silver soldering-not getting burnt

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

What do you guys wear when silver soldering, just watched a youtube video of a couple of guys soldering a boiler and wore no gloves or overalls, I wore both on my first attempt at my Emma Voctoria boiler and was getting extremely uncomfortable towards the end of doing the throatplate, both hands and body.

I had do pull my hand away very quickly in the last bit and messed it up a bit.

Gloves were builders leather type so have now got some welders gloves, not tried them yet but I fear they might be rather cumbersome.

Is it me just being a wimp, I have always thought I had quite a high threshold of pain.

Thinking about it now I think it was the hand holding the solder rod (which of course is getting shorther all the time) rather than the burner hand.

Any tips ?

Bill D

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

Bill, I find gloves a hindrance as well, one thing I do is when the solder stick is getting short, stick it to the next rod and then you can move your hand back a bit. Alternatively hold the short end in pliers or jam it into the end of a piece of dowel.

Chris Gunn

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I've found these to be pretty effective. Not as resistant as leather gloves but better insulation.

Russell.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Welders gloves are cumbersome for a reason, to protect against heat; ( & UV rays / spatter ) welders keep having to move / rotate manageable items & as they weld the heat generated is obviously imparted to the metal so they need to be thicker to allow some time to manipulate those smaller items. As someone who has done welding on site & workshop, & taught apprentices brazing / silver soldering I can verify that the thicker gloves do give you extra protection & time, but even they get bloody hot in a relatively short space of time, the ordinary leather gloves don't resist heat very well & trying to pull off hot thin leather gloves isn't as funny as it looks, as far as those on YouTube not wearing gloves… … even gas welding / brazing / silver soldering gives off a lot of heat so you will inevitably end up with radiated heat burns at some point, even the silver solder / brazing rods pick up & transmit heat… my tuppence worth fwiw. No doubt there are more qualified welders out there who can describe / give a better explanation…

George.

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Well my friend, it all depends on the size of your burner!

Probably isn't a good idea to hold the object your heating and by that i mean holding an end of a shaft whilst the other is being heated.

Should always use tongs(not sure where to get decent ones, you can get some with vee grooves for holding round stock as well) and gloves or an appropriate jig. You can get some vermiculite bricks on ebay and put them together with wood screws to make a hearth.

It's expensive but try to get the 55% silver rods and flux powder, with the gel flux stuff too. It will be much easier to work with on a small burner, i found out the hard way when i went for 40%

Michael W

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

This is video in question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPTzix5SYAI.

Some of you might know these asbestos men.

Question how many men does it take to solder a model boiler.

Bill D.

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Sorry my text went a bit awry

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

Michael, I am using the Sievert 2943 43kw burner, I did not have much success with my 2941 7kw on earlier attempts at silver soldering, expert advice on this forum convinced me that the problem was not heating up quickly enough. Certainly made a substantial difference to annealing times for the plates.

Soldering with HT5 flux and 438 rods on this bit of the boiler.

Boiler placed in my 'forge'. an old BBQ and aerated building blocks.

Bill D.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

For big stuff, I use the gauntlet gloves that came with my log stove, very thick with cotton wadding inside. Seemed a shame to use them for putting logs onto the fire.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Hi Bill,

I'm engaged in a very similar process to you and equipped myself with a pair of these Cheap and cheerful but do the job.

When I started work in the '70s, firing thick film circuits we used asbestos gloves for handling the hot stuff. So impressed with these was I that when I saw a pair for sale at a MEX I snapped them up. How times change.

Rod

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Michael Walters on 12/10/2016 14:58:38:

Well my friend, it all depends on the size of your burner!

Probably isn't a good idea to hold the object your heating and by that i mean holding an end of a shaft whilst the other is being heated.

Should always use tongs(not sure where to get decent ones, you can get some with vee grooves for holding round stock as well) and gloves or an appropriate jig. You can get some vermiculite bricks on ebay and put them together with wood screws to make a hearth.

It's expensive but try to get the 55% silver rods and flux powder, with the gel flux stuff too. It will be much easier to work with on a small burner, i found out the hard way when i went for 40%

Michael W

.

Where have the photos of your mini boiler construction gone Michael I cannot find them.?

Perhaps the OP would find your expertise of some educational value.

Nick

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Fed up with getting sore pinkies lifting hot cooking dishes out of the oven with standard oven gloves, I bought a couple of separate gloves from my local Wilkinson's store. They seem to be made of a cotton-like weave with knobbly bits of plastic on. Sound awful, but, by golly, they are good. Supposed to be able to withstand up to 450°F. They are very flexible and comfortable to wear but I don't do silver soldering so I'm not sure how the temperature compares. £2.99 a pop.

Here's a pic:

Silver solderers form a queue to blow the idea out of the water!

John

[BC ProfParticipant @bcprof]

I too find gloves a pain in the ……….. so I use artery forceps to hold the solder .

The solder is held in place by the, locking. clamping action and they are long enough to keep fingers away from the hot bits .

Brian

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Over here We can get Kevlar oven gloves for around $6 a peice, never used They for workshop use, might be worth a try.

Edited By mark costello 1 on 12/10/2016 18:15:58

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by Nick_G on 12/10/2016 16:10:26:

Where have the photos of your mini boiler construction gone Michael I cannot find them.?

Perhaps the OP would find your expertise of some educational value.

 

Nick

Well it's nice to know it was being paid attention to. The project is in rehab at the moment so i'll post more when it's done. 

I still have the original boiler, its kind of a water pot for the grinder 

Michael W

 

Edited By Michael Walters on 12/10/2016 18:33:04

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

bare arms and no gloves for soldering with the oxy gun, far too much potential to set myself on fire! I use thin goat skin gloves for TIG, availible ont auction site realy cheap. You will surely get burned holding flux, I hold it in a small pair of mole grips so you can use all but 5mm of the rod. Hope this helps.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

For holding short bits of silver solder I just drill a blind hole about 1/2" deep up the end of a bit of 1/4" bar, hole size just bigger than silver solder, then put a slight bend in the silver solder 1/4" from the end and push it into the hole. Never fails, and costs nothing, doesn't risk spoiling forceps. Always wear cotton overalls, I'll never forget the sight of a welder where I used to work when some hot stuff set his shell suit alight. Potentially very nasty as man made fibre melts, sticks to you and burns. He was ever after known as 'Bob the flambee'd welder'

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Never use the silver solder down to less than say 2", toss that bit aside and start another rod.

Then join up all these short pieces and treat it like a new long rod.

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

I agree with KWIL; when for boiler making the silver solder rod gets to less than 6" it gets thrown aside and replaced with another. The 6" throw aways are of course carefully picked up off the burns in the workshop carpet and used for other less intensive jobs.

I never use gloves, and also do all my silver soldering indoors, with the doors open. A curtain can be drawn across my workshop patio type doors to shield from the sunlight so can silver solder big stuff in all conditions.

Cheers,

Julian

[61962Participant @61962]

Posted by duncan webster on 12/10/2016 18:55:03:

For holding short bits of silver solder I just drill a blind hole about 1/2" deep up the end of a bit of 1/4" bar, hole size just bigger than silver solder, then put a slight bend in the silver solder 1/4" from the end and push it into the hole.

I have a refinement on Duncan's solder holder. I use a rod like his fitted to a wood handle which has a square of 16g steel sheet attached to the end as a heat shield. Works a treat.

Eddie

[peter walton 1Participant @peterwalton1]

If you are worried about the heat get a pair of Kevlar gloves not cheap but good for the job

peter

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/personal-protection-and-clothing/cut-protection/product/p/PLY9611313D

Like these

 

Edited By peter walton on 12/10/2016 23:14:26

[julian atkinsParticipant @julianatkins58923]

I dont know anyone who makes lots of silver soldered copper boilers who wears gloves, and I've been at this lark of making boilers for my own locos for quite a few years plus known the likes of the late Reg Chambers and the late Alec Farmer, and John Ellis, all professional boiler makers.

Cheers,

Julian

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by peter walton on 12/10/2016 23:06:42:

If you are worried about the heat get a pair of Kevlar gloves not cheap but good for the job

peter

**LINK**

Like these

I should hope £7 isn't too taxing. You won't get much silver soldering equipment for less than £10 so that isn't too bad for a pair of gloves, you should've seen how much the handstitched leather gloves were the rich used to wear on their trips into town in the motor car a long time ago.

Michael W

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Posted by julian atkins on 13/10/2016 00:20:33:

I dont know anyone who makes lots of silver soldered copper boilers who wears gloves, and I've been at this lark of making boilers for my own locos for quite a few years plus known the likes of the late Reg Chambers and the late Alec Farmer, and John Ellis, all professional boiler makers.

Cheers,

Julian

Midnight trumpet blowing again

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