Silver Soldering Silver Steel

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Silver Soldering Silver Steel

This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 26 October 2010 at 20:39 by Sub Mandrel.

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25 October 2010 at 09:57 #57425
Hugh Gilhespie
Participant
@hughgilhespie56163
Hi All,

I am going to silver solder the crank for my beam engine. The crank webs are EN1A and the shafts are 12 mm silver steel. I have never silver soldered anything before so I will have a few practice runs first. I am also making a jig to try and hold everything square while it is being soldered.

My questions are:

I have Easyflow No 2 and Tenacity No 5, are these OK for this combination?

Do I need to anneal after soldering as I guess that the soldering temperature will cause the silver steel to harden? I don’t mind it being hard but don’t want it brittle.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hugh
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25 October 2010 at 09:57 #5247
Hugh Gilhespie
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@hughgilhespie56163
25 October 2010 at 10:21 #57429
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
If you allow it to cool naturally then you will not need to do anything to the steel, its only if you quench it that it will harden.

Have a look at this recent thread on soldering stainless, the man a Cup Alloys explains what you need depending on the grade of stainless.

Jason
25 October 2010 at 19:16 #57466
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Hi Hugh,

you will have no trouble with silver steel and easyflow or similar solder. But I would use ordinary easyflow flux, not tenacity. On heating easyflow, bubbles, turns black, then becomes a dark liquid. Then it magically goes clear and in a short time you will find the job is hot enough to melt easyflow No. 1

A good way to do crankshafts is to leave the bit between the webs in place while soldering, and cut it out afterwards. It usually works :-0

Note there is no advantage to silver steel for unhardened parts. PGMS (precision ground mild steel) is much cheaper if you want accurate sizing. Cheaper still and you could turn 1/2″ free cutting mild steel down to 12mm and it’s good practice at getting a good finish!

Neil
26 October 2010 at 09:59 #57503
Hugh Gilhespie
Participant
@hughgilhespie56163
Hi Jason & Neil,

Thanks for the helpful replies.

Neil – I may well change to using PGMS or even turning my own shafts in future but in a moment of madness some months ago I was seduced by a special offer from MSCJL on silver steel and I now have – ahem, rather more than I should. I can either sit back and admire my stash or try and put it to use, so I’m choosing the latter option.

I am planning to put the shaft right through while soldering then cutting away afterwards to try and maintain alignment. At present the holes through the webs are a tight fit on the shafts. My first thoughts are to relieve the holes by about 6 thou to give a 3 thou clearance for soldering but not to take the relief all the way through so I leave about 4 mm landings in each web to provide registration. Do you see any problems with this?

Also, what is the recommended way of cutting away the central portion of the shaft after soldering? I guess some sort of thin cutting disc but I don’t have anything like that at present. I’m not too worried about leaving little stubs as I think I can get a milling cutter between the webs to face off the cut ends.

Over to the experts!

Thanks, Hugh
26 October 2010 at 10:35 #57506
Anonymous
If you can use a milling cutter to clean up the cut ends, then use a hacksaw to cut out the unwanted material.

Regards,

Andrew
26 October 2010 at 11:04 #57508
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
Personally I would stick to Tenacity, it follows the same steps except that it goes whitish before clearing, however it has a much longer “life” as a flux should you be heating the job for a longer time, when it clears the job is hot enough for the silver solder to flow. Easyflow goes from clear to useless black/brown far too soon.
26 October 2010 at 15:49 #57517
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
I would just cut the waste out with a hacksaw and then clean up the web faces with a file, the silver steel won’t be hard so just saw it.

Its a good idea to wrap a bit of alloy around the crank pin so you don’t damage it if the saw breaks through a bit suddenly, I made this this crank a couple of weeks ago and that was just sawn away.

Also a ring of tippex correction fluid on teh pin and shaft will stop solder sticking where you don’t want it. Like Kwil I use Tenacity when its a larger fabrication as it can stand heat for longer.

Jason
26 October 2010 at 20:39 #57545
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
I’ll endorse Jason’s advice for cutting out the excess.

I’ve never burnt out easyflow, even with 800-degree solders, my fear is that with tenacity you might use more heat than is needed.

Neil
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