Cman wanted a brief tutorial on brass brazing
Here goes
I’ll do my best
You can think of brass brazing kind of like
soft soldering some copper water pipe together
You get the metal hot and then and then apply
the solder
If the copper is hot enough the solder should flow into the joint
If the copper is still to cold the solder will ball up
and fall off the pipe
With brass brazing it’s similar to soldering
Start with clean parts
Clean all rust, paint, and grease or oil from your work
I will use simple green or the cheep dollar store version
to clean oil or grease followed by a water bath
A good close fit of the parts is also a must for a quality joint
I will use a nice low blue flame (not a roaring flame too hot)
Start by heating all of the joining metal and KEEP your flame moving
in a nice figure 8 pattern
Don’t leave your flame in any one place for long
Start dabbing your fluxed brass rod (I use 3/16 or 1/8 inch rod)
toward the joint
Don’t set the rod on the joint and just leave it to melt
When your metal is hot enough the brass will flow
Work your flame around the joint adding brass rod sparingly
you should be able to pull the pool of brass around a little with the flame
If you use too much brass it will form a big blob
on the bottom of your work
It is brass though it can be sanded, filed, or grinded off
I know you will want to take a wet rag to cool off your joint
BUT DON’T DO IT
Let it cool naturally it will be a stronger joint
I’ve heard you can use mapp gas and that it can heat small stuff
such as bike tubing hot enough to brass braze
I have not tried the mapp gas for brazing
I did make an air conditioner copper to copper
joint using a 15% silver alloy rod in an attic using mapp gas
The silver alloy dose have a higher melting point than brass
My best suggestions would be to start by getting a junk bike
Just for the tubing
Cut it up into pieces and practice practice practice
I hope this helps
If you can con someone into showing you the basics
(or maybe better yet take a class some where)
Your on your way
Don’t be afraid to try
If your starting with scrap it's just scrap
Oh and don’t burn down the house
ALWAYS THINK SAFTEY
Such as safety glasses, thick jeans, preferably leather shoes
(i had a piece of slag from a cutting torch drop down through
a pair of nylon shoes went between my big toe and next toe burnt right
the sole all the way to the floor i've had leather shoes ever since)
maybe a long sleeve shirt
and DEFINITELY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Rember metal at 400+ deg tends to leave nasty burns
I hope this helps
It is a very brief overview
It’s hard to tell you every thing and a lot of it is
second nature to me now
Here is some pict of widening a frame for a 24X3 tire
Not the best pict but hope you get the idea
spliting the frame
spreading the frame
selecting a piece
a good tight fit
spreading the frame again
starting to braze
cleaning the flux off
finished product
look it fits
some finishing touches
all finished
an artisy pict
ponytailmike
mike
Here goes
I’ll do my best
You can think of brass brazing kind of like
soft soldering some copper water pipe together
You get the metal hot and then and then apply
the solder
If the copper is hot enough the solder should flow into the joint
If the copper is still to cold the solder will ball up
and fall off the pipe
With brass brazing it’s similar to soldering
Start with clean parts
Clean all rust, paint, and grease or oil from your work
I will use simple green or the cheep dollar store version
to clean oil or grease followed by a water bath
A good close fit of the parts is also a must for a quality joint
I will use a nice low blue flame (not a roaring flame too hot)
Start by heating all of the joining metal and KEEP your flame moving
in a nice figure 8 pattern
Don’t leave your flame in any one place for long
Start dabbing your fluxed brass rod (I use 3/16 or 1/8 inch rod)
toward the joint
Don’t set the rod on the joint and just leave it to melt
When your metal is hot enough the brass will flow
Work your flame around the joint adding brass rod sparingly
you should be able to pull the pool of brass around a little with the flame
If you use too much brass it will form a big blob
on the bottom of your work
It is brass though it can be sanded, filed, or grinded off
I know you will want to take a wet rag to cool off your joint
BUT DON’T DO IT
Let it cool naturally it will be a stronger joint
I’ve heard you can use mapp gas and that it can heat small stuff
such as bike tubing hot enough to brass braze
I have not tried the mapp gas for brazing
I did make an air conditioner copper to copper
joint using a 15% silver alloy rod in an attic using mapp gas
The silver alloy dose have a higher melting point than brass
My best suggestions would be to start by getting a junk bike
Just for the tubing
Cut it up into pieces and practice practice practice
I hope this helps
If you can con someone into showing you the basics
(or maybe better yet take a class some where)
Your on your way
Don’t be afraid to try
If your starting with scrap it's just scrap
Oh and don’t burn down the house
ALWAYS THINK SAFTEY
Such as safety glasses, thick jeans, preferably leather shoes
(i had a piece of slag from a cutting torch drop down through
a pair of nylon shoes went between my big toe and next toe burnt right
the sole all the way to the floor i've had leather shoes ever since)
maybe a long sleeve shirt
and DEFINITELY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER
Rember metal at 400+ deg tends to leave nasty burns
I hope this helps
It is a very brief overview
It’s hard to tell you every thing and a lot of it is
second nature to me now
Here is some pict of widening a frame for a 24X3 tire
Not the best pict but hope you get the idea
spliting the frame
spreading the frame
selecting a piece
a good tight fit
spreading the frame again
starting to braze
cleaning the flux off
finished product
look it fits
some finishing touches
all finished
an artisy pict
ponytailmike
mike
