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Silver soldering?

J

Joseph Shaul

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206
Location
Madison, WI
I spent a lot of time in jewelry-makign classes in high school, and am hoping to apply my knowledge to slightly more practical applications - specifically, silver soldering various things together. I am, however, at a bit of a loss as to how I might do this without spending an arm and a leg - MAPP gas isn't hot enough, my mini-size oxy-mapp torch can run through $8 worth of oxygen in no time (and doesn't fit the cylinders I bought at Home Depotfor some inexplicable reason), and anything bigger is simply too big and too expensive for someone on my budget. Does anyone know of an unusually hot-burning MAPP torch or some other solution to my problem? Perhaps a torch using compressed air instead of oxygen?
 
Odd... I've done silver soldering with a plain Mapp torch - no Oxygen. Of course, it only works on small items, and the parts must be clean and properly fluxed.

Somewhere, (unused for years) I have a Micro Torch® and a set of regulators, but I haven't gotten new tanks for it. I used to use it for installing gun sights - in a previous career field...

Oxy-Mapp or Oxy-propane both ought to work for silver soldering (actually silver brazing) or bronze/brass brazing. The cheapest way, if this isn't to become a regular use type thing, would be to rent a set of tanks from your local welding supplier.
 
I used to us a low temp silver solder, bought, at of all places, Sears. Used it on guns mostly. Cooled hard and very strong. I had a big supply and might even have a little somewhere. But, if you search for low temp silver solder I suspect someone still sells it. Then you can just use plain ole propane torch.
BTW, I heard that MAPP is no longer made or sold and some other stuff is now on the market.
I know whatcha mean about expensive :eek: for that oxy and (formerly) MAPP.
 
Mapp gas works just fine. I used to silver solder new diamond segments onto diamond core drilling bits and it worked just fine. i have a tube of silver solder hanging around somewhere. I'll look for it tomorrow. If I find it you can have it.
 
Bob Gibson said:
Mapp gas works just fine. I used to silver solder new diamond segments onto diamond core drilling bits and it worked just fine. i have a tube of silver solder hanging around somewhere. I'll look for it tomorrow. If I find it you can have it.
Click to expand...

That would be dandy - all the local store sells in small quantity is the wire stuff, which is bloody useless. Of course, you can buy by the sheet, but that's rather a large lump of cash for what is, to be honest, more silver solder than I'll use in a long, long time.

Can anyone recommend a particularly good MAPP torch for this sort of thing? MAPP is somewhat rare, but I can still find it at several local stores. In theory, all torches burn the same temperature...but, then again, in theory, there's no difference between a $200 Woodcraft chamfer bit and the one I bought for $2 on eBay.

Incidentally, stay the heck away from Easy-Flo. It has cadmium in it, which is absurdly toxic. Regular "easy" solder, AFAIK, is just silver and nickel, both of which are about as nontoxic as metals can get.
 
Frank Fusco said:
Joseph said, in part: "....all the local store sells in small quantity is the wire stuff, which is bloody useless."

Why do you say that?
I have used plenty of it just fine.
Click to expand...

The soldering technique they taught us in high school doesn't work so good with wire solder. We would cut tiny chips of solder and place them between the two surfaces to be joined, something that works nicely with sheets but not with heavy-gauge wire.

Is there a good way to use wire that won't leave a bunch of excess around the solder joint?

Edit: Someone's clearing out Goss GP-9 torches on eBay. They haven't got a hose, but it looks pretty nice regardless. Any thoughts?
 
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there is two ways to apply solder to a joint/before the parts are assembly--coat one surface with a thin coat of solder/then assembly the parts and apply heat---can you buy silver solder paste ?---the silver solder can be hammered to made it thin
 
Joseph Shaul said:
The soldering technique they taught us in high school doesn't work so good with wire solder. We would cut tiny chips of solder and place them between the two surfaces to be joined, something that works nicely with sheets but not with heavy-gauge wire.

Is there a good way to use wire that won't leave a bunch of excess around the solder joint?

Edit: Someone's clearing out Goss GP-9 torches on eBay. They haven't got a hose, but it looks pretty nice regardless. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

You mean all that goop around the joint isn't supposed to be there? :eek:
 
ray hampton said:
there is two ways to apply solder to a joint/before the parts are assembly--coat one surface with a thin coat of solder/then assembly the parts and apply heat---can you buy silver solder paste ?---the silver solder can be hammered to made it thin
Click to expand...

D'oh! I never thought of hammering the solder.
 
ray hampton said:
there is two ways to apply solder to a joint/before the parts are assembly--coat one surface with a thin coat of solder/then assembly the parts and apply heat---can you buy silver solder paste ?---the silver solder can be hammered to made it thin
Click to expand...

D'oh! I never thought of hammering the solder.

Any thoughts on the Goss torch?
 
Sorry for the delay Joseph.
I did find a syringe tube of silver solder in my junk drawer. Type 56. Its over 10 years old but I don't think it goes bad.
You can check it out at the companys website. www.harrisproductsgroup.com. Its type Dynafast 56.

I used to use it for diamond segments we made that were like this. http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/241077516/core_bit_segment.html

I also had some silver sticks but can't easily find them right now.
If this stuff would be helpful to you, you can have it. Just let me know where to send it.
 
We have a hydraulic system on the paper winder at the papermill where all of the fittings are silver soldered. I learned more here today about silver soldering than anyone knows at the mill.

This is one of those craft skills that have gone by the wayside in many industrial sites. The issue is when you are stuck with a system with silver soldered joints, you have to know how to perform the skill or repipe the system.

I understand that the joints have to be clean and dry like soldering copper pipe. With hydraulic oil, this would be a big task. I also dont know if this could be done with an open flame around the oil.
 
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