Alternative to hard solidering

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Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Cols15 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:52 am

Is this a alternative to hard solidering for structural still joints

http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/en/P ... e-Kit.aspx

Would it be possible to solider a stainless 4" flange to copper using ts8000 and mapp with this product?
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Zak Griffin » Thu Mar 02, 2017 8:44 am

I don't know about SS to copper, but all of the he structural joins in my bubbler are soft soldered...
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby woodduck » Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:19 pm

:text-+1: on the soft solder. There's no need for ultra strong welds on stills, unless you want to pole dance on them, even then I recon you'd be right :laughing-rolling: .

Zak is one of the converted himself, are you convinced yet Zak?
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Peregian » Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:44 pm

I use Stay Brite and Stay Brite 8 to solder copper to copper , copper to stainless and stainless to stainless.

I have the large Map torch but mostly use a small LPG torch connected to a 9kg gas bottle.

Soldered a 4 inch ferule to a stainless keg and the Harris solder did an excellent job. Used the Map torch to get some heat into the keg top and then finished the job with the smaller LPG torch.

The Stay Brite 8 is useful if you need to do a little filling.

Sometime it is on ebay from the US cheap but you have to watch the postage and you need the flux.
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Zak Griffin » Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:51 pm

I'm convinced...

My issue before was that I was trying to soft solder with an oxy... like trying to to brain surgery with a tomahawk :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Flowerpot » Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:05 pm

A quick look at the specs on that link ..... That kit is just a normal ZnCl flux (same as bakers) and the solder is a pretty ordinary 4% silver/96% tin solder So to my mind it's not an alternative to hard solder, It IS hard solder
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Pugdog1 » Sat Mar 04, 2017 1:42 pm

Wait can I make a stainless steel still without welding?
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Sam. » Sat Mar 04, 2017 4:53 pm

Flowerpot wrote:A quick look at the specs on that link ..... That kit is just a normal ZnCl flux (same as bakers) and the solder is a pretty ordinary 4% silver/96% tin solder So to my mind it's not an alternative to hard solder, It IS hard solder


The link says low temp solder and is in a coil. Looks like soft solder to me :-B
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby prawnz » Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:38 pm

This whole hard soft solder thing does my friggin head in .

Hard ,soft , 2% , !5% ,45% , lead free :scared-eek:

My recent little build caused no end of headaches with soldering , couldnt get enough heat , even bought an oxy/map system and still struggled, yet I read Zaks thread and he seems to have done the whole thing with a garden variety map torch and now I read it can be done with an lpg torch ?

Wish there was a simpletons guide to copper soldering on youtube but there as as many differing opinions there as there are vids .
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Sam. » Sat Mar 04, 2017 6:07 pm

There are two types of solder. Soft and Hard. Soft is low temp Hard it high temp. Soft solder is usually a soft coil of solder. Hard solder is a hard stick of silver solder with varying silver levels hence the percentage changes. Sometimes hard solder is called "brazing".

This thread will tell you all about soft soldering with cheap torches viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1237
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Pugdog1 » Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:35 pm

Sam. wrote:There are two types of solder. Soft and Hard. Soft is low temp Hard it high temp. Soft solder is usually a soft coil of solder. Hard solder is a hard stick of silver solder with varying silver levels hence the percentage changes. Sometimes hard solder is called "brazing".

This thread will tell you all about soft soldering with cheap torches http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/viewt ... =41&t=1237


Is it better to hard solder stainless or weld it?
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Sam. » Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:07 pm

Weld.

If your any good weld copper to the stainless :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Pugdog1 » Sat Mar 04, 2017 10:57 pm

No welding experience at all unfortunately, why copper to stainless?

I would like to get a tig and give it a go/get a few of my welding friends to do it for me
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Flowerpot » Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:04 am

Sam. wrote:
Flowerpot wrote:A quick look at the specs on that link ..... That kit is just a normal ZnCl flux (same as bakers) and the solder is a pretty ordinary 4% silver/96% tin solder So to my mind it's not an alternative to hard solder, It IS hard solder


The link says low temp solder and is in a coil. Looks like soft solder to me :-B


Click the technical tab. Its on a coil because it's thin eg Plumbers solder (eg 60/40) is sold in rods but but its still a soft solder. I'll agree with the low temp though, 221c is pretty low.
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby prawnz » Sun Mar 05, 2017 10:48 am

Sam. wrote:
This thread will tell you all about soft soldering with cheap torches viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1237


Shit , wish I'd seen this thread 3 weeks ago , would have saved me a heap on oxygen canisters .
It'll be soft solder for me from now on . Anyone want to buy an Oxy/Map setup , cheap :crying-yellow:
Last edited by Sam. on Sun Mar 05, 2017 2:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed quote
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Swedish Pride » Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:47 pm

yeah I only use the leadfree plumbers solder for any soldering, SS to SS works fine with it.
you need a good flux though, I splashed out and got a big bottle of harrys stay clean/brite from the states.

I also got a 150w soldering iron or ebay, makes it super easy to solder thin SS :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby bluc » Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:34 pm

You solder stainless with a soldering iron :wtf:
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Re: Alternative to hard solidering

Postby Swedish Pride » Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:07 am

sure do, easy as pie, tried soldering thin ss with a torch, overheated very easily.
do note this is a 150w soldering iron, the ones you use for soldering electrical components are about 25w, so a fair bit more welly and I only use it on thin SS ie salad bowls
For keg thickness SS or ferrules i use the torch
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