Brazing help

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Az33

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
53
Location
Tempe AZ
Trying to fill some holes in my visor. Sheet metal is super thin and can't get to back to apply backing plate. Want to try brazing, but don't know what type of rod or solder to use. Would prefer something that will patina to match the truck. I have oxy/acet setup to use. Any advise is greatly appreciated!
 

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AZ< you have several options here,,,,,

1stly if you are going to do any sort of non ferrous metal brazing rod, then will need to make a slight indentation around the area to be filled or when its ground back it will the weld area will crack .

1, lead is a great filler , and very low heat, set your flame to that fierce bright white , standard panel steel or next size up , apply liquid flux to surface, the very gently melt lead into the affected area,

2, silver solder look for a 50% silver, again needs its own flux, this would be good to use a small piece of panel steel, just have to watch the flame can blow the steel away before your rod does its thing,, you can "prime" the surface with a little s.solder before hand to prevent this. use more of a panel steel flame on your torch.

3, bronze rod .. 1/8 thick, has its own flux or can get a flux coated rod (?)
same flame as above (both work best with about a 1/16th feather to end of the blue cone ) a heat and dab it in just like a mild steel filler rod

4, TIG weld, mild steel filler rod ,, this would rust up like the surrounding steel . low amp would lead to little distortion.

5. low amp mig , just slow fill hole from around the edges,,,

luck crate
 
Thanks for all the info crate.
Wish I had a TIG welder. Seems like I'm chasing my tail with the MIG. Tried it at lowest setting and can eventually get an edge to fill in from, but worried I'm gonna run out of material after grinding them down. Not sure how best to proceed...
 
hmm got a pick hammer ? tap gently at what you can see to determine the worst

had a look at your picture several times ,, best I can say is,, gently tap along the worst or most obvious of the affected areas. consider folding a small section and welding in .. ( one long length could be too much heat ).

fold one long piece to the correct shape. then cut sections of as required .. weld small amounts at a time keep use a wet rag to keep the immediate area cool..

take your time and consider a quick grind with a hard stone , then finish with a 40-60flap disc ..

and be a little patient ..
 

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My experience is any use of a torch runs the rusk of warping if you can't get behind it to hammer and dolly as you weld. Mig would be best but it can also be done with a wire feed. A technique I use is to add more wire filler. I use the basic tie wire like they use to tie steel for concrete (baling wire). It adds filler and also acts as a heat sink to keep from blowing holes.
 
My experience is any use of a torch runs the rusk of warping if you can't get behind it to hammer and dolly as you weld. Mig would be best but it can also be done with a wire feed. A technique I use is to add more wire filler. I use the basic tie wire like they use to tie steel for concrete (baling wire). It adds filler and also acts as a heat sink to keep from blowing holes.

you add this while welding with mig ??
 
I've been using .030, but I think I have some .023 I can switch to. In my mind more wire meant less heat being transferred, so trying to wrap my mind around that.
 
My experience is any use of a torch runs the rusk of warping if you can't get behind it to hammer and dolly as you weld. Mig would be best but it can also be done with a wire feed. A technique I use is to add more wire filler. I use the basic tie wire like they use to tie steel for concrete (baling wire). It adds filler and also acts as a heat sink to keep from blowing holes.

Thats interesting. I may have to try something like that. You couldn't add MIG wire and do that could you?
 
hmm got a pick hammer ? tap gently at what you can see to determine the worst

had a look at your picture several times ,, best I can say is,, gently tap along the worst or most obvious of the affected areas. consider folding a small section and welding in .. ( one long length could be too much heat ).

fold one long piece to the correct shape. then cut sections of as required .. weld small amounts at a time keep use a wet rag to keep the immediate area cool..

take your time and consider a quick grind with a hard stone , then finish with a 40-60flap disc ..

and be a little patient ..

Thanks again. I've been using just a flap disc to take it down and it get pretty darn hot. I need to use the rag idea too.

It is so hard to be patient on this stuff especially when I get an extra little blow out, cause I want to hurry up and fix it. Gonna have to take a few more sips in between welds, but then my welding will suffer for other reasons :(
 
If you're trying to just weld back what's missing, that's the hard way to go about it.
It's a lot easier to cut the old rusty metal back to the good and replace it with new metal of the same gauge.
When you take on a project like this, you have to have a mind set that it's gonna take awhile [;) [;) [;)
We're here for support :)
 
good point about wire diameter didn't consider that.. .23 or .6mm is best suited to panel steel....even for rusty hole filling...

heavier wire requires more amps to melt, run .23 lower amps with slightly higher wire speed , use a quick spot weld ,,I find not to try and fill in one hit , can often lead to far bigger hole, swearing and the need for more beer)
heres some info

http://www.esabna.com/euweb/mig_handbook/592mig1_1.htm
 
Thats interesting. I may have to try something like that. You couldn't add MIG wire and do that could you?

Yes, I'm doing it with wire feed and there's no reason you couldn't use the mig wire. It does make kind of a piled up weld that you have to grind down because you are trying to weld where there is basically no metal left on those rust holes so you are just kind of blobbing molten metal in.
 

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