Silicon Bronze TIG rod

[IOWOLF]

I got some today for a special job and was wondering has anyone used this and any special sugestions.

Thanx in advance.

[IOWOLF]

Just bumped it up, any one with knowledge of this stuff?

[GregC]

I was once told it is good for welding copper, but I tried some and I didn't think it worked as well as plain old Romex-stripped copper wire.

[shawnspeed]

It generally is used in same situations as O/A brazing with less heat affected zone and no messy flux to clean. I usually use DC strait polairiy unless part is unusually thin then I use rev. polarity. If parts are a little scaly or thick,I have used AC with Hi Freq. just like aluminum. The trick is getting the material just hot enough to wick the bronze , without puddeling the base material.Just takes a little practice, Shawn

[Ries]

I use it all the time, to weld all kinds of stuff.
Its advantages are that since you are brazing, instead of welding, you can work at a lower heat, and not melt stuff that would otherwise vaporise.
For example, I used to make a production candlestick that had 3/8" welded to 24 ga stamped leaves. Only the best tig welder, early in the morning, could do that weld every time, and we put a dozen leaves on each candlestick, and made em in batches of a dozen or two at a time.
Silly bronze made that a very easy connection.

Silly bronze rod is also great for dissimilar metals- you can tig braze copper, brass, or bronze to each other, or to steel or stainless with it.
We often use it to braze steel to stainless, or steel to just about anything else except aluminum.

Its great for brazing thin wall square tubing- the stuff that burns thru easily, and warps like crazy when you try to stick weld it.

Ron Fournier, who is one of the most knowledgable metal guys on the planet, uses it AC, with high freq, to weld mild steel sq tubing for race car frames.
I mostly just run it DC, high freq start only, and it works great.

[shawnspeed]

Hey Ries, Did you ever work for Ron Fournier?

[Ries]

No, I didnt work for him- but I found his book, "Metal fabricators handbook" when I was young, dumb, and full of you know what, and it really got me going, teaching me all kinds of stuff. Then, 6 or 8 years ago, I was lucky enough to take a one week workshop with Ron- staying in a motel in suburban Deetroit, and working in Ron's shop every day.
He is really a great guy, with an incredible shop, and man, can he make everything look easy.
He is a good teacher, though, so after you watch him form a motorcycle fender in about 30 seconds, he actually runs you thru it to where you can do 10% or what he can do, if you take all day to do it.
I got the basics down of hand forming with a sandbag, and slapper, and english wheel, and since have done a few projects that turned out decently.

Full time, I dont do auto stuff- I make wacky sculptures, where the fit is a lot looser, and you can fake it more. Much more forgiving than what Ron does, making new parts for $500,000 cars that dont belong to him.

[IOWOLF]

Thanx guys,Never knew about the A/C setting.

This is what it is all about, Shareing Knowladge and the betterment of like minded folks.

[Michael Moore]

"and man, can he make everything look easy"

That's one of my definitions of an expert - they're the people who make the difficult stuff look easy.

cheers,
Michael

[shawnspeed]

Was just wondering, when I worked for Ron in the late 80's,early 90's there was another guy in the shop that his last name was Reis,and I had not seen or heard form him in years. Thanks.

[agrip]

Just to add a bit more info.
Silicon Bronze: the old time name is everdur.
This works very well with TIG temperatures.

The problem with using (trying to) brass brazing rod is the zinc boils at arc temperatures, and BDTMAM (boy do that make a mess)