Learning by doing

"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly) 06/30/2020 at 01:06 • Filed to: Shed Life

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Here’s a thing that today I have begun teaching myself. This could either be awesome or go outrageously wrong (because everyone knows there is no middle ground anymore).

I have decided to see if I can learn myself how to braze. M’lady wants a screen door handle, we have much scrap copper pipe and I am always up for new techniques to learn that probably won’t kill me.

Earlier today I purchased a torch kit and some brazing rods, watched a couple of YouTube videos and thought... okay... let’s play. It can’t be harder than soldering?

Turns out that brazing is another type of soldering!

Here’s the result of my first ever (positively brazen) attempt to braze...

Still cooling down. I may never make much of a HVAC system person but, with this, I can make stuff!

jminer > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 01:37

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Nicely done!

sn4cktimes > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 01:52

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That’s pretty good! As a welder that’s definitely a deficiency in my skills set . I can solder water pipe in any position. But actually brazing... I can make a passible joint. Not my finest work though.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 02:33

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Oh I’m very good at that, my friend’s dad has a solar company in Honolulu and I used to plumb the hot water heaters for the hot water systems. He paid me by the unit, I did ten or more at a time. 

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > sn4cktimes 06/30/2020 at 02:35

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Thanks. I can sort of MIG and arc weld and sort of solder and...now...sort of braze. I will never pretend I’m ever likely to be any good at any of them but if I don’t keep trying then failure is guaranteed.  

I’m still not brave enough to think I can TIG weld. Maybe next year?

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 06/30/2020 at 02:38

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Anything glaringly wrong that you can observe (and suggest solutions to) in my test piece photo?

Repetition is an awesome way to learn but it’s a struggle to maintain creativity whilst doing that...and I value that creative part of the process.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 03:05

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Looks clean to me in the picture. We had some parts we made custom for the solar system he designed and I would make those parts some days to stock up for build days. Once you practice a bit you just get to know how the material reacts, but yeah it gets repetitive. You can do brass to stainless, copper is easy but kind of fun, I used to make custom copper boxes for the vacuum tube systems out of sheets. 

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 03:08

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I can’t find of pic of the parts, but we would make these systems for hot water at Inter- Island Solar in Hawaii.

Rufant > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 05:38

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Good to see there is what looks like a bottle of metho to hand, in case things get out of control.

TorqueToYield > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 06:25

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So uh, for us people in the back, what exactly is brazing? you can solder copper together with filler?

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > TorqueToYield 06/30/2020 at 07:06

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Ummm...my suspicion is that it’s basically soldering but at higher temperatures and with higher melting point media .

That’s what it felt like to me anyway.

There's no doubt you can do traditional soldering in copper and brass with traditional soft soldering wire...but that wasn't this. 

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rufant 06/30/2020 at 07:09

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Actually it’s turps... there's no   point half arse ing out of control in my book.

TheRealBicycleBuck > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 09:02

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Looks good! It’s not terribly difficult to learn. The big mistakes people make are not getting the surfaces clean, not using the right amount of flux, and not using the right amount of heat. Get any of those things wrong and the solder won’t flow into the joint properly. That’s the way to get leaks. The other mistake people make is accidentally burning something else - either their own fingers or something near the joint that they forgot to protect from the open flame.

Thisismydisplayname > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 10:00

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Ooooh TIG, that’s on my list too. Maybe time to look at the local community college offerings... well maybe not this year, but soon. That’s where I learned to MIG, DC stick, and braze, during my time in college. Fun class, lit my arm hairs on fire when the brazing torch acetylene fitting  leaked and caught fire.   I now know what acetylene smells like, kind of imbedded in my brain.  Still want to do TIG, some of those guys are true artists with a TIG machine and some filler rod.  

shop-teacher > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 10:05

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sn4cktimes > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 06/30/2020 at 13:40

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Any welding skill just takes practice. That’s the bulk of training in a welding program. Repetition breeds muscle memory. Keep at it. It looks really good already. Give TIG a try.