FORGEHold the brazing
rod with needle-
nosed pliers to
keep fingers safe.QUICK TIP
You can also use
brazing to create a
decorative effect
by applying a thin
coat of alloy
over the top of a
base metal.QUICK TIP
Words often get misused when it comes to brazing,
welding, and soldering. Hard soldering is actually
silver brazing, and is sometimes called (incorrectly)
silver soldering. Silver brazing uses an alloy with
roughly 50% silver. However, silver solder is much
weaker and uses about 5% silver. Cast iron welding is
usually a brazing operation using a nickel rod,
although it is possible to weld cast iron given the right
tools, a controlled heating and cooling process, and
special welding rods. In contrast, brazing rods for
cast iron are more thermally stable, and lower heat
means there’s less chance of the stress causing the
iron to crack as it cools.TERMINOLOGY
Continue brazing all the way around the joint, and
then allow it to cool. Test the strength of the joint by
trying to pull the cans apart and grunting dramatically,
and then you can continue stacking cans and brazing
them until you reach the desired length for your
container. Once you’re finished, clean the joints with
a wire brush or abrasive pad, and spray the outside
of the can with acrylic paint to make it look pretty.
If you’re feeling particularly efficient, you can use
different colours to indicate different types of
welding rod.
You can start experimenting with brazing other
projects and build your skills. Look into using different
types of brazing rods and finding out the strengths of
each type. There are some special rods for joining
specific metals like aluminium and stainless steel, and
there are other general use rods that have different
temperature and flow properties. Silver brazing rods
flow very well when they’re heated, and that meansthey can penetrate a joint through capillary action. The
more silver the rod contains, the better it will flow.
This means that high silver (about 45%) alloys are
best for joining where you have tightly fitting parts,
but aren’t very good for filling larger gaps. Low silver
(about 30%) alloy rods, bronze rods, and brass loaded
rods are better for filling gaps. You can even build up
layers by keeping careful control of the heat and rate
you feed the alloy in.
You can start experimenting
with brazing other projects
and build your skills”
”
Above
Get the joining surfaces hot, and use them to melt the brazing
rod. Try to keep the heat even, so that the surfaces don’t warp
too much