Oops... Broke my column.

[FireKitty]

2014-06-29 18.37.35.jpg

So, after being out of action for over a year (blew my last element and took my sweet time getting new one wired up...), I finally got around to business recently, ran some TPW's, hooked up new element, and went to do my maiden stripping run for the year... Then this happened. FFS!!! :scared-eek:

Getting the BF to weld it back together for me tomorrow, is there anything specific I should be asking him to do, ie - type of weld, technique, etc? It's a piece of SS with threaded base (to hook onto keg heater), which fits into the copper reflux column.


Cheers :)
FK

[Yummyrum]

If he's a welder by trade ,he'll know exactly what to do with it.

If he is going to solder it ,then he must use Lead Free Plumbers solder only .

After you have done the repair ,you need to do a clean on it .Boil it in a pot of vinegar and water or Citric acid and water ....just to make sure all the flux and crap is off it .

PS.... Christ you've had some bad luck ....Look out Crow , some good competition

[FireKitty]

This is no doubt what I get for buying a 2ndhand backyard build!!!

Like with a first car, it's all good experience for when I have a much better, costlier setup in the future, supposing I stick with it :)

[crow]

PS.... Christ you've had some bad luck ....Look out Crow , some good competition

Firekitty has met the crow, I need to add some resent stories to how's ya luck complete with pictures and you would see just how funny that reference is right atm
@ Firekitty there are some really great tutorials on copper to ss soldering (I think in tips from the work bench) , following them I got a good soldered joint first time (not a claim I can make for copper to copper) . From memory it was heat the copper much more than the stainless :-B

[punchy21]

Slow and steady with copper to stainless, they heat up at different speeds so the flux will burn quicker on the stainless... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[FireKitty]

I will have to check out the workbench I think, BF and his old man were a bit in the dark on what to do with those 2 different metals - a quick Google showed something about 'brazing' using brass or the like...

If anyone has any direct links feel free to put them here, as I'll be crawling through all the posts otherwise :(

[SBB]

In the photo it looks like your trying to butt join those too pieces of pipe together, If thats the case , its going to be a whole lot stronger join and easier to fix with some sort of sleeve around it. A copper joiner of the appropriate size might be easiest. You should be able to join it using Hard solder, or in other words high content silver solder, not the soft stuff that comes in a roll.

'brazing' using brass or the like...

I wouldnt use anything with brass in it.

[woodduck]

SBB is right when I built mine I used a very high silver content from memory 45% but the stuffs not cheap about $14 a stick. Also I flared my copper so it over lapped the stainless for strength. I tryed butt welding but had very little success.

[Yummyrum]

Just having another look at you pic..to me it looks like there is a copper sleeve on the inside and it was originally soldered ..albeit not very well.An internal sleeve is strange though because it is not a standard pipe size ...it would have to have been custom made

I agree with SBB that an external sleeve would make it stronger ,and being copper pipe ,a standard coupling from a plumbing store should fit.

Either way if any attempt is going to be made either soldering or Brazing ( probably they meant Bronzing.....another name for brazing .. not brass) or even Tig welding ,then that joint needs to be completely separated and the joining surfaces need cleaning back to bare metal before any repair is made .
Otherwise a leaky joint will occur where complete bonding has been hampered by contaminated metal

Do you know what sort of welding gear they have .If its a stick welder then forget it .

If its an oxy acetylene torch then they should be able to braze it with 5% silver rods from Bunnings or a plumbing shop .They will need to get rid off all the old solder and use a Flux that is suitable .

If they have an oxy ,then it is too hot to solder anyway.

If they have a propane or Mapp gas torch then soldering it with Plumbers Lead Free solder would be the easiest ...with an appropriate flux ..(which will be completely different from flux that is used for Brazing )

Edit: double post with woodduck

[Linny]

+1 with SBB and yummy , 5% silver rod with a collar will fix it permanently.

[woodduck]

Tig won't do it it cracks the metals cool at different rates and I don't think low silver will either but you can use the same flux as you do for normal silver for high grade silver. I'm also fairly sure bronzing won't stick to stainless.

[crow]

That join is what it is I wouldn't bother changing it to much, looks to me like it was soft soldered which is doable for sure, the other weld is mig welded and I don't really know why the maker didn't just mig this given the nature of the join, if you clean it right up it could be mig welded, it could be silver soldered or you could just get it re-soft soldered and if the internal collar is soft soldered that would probably make the most sense