Need info on a good oxy/acteylene set up for brazing

[RaisedByWolves]

I have a pretty good sized cylinder of ultra pure nitrogen (about 5’ tall) that I got free. Like my other cylinders it’s stored outside the shop mostly.

Think I may be able to use it for welding but haven’t tried yet. MIG, TIG?

Maybe for my heat treat oven when I get it set up?

John

No need for an atmospheric furnace for heat treat unless youre doing home shop work for aerospace.

Just use tool wrap. And yes on the gas for Tig.


My dad did furnace brazing for nasa and the .mil complex from the 60s to the late 90s. I was always amazed as a kid to see the factory with no security whatsoever, but then again, no one there knew what the parts were for. No secrets, no leaks.

So I got the torch with Type A small fittings and have adapted it to Type B hose. Will I save on gas? Does this restrict/reduce the gas output?

No. Gas requirement is based on the flame needed.

I actually sold my torch setup out fear of fire and the insurance implications. Specifically that I would not be covered because my insurance does not allow welding. So if there was a fire and my neighbour's house was affected my insurance would not cover the damages.

Your caution is well placed. Many insurance companies (and their adjusters) will try to ask adversarial questions to invalidate coverage any possible reason.

However a very careful reading of the fine print of your home ownership policy tells a different story. For the sake of prudence, My oxyset is on a wheeled welding cart in my garden shed, under lock and key. One could make the argument that using it indoors might trigger the nonsense. But since that isn't in the written contract, well you know.

I have tussled with auto insurance companies 3 times, and house insurance people once, in the past. So far I have come out with a satisfactory outcome every time. My most recent one, I moved my insurance to another company and fired my broker, because of nonsense about metalworking, so I chose a company with full disclosure, that was only a small up-charge. This my first neutral result in 45 years.

Maybe this is a Canadian thing?

I don't worry about this as if I can burn my house down doing my own electrical work without penalty, welding shouldn't matter.

Hell, I even have a wood stove.

 

[Dabbler]

Maybe this is a Canadian thing?

unfortunately, no. Guys have been refused coverage in the middle of term in the U.S. for having a nonfunctional car in their backyard, messy lot, or unkempt house for at least 5 years... Or so I have heard about it for 5 years. Only recently this kind of behaviour has been evident in the Canadian big 3 insurance companies.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

unfortunately, no. Guys have been refused coverage in the middle of term in the U.S. for having a nonfunctional car in their backyard, messy lot, or unkempt house for at least 5 years... Or so I have heard about it for 5 years. Only recently this kind of behaviour has been evident in the Canadian big 3 insurance companies.

Never heard of such a thing, but I would venture the carrier would be the metric.

Cheap insurance is no insurance at all.

 

[epanzella]

I done even understand how the lease thing works.

Monthly payment and the gas is free?

Other than that its merely a terminology issue, and no way am I paying a monthly fee for something I use a couple times a year.

I pay total of a $200 Yearly fee for the Oxygen, acetylene, argon, and argon/co2 tanks and then pay for the fill ups. (swap for full tanks) I hate paying for the tanks every year but it works out cheaper than getting the smaller tanks filled every 5 minutes. I decided I was gonna have to either lease the bigger tanks or buy backup small tanks to insure I didn't go dry in the middle of a job.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I pay total of a $200 Yearly fee for the Oxygen, acetylene, argon, and argon/co2 tanks and then pay for the fill ups. (swap for full tanks) I hate paying for the tanks every year but it works out cheaper than getting the smaller tanks filled every 5 minutes. I decided I was gonna have to either lease the bigger tanks or buy backup small tanks to insure I didn't go dry in the middle of a job.

Is this standard with all the suppliers in your area?

Who is the outfit you deal with? I've honestly never heard of this type of arraignment.

 

[epanzella]

Is this standard with all the suppliers in your area?

Who is the outfit you deal with? I've honestly never heard of this type of arraignment.

There are only two supply houses in my area and they both only lease the larger tanks.

 

[Nesse1]

There is lots of excellent banter in this thread, and I don't want to derail it, but if I may, I'd like to comment about the original project at hand.

Many people mix the terms soldering and brazing, but just to be clear, the task at hand is brazing.

56% silver brazing rod will be needed, something like Harris Safety-Silv 56. And when brazing, some flux paste is needed. Typically, for stainless, the black Harris flux is used. With such small pieces, though, the white may be adequate.

Apply heat, watch what's happening to your flux: it will first crust over, as the water is driven out, then it will turn liquid and start to bubble. That's how you know you are getting to brazing temperature. For silver brazing, the metal should be ever so slightly red. You will know you are at the proper temperature when the silver brazing rod melts when you put it on the joint.

You will want to feed the rod into one point on the joint, and then pull it around the joint using heat. The flowing silver will follow the heat.

If you use too much heat, your flux will burn. That impedes the flow and makes clean up more difficult. To clean, put the parts in water, the hotter the better. Silver flux dissolves fairly easily, unlike brass flux, so the heated water is not critical, though.

If you wind up with globs of silver on the outside of the joint, looking unsightly, use heat to pull the glob inside the joint. With parts as you describe, you can pull the glob inside the cross tube part. It will create an internal fillet of sorts too, which is good for strength.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing some photos of the actual parts...

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I have a pretty good sized cylinder of ultra pure nitrogen (about 5’ tall) that I got free. Like my other cylinders it’s stored outside the shop mostly.

Think I may be able to use it for welding but haven’t tried yet. MIG, TIG?

Maybe for my heat treat oven when I get it set up?

John

I use Argon, 80/20 CO2 Argon and tri-mix for my mig. Figured out after a bought the tri-mix that I could use the argon for stainless though, Mox Nix...

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Do a lot of y'all do this? Keep them outside? When I got home with my new filled tanks I just left them outside kinda on instinct I guess. I have a steel table outside, figured I'd fire them up outside while I'm figuring it all out. But from turning off the gas when done, and not storing the Acetylene on it's side - otherwise safe for inside use I guess. I'm firing up today if mashing 5 lbs of potatoes doesn't take too long. Happy Bird Day shop creatures!

I always kept mine indoors, but since most of the welding supplies have many stored outside under cover I do not think it matters...

 

[helmbelly]

the task at hand is brazing.

Thank you, helpful post. I have 56% .065 silver rod and Harris SSWF1 "stay silv" flux coming in today. I read that a machined surface is ideally clean for braze. I'll drill a .31 hole in the tube making an upper and lower hole. I'll chamfer them both (and the stud) to form a notch or gulley to hold some silver. Not sure how to clean the stud - prob just chuck it in lathe and run some emory cloth over the threads, then acetone. I'm tapping a piece of hex alum 5/16 and cutting in half so I can chuck the studs to chamfer both ends cause I'm cutting the heads off of with my grinding wheel.

Workholding wise, i think I'll weld nuts to a piece of steel so I can screw in five of these things and do 5 at once. I'll have five 2 1/2 inch stainless studs with 2" tubes fit over the end. I need to braze both holes, upper and lower - so two brazes 1/2" apart on the same stud so I guess heat it up and touch twice with solder, chase the silver around the thread but at 5/16 I'd expect it might just kind of explode into everywhere it wants to go. If I space the parts 2" apart maybe I can go pretty fast by angling the torch to be preheating the next part downline. Overthinking my ass off here!

Thanks again and with any luck I'll post some photos in a couple days.

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