Definitely will not work. I think you are confusing silver soldering with soft soldering. Tinning the two surfaces first and then putting them together and reheating has been a standard way of doing this sort of thing for at least a 150 years. Why try to reinvent the wheel?

Andrew

Arthur – soft soldering the two blocks together is not difficult but you won't get cappiliary action as said by Andrew.

Mill the parts all over but slightly oversize to start with. Note down the width of the blocks across the joining faces and tin the two inner faces. Then hold them together with a spring clamp bent from wire – I used piano wire but anything with sufficient 'spring' to keep them together will do. Lay them on a heat resistant surface and melt a tiny blob of solder on the top face. Heat the entire block and wait for that solder to flow which acts as an indicater that the tinned faces are the same.

Machine to size but don't touch the faces opposing the join. Even if you can't see the join the centre line is half the width of the block – bore the hole then bring the outer faces to suit

Hope this helps some more

Ramon Tug)

Method I've always used. Clean mating surfaces, heat parts and using good old 60/40 Multicore, lightly coat surfaces. While still hot, wipe solder off with a piece of damp kitchen towel ensuring faces are fully coated but no thickness of excess solder. Clamp pieces together and reheat. Shouldn't be enough solder to squeeze out, If you've wrung slips together you get the idea.

Clamps? Vice with a couple of bits of wood to insulate heat drain, Heating media? Small blowlamp.

Regards Ian.

Edited By Circlip on 07/11/2020 11:59:06

The only time I used the soft solder method the bearings came apart when I tried to machine them. The bearings for my traction engines were too big to solder with the kit I had at the time. So I made a fixture that allowed them to be bored in the housings ensuring that everything would be lined up automatically:

The slot drill in the front was used as a slow helix "drill" prior to boring to prevent snatching.

Andrew

That's what big cuts on big machines do for you

Yes there is a risk of popping the two halves apart particularly if you have a bit of a dull reamer than can make the bronze hot. I try to do the outsides first on round ones and then hold in a collet if reaming. If they are large enough to bore then I prefer that method with a sharp **GT insert. Square outside bearings can be done on the mill in a vice which will help keep them together.