thoughts on silver solder?

[travis]

Does anyone have any experience with silver solder?  Tim Cambell's g7 body looks pretty killer  http://www.timcampbell.dk/micfab.htm and Ive kind of got the bug to try it.  Mostly Im just wondering what the minimal purchase of equipment would be to get decent results.  Most of the youtube stuff Ive checked out seems to include a full on welding setup.  Can you get by with a little mini-torch?

 

[Moose]

You don't need a welding setup. You can easily get by silver-soldering small jobs with a minitorch. I've done the stuff with a little MicroTherm torch that runs off the cartridges that look like bic lighters.

The only reason for a big torch is if you're doing copper plumbing.  Lots of copper means lots of heat sink. Even then, it's not too expensive at the home supply store to get a torch and propane bottle. But that amount of brass in that headstock won't overwhelm your mini torch at all.

 

[Stagefright13]

I used to silver solder stuff all the time. I silver soldered chip caps to boards by the hundreds by hand back in the day. More recently I have silver soldered brass tubing to stainless steel with excellent results. Remember it's not 100% silver!! It flows easily. You have to add the special flux and solder as normal.

John

 

[travis]

Thanks!  I just ordered a little torch online.  Ill let you guys know how it goes.

 

[Moose]

Take pics! I intend to build a grill basket as well, though I don't think it will happen any time soon. Too many projects before the mic.

 

[travis]

I have a project ahead of it too then I'm gonna get my feet wet making a new body for an oktava 219.  A project few have bothered to do but perfect for me   If it works out Ill see about a g7.....

 

[CJ]

use to solder 10,000 amp copper bus bars with that stuff,

1/2 inch by 4 inch,

used welding torch setup like you see in metal shop, big green bottle, small red bottle,

lots of heat, almost cherry red copper to melt the silver rod,

have to hang wet rags to  keep heat off of windings,

wear a mask because the flux can be nasty,

stuff conducts good and is stronger than my dead grandmother's socks,

 

[shabtek]

i've been holding back:

CJ!!

ahhh

 

[sodderboy]

The thing with silver soldering is that the cleanliness aspect is much more important than with electronics soldering.  You need to use different flux, and pickle the pieces beforehand to clean any hint of dirt.
I do not think that the butane lighter torch is sufficient for a large mic pipe.  Maybe for some grill work or glazing a creme brulee.  I would think that the next size, one of the butane refillable torches would be required.  My reference is an incense bowl that I made.  It was only a 4" hammered disc, but even my propane refillable was not enough to solder the feet and handle.  I needed the extra juice from a commercial acetylene setup.  A Benzomatic would have been enough.
There are a lot of videos online re metals soldering.
Mike 

 

[travis]

glazing a creme brulee

Well at least I can use it for something!  I will try the butane torch on some small things and hopefully it will help me get the hang of it.  Thanks for the responses. 

 

[Moose]

I do not think that the butane lighter torch is sufficient for a large mic pipe.  Maybe for some grill work or glazing a creme brulee.

Not soldering the mic pipe. But this is about the joint on the grill support. It's only a thin piece of brass 1/4" wide soldered on one spot to another thin piece of 1/4" wide brass. I've DONE this much with a minitorch, so I know it's possible.

If you do it like the reference method, you don't need to do any soldering on the main body.