I tend to use brass for my practice pieces, and any ideas I have to see if the design works. I find the Borax cone and dish method of fluxing to be generally ok.
I had a play with some brass the other day while I wait for some new crucibles to arrive. Alloyed it and some solder from scratch, using copper electrical wire and thoroughly-cleaned cases from brand new carbon-zinc batteries. Forgetting at what point the distinction is made between alpha brasses and beta brasses, I had a quick look at wikipedia. Settled on an alloy known as Prince's metal, which is an alpha brass (good cold workability and colour) and is simply 75:25 copper to zinc. I figured that by looking at the melting point of sterling and a few of the common solders for it, I could determine a safe margin between the melting point of the alloy and the solder I'd use for it. I settled on 50 deg C. That left me checking the diagram of melting points of a two-part system of copper and zinc. First for the 75:25 mix - about 952c, then for the alloy which goes at about 900c - ~55:45 copper to zinc. Ooh, I thought - that's a beta brass which will be a pain to roll and could be a bit white. Quite a bit of the zinc burned out during the alloying of each metal and the solder did crack a fair bit as I rolled out the sheet. But I had success and made a brass ring with no visible solder join and a good approximation for 9k in colour. Copper wire is easily had from just about anywhere, as are carbon-zinc batteries. Both of them chosen for their availability and purity. It was a good way to make a small batch of a known alloy with predictable qualities. Flux was a TradeFlame brazing flux I bought from the hardware store, which contain Fluoroborates. 13 or 14 bucks for 250gms - Seems indistinguishable from the stuff we used to use at work which was about 3 times the price. As always, thanks for the video. 😊
Been taking Ian Bernard form Setting the Standards online stone setting course. Let’s be honest, even the high end setting schools don’t have there students using gold or platinum for their practice projects. So I have gotten some 70/30 cartridge brass to make rings and different collets for stone setting. Soldering or brazing is a piece of cake. Borax cones will not work on brass. But the standard paste flux and lead free plumbing solder will make you feel like you’re soldering 14kt gold. It’s inexpensive and readily available at any hardware store where you find copper pipe solder.
I am absolutely one of those people, I really want to make a quadcopter with silver soldered music wire because I think it could be stronger and lighter than the average bulky carbon fiber stuff and it would have the same aesthetic as the light aircraft space fames of the past and lug brazed bike frames. I've gotten to do a few bits of delicate silver soldering for odd things at work and applied several jewelry techniques. There was a channel I've lost track of from Thailand that made working tubular suspensions for matchbox cars out of paperclips and that would be awesome to imitate. I also adapted an auto-darkening welding lens to an amazon video microscope to play with micro tig welding. Another thing I haven't seen tried yet is using an inline gas-fluxer on a smiths little torch.
This channel scams you out of your money. I bought a subscription for o get a full tutorial and was informed after I paid that I had to go to Patreon. No rectification of this has occurred yet a continuation of billing
Questioned myself this question yesterday and today online! ❤❤❤❤❤ ONTIME
Great content, I wonder if you have considered listing your tools etc on an Amazon page. always nice to buy the real tools of the trade! Cheers Paul
i used to sell small packs of tools but shipping out of japan is always troublesome
I tend to use brass for my practice pieces, and any ideas I have to see if the design works. I find the Borax cone and dish method of fluxing to be generally ok.
I had a play with some brass the other day while I wait for some new crucibles to arrive.
Alloyed it and some solder from scratch, using copper electrical wire and thoroughly-cleaned cases from brand new carbon-zinc batteries.
Forgetting at what point the distinction is made between alpha brasses and beta brasses, I had a quick look at wikipedia. Settled on an alloy known as Prince's metal, which is an alpha brass (good cold workability and colour) and is simply 75:25 copper to zinc. I figured that by looking at the melting point of sterling and a few of the common solders for it, I could determine a safe margin between the melting point of the alloy and the solder I'd use for it. I settled on 50 deg C.
That left me checking the diagram of melting points of a two-part system of copper and zinc. First for the 75:25 mix - about 952c, then for the alloy which goes at about 900c - ~55:45 copper to zinc. Ooh, I thought - that's a beta brass which will be a pain to roll and could be a bit white.
Quite a bit of the zinc burned out during the alloying of each metal and the solder did crack a fair bit as I rolled out the sheet. But I had success and made a brass ring with no visible solder join and a good approximation for 9k in colour.
Copper wire is easily had from just about anywhere, as are carbon-zinc batteries. Both of them chosen for their availability and purity. It was a good way to make a small batch of a known alloy with predictable qualities.
Flux was a TradeFlame brazing flux I bought from the hardware store, which contain Fluoroborates. 13 or 14 bucks for 250gms - Seems indistinguishable from the stuff we used to use at work which was about 3 times the price.
As always, thanks for the video. 😊
Model building, trinket boxes, and other small hobby work use brass and copper. There just aren't many resources for us. Thanks.
I can do more vids with copper and brass. My zippo style lighter is handmade in copper
3:15 - brass is one of the most common materials to build with in a lot of hobbies, that's probably at least part of the reason
Been taking Ian Bernard form Setting the Standards online stone setting course. Let’s be honest, even the high end setting schools don’t have there students using gold or platinum for their practice projects. So I have gotten some 70/30 cartridge brass to make rings and different collets for stone setting. Soldering or brazing is a piece of cake. Borax cones will not work on brass. But the standard paste flux and lead free plumbing solder will make you feel like you’re soldering 14kt gold. It’s inexpensive and readily available at any hardware store where you find copper pipe solder.
I am absolutely one of those people, I really want to make a quadcopter with silver soldered music wire because I think it could be stronger and lighter than the average bulky carbon fiber stuff and it would have the same aesthetic as the light aircraft space fames of the past and lug brazed bike frames. I've gotten to do a few bits of delicate silver soldering for odd things at work and applied several jewelry techniques. There was a channel I've lost track of from Thailand that made working tubular suspensions for matchbox cars out of paperclips and that would be awesome to imitate. I also adapted an auto-darkening welding lens to an amazon video microscope to play with micro tig welding. Another thing I haven't seen tried yet is using an inline gas-fluxer on a smiths little torch.
Thanks!
Thanks again Ken!
Have you ever tried using copper solder? I can’t get it to flow at all. Maybe it needs different flux or my little torch isn’t hit enough?
Very interesting! (But the title announcements in between the parts are annoying, not only because of the clinging sound).
I use brass to make mock ups and I don’t have any problems with borax cone flux. Just lucky I guess.
Soldering is always troublesome for me
i've had a piece of brass shatter when i threw it into water right after soldering lol.
Yes becareful with sudden temperature changes! It can shatter gemstones and break solder joins
at school we use silver with brave and its shit, it creature "dents" in the metal its so annoying
Ordinary vinegar makes a good pickle for copper based materials. Works for silver too.
This channel scams you out of your money. I bought a subscription for o get a full tutorial and was informed after I paid that I had to go to Patreon. No rectification of this has occurred yet a continuation of billing