welding brass

[jason@gmachine]

I need to patch some old pieces for a very old BBQ. They are Brass and I have a few questions.

1. What is the best way to weld to brass, TIG?
2. What is the recommended gas and rod?


thanks

jason

[tmathews]

I have seen some people use silicon bronze... Tig welded.. You could try using a low temp solder kit with an acetylene torch.

[atomicjoe23]

Try brazing. . .

. . .which part of the grill, will it see excessive temp's. . .although if the brass isn't melting then your braze shouldn't either.

Can't tell you what brazing rod off the top of my head. . .but oxy-acetylene, propylene, oxy-propane, any of those that are hot enough to melt the brazing rod would be fine since you aren't melting the parent material.

I would suggest braze welding before soldering. . .but if you do solder make sure you don't use lead solder, but food grade solder instead.

[RyanWiW]

Jason, welding brass is very tricky. I would recoomend silicon bronze rod (it's actually a braizng rod) with your welder on DC and argon for shielding. Be careful, silicon bronze fumes are not good for you, so be in a well ventilated area or wear a respirator. It's a braze so don't melt the base metal to much. If this doesnt work out well for you, try silver solder with a OA torch.

[DBMETALWORX]

although i used no filler, i tig welded a brass fitting on my old steam cleaner with ac current... it held 2500 psi for years... is this part cast?

[racer56]

I need to patch some old pieces for a very old BBQ. They are Brass and I have a few questions.

1. What is the best way to weld to brass, TIG?
2. What is the recommended gas and rod?


thanks

jason

Go see Andy Bondio @ Bondio Fab in Torrance. He can fix that for you.

[atomicjoe23]

Give it a try. . .if you already have a TIG welder. . .use the silicon bronze filler rod and give it a try. . .

. . .my instructor used to do this to me at the end of my time in weld school. . .he would give me one of the junior students projects from at home that needed fixed and I just had to figure it out. The hardest was a "stainless steel" cooking pot that the spot welds on the handle had given out on. . .turns out it wasn't a "stainless steel" pot. . .it was a clad pot that melted like no body's business. . .it wasn't very pretty initially, but once I finally shoved enough filler metal into the puddle to keep it from blowing a hole in the pot I was able to get an pneumatic grinder with a scotch brite pad on it and grind/polish it down nice and smooth!

[mcidge]

Try using silver solder with a borax flux. We use this in refrigeration all the time when joining dissimilar metals and it produces a very strong joint. Just watch your heat, don't get it too hot. You will notice the water boil out of the flux and soon after that your ready to add silver. Once you think you have enough silver back off on your heat a bit and chase the shiny spot on the outside of whatever you joined. Your done. Just don't get it too hot.

[jason@gmachine]

Go see Andy Bondio @ Bondio Fab in Torrance. He can fix that for you.

do you have a number?


thanks for all the responses guys, i really appreciate it.
Jason

[Chase 2]

I see that you are in Signal Hill. If you are going to take it somewhere to be done, I suggest you call Roger Sanderson at Pipeworks Fab in Long Beach. He's @ 1471 Cota St. (Between PCH & Anaheim just west of Santa Fe). 562 432 6826. Roger does a lot of marine work with bronze and brass along with stainless & aluminum.

[5racer]

i just use brass rod and my tig machine .

[racer56]

do you have a number?


thanks for all the responses guys, i really appreciate it.
Jason

http://www.bondiofab.com/

22130 S. Vermont Ave Unit-G

Torrance, CA 90502

Tel: (310) 783-0515

Fax (310) 783-0512

[DUMP!]

Go see Andy Bondio @ Bondio Fab in Torrance. He can fix that for you.

I'm sure that's just what Andy wants to be working on. :D:D

Please let me know if he fixes this so I can rev him up about working on a BBQ.

He looks down his nose at off roaders, What do you think he'll say about a BBQ?? :D:D:D:D:D

Dump

[racer56]

I'm sure that's just what Andy wants to be working on. :D:D

Please let me know if he fixes this so I can rev him up about working on a BBQ.

He looks down his nose at off roaders, What do you think he'll say about a BBQ?? :D:D:D:D:D

Dump

It all depends on who asks. When andy knows its for you he just says no.:rolleyes:

[Brian Mapes]

I have welded quite a bit of brass, Using the TIG process on AC with silicon bronze rod. The welds were on high pressure manifolds and they worked perfect. The welding is a bit tricky because of all the zinc in the base metal. Here are a couple pics or the brass manifolds I welded.

[partybarge_pilot]

How critical is the pre-heat?

[Brian Mapes]

Well for that particular application the machine I had at the time was not powerful enough to get a puddle going so I needed to preheat. But also since these were high pressure manifolds I believe that is is better to have the whole part heated evenly so it is all the same strength. Preheating also helps pull some of the zinc out and to the surface i personally believe, the zinc is you main enemy when welding brass because it pops and creates porus welds so you sometimes have to weld grind and then weld again. The first weld gets rid of the zinc and then the second time there is less zinc and you can make a better weld.

[maxyedor]

I have welded quite a bit of brass, Using the TIG process on AC with silicon bronze rod.

What kind of frequency, balance and amps are you running on brass? Tried welding it a couple times, but on DC which could explain my total failure to accomplish anything, not sure exactly why I would ever need to weld brass, but it sounds useful.

[Kbach66]

I'm sure that's just what Andy wants to be working on. :D:D

Please let me know if he fixes this so I can rev him up about working on a BBQ.

He looks down his nose at off roaders, What do you think he'll say about a BBQ?? :D:D:D:D:D

Dump

I'll have to ask him if he's going to have a BBQ at the shop anytime soon. We can eat at the shop instead of going out to lunch when we go over there!!!