Silver Soldering Copper Sheet

Occasionally touch the silver solder to the juncture of the fitting and the pipe.

Silver soldering copper sheet.

Silver soldering is the process of permanently joining two pieces of metal together using heat to melt pieces of silver solder which melt to fill a prepared joint. The melting point of copper cu alloy uns c12200 is 1 981 f 1082 c. This gives the steel a surface to bind to. Heat up the metal with your soldering iron or torch until it s hot enough to melt solder.

The basic difference between soldering and brazing is the temperature necessary to melt the filler metal. Originally published in lapidary. If you re binding a different metal to the steel like copper or tin pre treat the surface by melting some solder onto it. Melt some solder onto the non steel metal if you re using one.

The tubes are cut with a tubing cutter and the joints are connected by soldering them together with silver solder. Here s a great trick for making perfectly invisible seams and hiding the solder when soldering copper with silver solder. Silver soldering also known as hard soldering or silver brazing also has a higher melting point then lead so it is important to heat up the copper brass sufficiently to get the solder to melt into the joint. As such the filler metals for soldering and brazing copper and copper alloy tube and fittings must have melting temperatures below this temperature.

Light the torch and heat the fitting evenly. Make sure the area that is covered is roughly the same as the size of your silver sheet. Once the flux is applied you can place the silver sheet on top of the copper sheet ensuring that the solder is face down on the copper sheet. Copper tubing typically comes in 3 4 inch and 1 2 inch diameters.

Continue heating the joint for a few seconds. It is used essentially with silver for jewellery making and silversmithing but can also be used to join together copper gilding metal brass and gold if needs be. If it begins to melt continue applying solder around the entire joint. Place your silver sheet to one side and apply a small amount of flux to the top side of your copper sheet.

These are available with either 2 or 5 silver and are used primarily for joining copper to copper where if the metal is clean no flux need be used. Silver solder can be used to join most common metals including mild steel stainless steel copper brass cast iron and dissimilar metals. More on this later.