How to join copper to steel

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How to join copper to steel

Home Forums Help and Assistance! (Offered or Wanted) How to join copper to steel

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  • #691602
    Nick Clarke 3
    Participant
      @nickclarke3

      I want to join copper tube to steel sheet (only because they are the materials to hand for a project)

      Options include silver solder, braze, sifbronze.

      Any suggestions as to which way go go. All will work I know.

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      #691609
      JasonB
      Moderator
        @jasonb

        It may come down to what you have to provide the heat and the size of the parts. A Propane torch depending on burner size will do all three if the material is thin and the job not too big. But same torch will struggle to heat a bit of steel scaffold pole and a foot square bit of 1/4″ thick copper.

        The increased heat needed for brazing and Sif may also risk distortion of the flat sheet or melt through thin copper

        Are you going to want to do subsequent joining? if so Braze/Sif for the first heat and then silver solder for the next will stop the first joint coming apart.

        Really need a lot more detail before suggesting what is best for a specific job.

         

        And before any pedants chip in I know silver soldering is actually brazing

        #691620
        noel shelley
        Participant
          @noelshelley55608

          There are several questions that need answering. Size of parts, there abbility to absorb the heat. Then what equipment you have to heat the job. Sif bronze is cheaper and strong but needs more heat than silver solder. Silver solder has little gap filling abbility where as Sif bronze will gap fill and give a good fillet. Noel.

          #691647
          bernard towers
          Participant
            @bernardtowers37738

            Depending on how much strength is required have you discounted soft solder, its a lot stronger than most people give it credit for. you can get a good fillet as well!

            #691716
            SillyOldDuffer
            Moderator
              @sillyoldduffer

              Knowing what the build is for would help.

              Copper tube isn’t strong, so presumably this isn’t a weight bearing construction.  Could be a sculpture, in which case bolts or self-tapping screws are easier than hot joints.   They’re no good if the pipe has to be waterproof though!

              A combination of steel-sheet and copper tube suggests a heat exchanger to me, which is trickier due to heat and wet and might have to be strong too.  Steel touching Copper corrodes when the joint gets damp.  More bovver if the construction gets hot because Copper expands a fair bit more than steel.   Hot water copper pipes are usually carried in clips and have generous bends so the pipe can move as necessary without breaking anything when the temperature changes.

              https://toolkit.climate.gov/sites/default/files/BuckledRail.jpg

              Silver Solder is more expensive than Brazing but less skill is needed.  Both require a blowlamp powerful enough to get the joint up to temperature before the flux fails.   Sifbronze always often needs Oxyacetylene.   Plumbers Solder is weak, but could be acceptable.   Or even plastic ties or Superglue.

              Always go for the engineering solution that meets the requirement most cheaply, but no cheaper!

              Dave

               

               

              #691719
              Mark Rand
              Participant
                @markrand96270

                Roller expansion/swaging?

                Loctite?

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