[SEL] Silver Soldering Failure

[Robert L. Holtzer]

Did you use a flux?  It is pretty easy to get metal too hot for silver 
soldering in my limited experience.  Once that happens, I found it best to 
let things cool off, clean the surface with an abrasive and start over.  On 
a clean, fluxed surface I heat until the solder starts to melt and it will 
wick into the space between the parts immediately.  If heating is continued 
after the space is filled, the bonding can be destroyed.  It will be 
interesting to hear from some of our more expert contributors.

Bob Holtzer

At 04:00 PM 4/18/2005 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi Everybody,
>
>Well, I tried my hand at silver soldering Saturday and didn't have any 
>success. I tried for about 4 hours and just couldn't get it.  I practiced 
>on a piece of steel. Got it red hot and touched the silver solder to it. 
>It melted and made a nice little blob. After it cooled I smacked and 
>whacked on it and it wouldn't bust loose. I thought hey that's pretty easy 
>so I tried it on my crankshaft.  Put my flux on and heated it with my 
>oxy/acetylene torch with a brazing tip in it.  Got it red hot and touched 
>the silver solder to it. It melted for about 3/16 of an inch and quit 
>melting. I heated it up again and as it got red hot, it started to blow 
>out my other solder. It would just not stay hot to apply my solder long 
>enough. As soon as I got it red hot and started to apply the solder it 
>would cool off and not melt the solder. I tried the cutting tip to get it 
>hotter and that didn't work either. Actually started to melt the steel in 
>a couple spots, then quick started to apply the solder and same thing, 
>just 1/8 to 3/16 and it would cool off and not work. Then reheat and it 
>would melt the other solder out of the way and have to do it over again. I 
>messed around for about 4 hours and didn't get anywhere. I was not a happy 
>guy! After almost throwing the whole damn model in the scrap bin from 
>being so frustrated, I figured I'm not cut out for model making. After 
>sleeping on it for a day I took the welder and welded the crankshaft. I 
>did a little at a time so it didn't get too hot. Not sure if it will be 
>distorted or not, I didn't really care at that point. I did put it in the 
>main bearings after welding and it still turned over and didn't bind. So 
>that's my silver soldering failure story.
>
>Luke Tonneberger
>Rockford, Michigan
>USA
>
>
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