03 am

Another advantage of using soft solder is how easy it is to clean up, here's a parrot I made yesterday

P6232068.jpg


Less than 5 minutes with some fine grade steel wool gets it sparkling :D
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Using Soft Solder Only

Postby Sam. » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:09 am

That's a good idea using an end cap for the base, might have to steal that....
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MR-E » Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:01 pm

McStill wrote:MAPP would be too hot & the solder would run away from the SS leaving a puddle on the copper.

Slow n steady wins the race :clap:


Yeah, that's the first time I've used Propane, I always used Mapp.
Slow n steady like you said & kept the flame moving. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby adama » Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:56 pm

croweater » Sun Apr 15, 2012 6:14 pm
oxy bottle hire , fucking thieves $ 128 a yr to hire a bottle
dogbreathe vodka » Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:18 pm
Hey Mc, Change that bloody avatar, I end up mezmerised..... and forget what I was reading

I'm 100% with the above two observations (working a bit blue never hurts).

This thread is a great read ~ so it is possible to DYI without expensive gear; that's just fantastic. :dance:
I recently got quoted $200 to join a couple of s/s rims to to a copper tank - I'll try the soft solder method ASAP.
This lid needs a few ferrules before it sits on a copper tank.

inner_top1.jpg

I had some copper pipe swaged out so I can slip the ferrule inside to make a collar.The idea is that the copper "collar" around the ferrule will join to the copper lid easily making a strong bond ~ the soft solder between the collar and the ferrule will have plenty of surface area to grab.
double boiler_profile_smaller.jpg

On Ebay I see a few gas torches - my local Bunnings has something similar in a metal box.
This this the sort of torch your'e using MC?
There's no heavy copper element with this kit.
$100.JPG

Regards
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby crozdog » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:10 pm

A few years back I bought some Stay-Clean Flux & Harris Stay-Brite #8 silver bearing solder (5.5 - 6.0%) it's 1/16" so you don't flood the join & can also use it on staino.

I got these from www.weldfabulous.com in the US as I couldn't find anything similar locally at the time & cause I didn't want to upgrade from my pinpoint flame running off a 9kg LPG bottle to MAPP. Not cheap, but it will last me ages!

I lent it to a mate who had never soldered before & he had no issues making nice clean joints.

I've found that ensuring your pieces are clean (sand em), well fluxed & you control temperature & rate you apply the solder, soft soldering is easy - just take your time.
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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby zwagerman9 » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:51 am

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Re: Using Soft Solder Only

Postby MacStill » Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:37 am

zwagerman9 wrote:I plan on using
http://www.masters.com.au/product/90000 ... ropane-kit
http://www.masters.com.au/product/90000 ... dering-kit
Appears a nice a cheap beginners set in my mind.

Rae


What you have chosen there is what I do 80% of my work with.... the other 20% I use an excavator :))
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