Thanks for the tips as always. Folks, ventilation is Very important and should be the first thing set up.. The gas and metal fumes being put off are toxic. Get them sucked up and out of your shop. Stay healthy, keep creating! Peace! 😀
I came here to find out how to work in brass because I want to make some crazy art pieces just like you said it would be unpractical to make some bizarre looking art jewelry out of silver. Was so happy to hear others had the same notion. I use grifflux on brass so far and it has worked. I also learned to soak my brass in peroxide/vinegar solution to get the copper off after soldering.
I always use Borax to solder brass and medium silver solder, works perfectly fine - I think it does take time adjusting to, especially if you're used to silver and gold. Thank you for sharing! :)
@@sarahgaucijewelry pretty sure the white flux is a borate mixture. Same with the flux that you can bubble into your gas lines with like an oxy-acetylene setup.
I used to be a solder machine technician in a factory, and we only ever used two types of flux - ZNC 4030 for non-medical applications and Stannol WF-300S for medical applications. Do note that if you use znc 4030 it will produce a clean join but it is extremely aggressive and will cause reddening if you use more than a drop or overheat it
I do a lot of brass working (primarily brazing jewelry/art pieces) and I use Harris staysilv flux brazing that is. I’m sure it’d be fine for what you’re doing but, the slag is a mug to get off afterwards.
You seemed to have figured it out, but if this helps you or anyone else, a good flux for plumbing seems to do the trick for me. Get it at any hardware/ plumbing/ refrigeration supply house. Also some soft solder, I use 95/5 (tin/silver) and Ive had no issues even bonding brass to stainless and mild steel! Worth a try and you dont have to wait for it to be shipped to you hahah. Best of luck in everyones projects!
White paste fluxes like this one seem to be available all over the world, and called by many different names. I live in the continental US, and one that very readily available here is called Handy Flux. Works great on copper, brass, and even silver. But the yellow liquid fluxes such as Batterns, and MyT Flux work best on silver.
Before brazing (silver soldering), make sure the joint metals are very clean and free of any oils. The real no-brainer way to silver solder brass is with a silver solder paste which includes the flux (like Muggyweld SSQ-6 56% Silver Solder Paste, this is just one example there are many different companies making a similar product). This is such a no-brainer that in production the brass is held together with a jig, the past is robotically applied (usually as a very poorly placed single blob), several heat flames from several directions attempt to evenly heat the assembly, the heat is not varied just held constant for a set amount of time, the solder goes molten and the flux carries it around the joint. The assembly is then allowed to cool slightly, then it is quenched, water + usually an additive, and done. The solder paste is called solder paste but the heat sources are hot sources like oxyacetylene (hotter than a propane torch). If the heat source is a little high it just means you need to heat the assembly for a shorter amount of time, move the heat around quickly to evenly heat the part, and remove the heat when the solder flows. The high heat is to expedite the process. If you use the needle paste applicator and you have a long straight joint, you can place a very small even paste fillet along the joint, Then when the solder goes molten the soldering footprint is very consistent and the joint looks very nice and clean. As you mentioned in the video, the quest to joint brass attractively is in finding the best flux for the application. A product like Muggyweld SSF-6 High Strength 56% Silver Solder Rod, has the flux coating the silver solder rod. So, you heat the flux to melt around the joint then keep heating until the silver solder flows you only need to add a small amount of solder because it will flow very quickly to fill the joint evenly.
I use brass and copper for all my projects. I use the same batterns flux i used as a jeweler apprentice. In school we used harris stay silv flux for big pieces
Thank you! I wanted to create a piece of jewelry using brass (they vary in terms of the alloy, more zinc or copper makes it more malleable) but I must say, the sheets I have are quite rigid and so hard to engrave, and make engraving patterns/motifs.
I was wondering if it be possible to do a video showing a piece of jewlery as you put it together when and where you would use hard solder then when you would start to use medium solder and then soft solder. I'm not totally clear on when to switch over from hard to medium to soft. Alot of youtube videos show the making of a piece but they don't show when they are changing from hard solder to medium ect.. thank you
If you practice precision with your flame, you can just use hard solder only. Try and avoid easy by and large, it tarnishes easily and wears away faster. Don't try sweat soldering with hard solder though if you have any previous joins as the previous joins will most likely liquefy as well. Good luck!
Yes I agree, not many videos say when to use the various types of solder. I would appreciate a video like that as well if possible. Thank you for this video not many jewelry makers discuss how to solder brass, which when your first starting out it’s a much more affordable material to work with.
Depending on how large your going.. have you tried to do micro-TIG welding vs “brazing” for metals? the jewelry folks use them and they can be quite versatile. You can do tiny delicate bracelet links all the way up to medium sized sculptures. sunstone sells ones like the plus unit 1-30 joules and also ones like the 150 or 250 units that as the name suggests goes up to higher 150 joules and 250 joules in power for welding larger parts.
I solder brass model locomotive using a soldering iron and normally 145 or 188 degree solder, also sometimes rosin core electrical solder. The flux I use is phosphoric acid at about 10 to 12%
Easy Flo flux surely? Very easy to prepare and use - once mixed with water it looks a lot like your ready-made paste... and is probably mostly borax. Add a drop of washing-up detergent for extra cleaning and to stop it bubbling up quite so much when first heated. A friend mixes it with meths instead of water for less bubbling and quicker to the melting stage. I have been using it for years for musical instrument parts - including the seam on bassoon crooks which are 380mm long, narrow tapered tubes of brass.
Easy Flo flux, by Johnson Mathey Metals, is a powder product sold in the UK mix with water to make a paste. Boli the item in water to soften and remove the glassy flux residue, which will blunt your files otherwise.
You mentioned working with aluminium, I presume you were riveting pieces together, but you did say you were having problems with joins. Just wondering what you meant by this. Problem with riveting? Thank you, love your videos.
I bet that "white flux" is similar to the product BrazeTec, available in Germany. Thins with water when it dries out. It also works if you ever need to solder steel parts together, like a broken saw (with silver solder).
@@Khe.TinyKeysCraft Regular silver solder used for jewelry. I think I used hard solder, if I remember correctly. While in school, I repaired my saw using that method, suggested by my Dutch teacher. The saw is still holding up fine, even with the continual flexing.
I've not soldered silver, just brass and copper. Haven't made the jump into silver yet bc of finances and skill. But I use a borax cone and dish. It works ok. Not a fan at how long it takes me to grind the cone in the dish to get a good paste. I've also heard good things about buying a box of powdered borax, like for cleaning, and mixing with mineral spirits or water. Bought some a week ago, but haven't tried it out. But I'm sure you are familiar with those methods.
@@codythompson2560 soham harrison youtube channel swears by it. Im pretty sure that's where I learned it. I think Andrew Berry also uses a similar method, although he might be more partial to the cone and dish method.
I'm sure this is the same flux used for silver soldering silver and gold. Home-made version is 3 Boric acid 2 Borax 2 Trisodium phosphate I don't bother to make a paste out of it. Mine is thin as water and still works fine. Works fine for copper, brass, and silver and one to the other. Differences in temperature for the different metals makes it more difficult than silver and gold.
You say in the beginning that brass is very inexpensive, so I have to wonder why you make things more difficult for yourself. In your demonstration you use two tiny slivers of brass so small you have to use tweezers; what were you thinking? A lot of us would like to know, for instance, a trumpet starts off using traditional solder, when they're finished it's an invisible seam it looks like brass with no signs of solder, how is that achieved? Thank you.
Do you also use paste solder for brass? I have a brass ring that I'm trying to solder together, and I can't seem to get it completely soldered together. Do you have any advice you could give me to help me with this problem?
What is kind of to use solder of brass to brass metal? Cause l used bronz bras brazing filler rod is about damage the brass parents metal before i solder
aS A KID i USED TO USE SALTSYRE (THAt's danish - translate if interested) with very good results - except for the fumes turning everything iron in the aera red.. :D With good ventilation it would probl not be an issue.
Simple borax flux works as good as any fancy and more expensive flux. I have used simple borax flux with silver solder on silver , copper , nickel silver , brass , bronze , stainless without any problems.
It’s just a “high temp” flux, I use the same stuff to silver solder brass tubes to a brass base, you want it to be mixed enough that it has a sort of creamy texture, kind of like Mac and cheese without the noodles in it.
😅Brass is harder than Gold and silver. It was used to make knife blades before the advent of iron and steel...it also works hardens REALLY fast. You get 2 hits with a hammer before it splits in two.
@@gundanium3126 zinc is mined primarily from low grade ore with several other ores in the mix, the testing done on bronze weapons shows them primarily as tin/copper with the usual amount of impurities you get from those time periods, they did have brass during the bronze age but they don't really find it in weapons. I will concede that brass is much, much harder than copper, I've done tests, but bronze is to brass what brass is to copper. You can work brass with a hammer easier than bronze, bronze is best when cast and work hardened, even then the percentage of the alloying metals comes into play.
@@WildBearFoot I have worked 3/16ths inch Brass with a hammer it split in 2 strikes even after i annealed it. i have not yet tried bronze under the hammer other then to peen it (and it peens well) as i only just got some casting shot made from it, but plan to test it soonish.
Please do be careful when soldering brass; aside from the usual from the solder, there is also the zinc in the brass itself that causes toxic fumes. I get that you’re experimenting, but you’re also teaching people… Zinc isn’t inert. Please take care of yourself.
Thanks for the tips as always. Folks, ventilation is Very important and should be the first thing set up.. The gas and metal fumes being put off are toxic. Get them sucked up and out of your shop. Stay healthy, keep creating! Peace! 😀
I came here to find out how to work in brass because I want to make some crazy art pieces just like you said it would be unpractical to make some bizarre looking art jewelry out of silver. Was so happy to hear others had the same notion. I use grifflux on brass so far and it has worked. I also learned to soak my brass in peroxide/vinegar solution to get the copper off after soldering.
I always use Borax to solder brass and medium silver solder, works perfectly fine - I think it does take time adjusting to, especially if you're used to silver and gold. Thank you for sharing! :)
@@sarahgaucijewelry pretty sure the white flux is a borate mixture. Same with the flux that you can bubble into your gas lines with like an oxy-acetylene setup.
I used to be a solder machine technician in a factory, and we only ever used two types of flux - ZNC 4030 for non-medical applications and Stannol WF-300S for medical applications. Do note that if you use znc 4030 it will produce a clean join but it is extremely aggressive and will cause reddening if you use more than a drop or overheat it
I do a lot of brass working (primarily brazing jewelry/art pieces) and I use Harris staysilv flux brazing that is. I’m sure it’d be fine for what you’re doing but, the slag is a mug to get off afterwards.
You seemed to have figured it out, but if this helps you or anyone else, a good flux for plumbing seems to do the trick for me. Get it at any hardware/ plumbing/ refrigeration supply house. Also some soft solder, I use 95/5 (tin/silver) and Ive had no issues even bonding brass to stainless and mild steel! Worth a try and you dont have to wait for it to be shipped to you hahah. Best of luck in everyones projects!
White paste fluxes like this one seem to be available all over the world, and called by many different names. I live in the continental US, and one that very readily available here is called Handy Flux. Works great on copper, brass, and even silver. But the yellow liquid fluxes such as Batterns, and MyT Flux work best on silver.
Before brazing (silver soldering), make sure the joint metals are very clean and free of any oils.
The real no-brainer way to silver solder brass is with a silver solder paste which includes the flux (like Muggyweld SSQ-6 56% Silver Solder Paste, this is just one example there are many different companies making a similar product). This is such a no-brainer that in production the brass is held together with a jig, the past is robotically applied (usually as a very poorly placed single blob), several heat flames from several directions attempt to evenly heat the assembly, the heat is not varied just held constant for a set amount of time, the solder goes molten and the flux carries it around the joint.
The assembly is then allowed to cool slightly, then it is quenched, water + usually an additive, and done. The solder paste is called solder paste but the heat sources are hot sources like oxyacetylene (hotter than a propane torch). If the heat source is a little high it just means you need to heat the assembly for a shorter amount of time, move the heat around quickly to evenly heat the part, and remove the heat when the solder flows. The high heat is to expedite the process.
If you use the needle paste applicator and you have a long straight joint, you can place a very small even paste fillet along the joint, Then when the solder goes molten the soldering footprint is very consistent and the joint looks very nice and clean.
As you mentioned in the video, the quest to joint brass attractively is in finding the best flux for the application. A product like Muggyweld SSF-6 High Strength 56% Silver Solder Rod, has the flux coating the silver solder rod. So, you heat the flux to melt around the joint then keep heating until the silver solder flows you only need to add a small amount of solder because it will flow very quickly to fill the joint evenly.
First watch …. I like the way you validate and work your tools, simple quick and to the point..nothing fancy but more like adaptive to function
what were you using for the weld silver solder ?
Thanks
I use brass and copper for all my projects. I use the same batterns flux i used as a jeweler apprentice. In school we used harris stay silv flux for big pieces
Really helpful. Appreciate the nuances in your explanations too.
Thanks for the video. To be clear is the small bit of metal you added to act as solder actually the same as the brass you are joining?
Thank you! I wanted to create a piece of jewelry using brass (they vary in terms of the alloy, more zinc or copper makes it more malleable) but I must say, the sheets I have are quite rigid and so hard to engrave, and make engraving patterns/motifs.
I was wondering if it be possible to do a video showing a piece of jewlery as you put it together when and where you would use hard solder then when you would start to use medium solder and then soft solder. I'm not totally clear on when to switch over from hard to medium to soft. Alot of youtube videos show the making of a piece but they don't show when they are changing from hard solder to medium ect.. thank you
If you practice precision with your flame, you can just use hard solder only. Try and avoid easy by and large, it tarnishes easily and wears away faster. Don't try sweat soldering with hard solder though if you have any previous joins as the previous joins will most likely liquefy as well. Good luck!
Thank you!!
Yes I agree, not many videos say when to use the various types of solder. I would appreciate a video like that as well if possible. Thank you for this video not many jewelry makers discuss how to solder brass, which when your first starting out it’s a much more affordable material to work with.
For brass use pine resin dissolved in isopropyl alcohol as flux and use 60/40 tin lead solder. Same for copper.
@markedis5902 would these be RA fluxes?
Depending on how large your going.. have you tried to do micro-TIG welding vs “brazing” for metals? the jewelry folks use them and they can be quite versatile. You can do tiny delicate bracelet links all the way up to medium sized sculptures. sunstone sells ones like the plus unit 1-30 joules and also ones like the 150 or 250 units that as the name suggests goes up to higher 150 joules and 250 joules in power for welding larger parts.
I solder brass model locomotive using a soldering iron and normally 145 or 188 degree solder, also sometimes rosin core electrical solder.
The flux I use is phosphoric acid at about 10 to 12%
What metal was the tiny piece you used for welding the two tiny brass together? I want to weld brass with brass not see the lead
Looks like chip solder
Easy Flo flux surely? Very easy to prepare and use - once mixed with water it looks a lot like your ready-made paste... and is probably mostly borax. Add a drop of washing-up detergent for extra cleaning and to stop it bubbling up quite so much when first heated. A friend mixes it with meths instead of water for less bubbling and quicker to the melting stage.
I have been using it for years for musical instrument parts - including the seam on bassoon crooks which are 380mm long, narrow tapered tubes of brass.
Oh - just noticed that 'Gazz-R says the same thing...
Easy Flo flux, by Johnson Mathey Metals, is a powder product sold in the UK mix with water to make a paste. Boli the item in water to soften and remove the glassy flux residue, which will blunt your files otherwise.
You mentioned working with aluminium, I presume you were riveting pieces together, but you did say you were having problems with joins. Just wondering what you meant by this. Problem with riveting? Thank you, love your videos.
No i was soldering!
Hi, I like your table lamp.
Could you please provide me with some details (brand, model number, etc.)?
I bet that "white flux" is similar to the product BrazeTec, available in Germany. Thins with water when it dries out. It also works if you ever need to solder steel parts together, like a broken saw (with silver solder).
Is this silver solder normal solder for jewelry or it is a special product?
@@Khe.TinyKeysCraft Regular silver solder used for jewelry. I think I used hard solder, if I remember correctly. While in school, I repaired my saw using that method, suggested by my Dutch teacher. The saw is still holding up fine, even with the continual flexing.
@@Greg042869thank you so much! I really had some issues with soldering brass, I will try this ❤❤❤
I've not soldered silver, just brass and copper. Haven't made the jump into silver yet bc of finances and skill. But I use a borax cone and dish. It works ok. Not a fan at how long it takes me to grind the cone in the dish to get a good paste.
I've also heard good things about buying a box of powdered borax, like for cleaning, and mixing with mineral spirits or water. Bought some a week ago, but haven't tried it out.
But I'm sure you are familiar with those methods.
If you do try that borax powder and liquid route, let me know how it goes, please. I was thinking of trying the same. Cheers!
@@codythompson2560 soham harrison youtube channel swears by it. Im pretty sure that's where I learned it. I think Andrew Berry also uses a similar method, although he might be more partial to the cone and dish method.
If you can find the safety data sheet for the flux it may list the chemicals used. Most suppliers provide links to the sds.
I'm sure this is the same flux used for silver soldering silver and gold. Home-made version is 3 Boric acid 2 Borax 2 Trisodium phosphate I don't bother to make a paste out of it. Mine is thin as water and still works fine. Works fine for copper, brass, and silver and one to the other. Differences in temperature for the different metals makes it more difficult than silver and gold.
Have you got a link to the exact flux you’re using?
You say in the beginning that brass is very inexpensive, so I have to wonder why you make things more difficult for yourself. In your demonstration you use two tiny slivers of brass so small you have to use tweezers; what were you thinking? A lot of us would like to know, for instance, a trumpet starts off using traditional solder, when they're finished it's an invisible seam it looks like brass with no signs of solder, how is that achieved?
Thank you.
Do you also use paste solder for brass? I have a brass ring that I'm trying to solder together, and I can't seem to get it completely soldered together. Do you have any advice you could give me to help me with this problem?
How about a flux pen as used in electronics. It's clean and simple to use.
What is kind of to use solder of brass to brass metal? Cause l used bronz bras brazing filler rod is about damage the brass parents metal before i solder
What solder did you use to match brass colour ?
brass solder
Is it normal silver solder for jewelries or is it a different solder? :)
You can use silver but I have specific brass solder here
aS A KID i USED TO USE SALTSYRE (THAt's danish - translate if interested) with very good results - except for the fumes turning everything iron in the aera red.. :D With good ventilation it would probl not be an issue.
Who has the link to the flux seller?
Do you have a name of the website or link to the white flux?
No but it was from 'seaforce' in japan
@@DiamondMounter Ok, thank you. Ill see if I cannt find it.
Not sure what the problem is. I work with brass just as I would with silver, same flux, same solder, works every time.
Simple borax flux works as good as any fancy and more expensive flux. I have used simple borax flux with silver solder on silver , copper , nickel silver , brass , bronze , stainless without any problems.
wonder if it if borax paste
It’s just a “high temp” flux, I use the same stuff to silver solder brass tubes to a brass base, you want it to be mixed enough that it has a sort of creamy texture, kind of like Mac and cheese without the noodles in it.
😅Brass is harder than Gold and silver. It was used to make knife blades before the advent of iron and steel...it also works hardens REALLY fast. You get 2 hits with a hammer before it splits in two.
Bronze was for blades, brass came later.
@@WildBearFoot I think it somewhat depended on were you were as tin was hard to get ahold of.
@@gundanium3126 zinc is mined primarily from low grade ore with several other ores in the mix, the testing done on bronze weapons shows them primarily as tin/copper with the usual amount of impurities you get from those time periods, they did have brass during the bronze age but they don't really find it in weapons. I will concede that brass is much, much harder than copper, I've done tests, but bronze is to brass what brass is to copper. You can work brass with a hammer easier than bronze, bronze is best when cast and work hardened, even then the percentage of the alloying metals comes into play.
@@WildBearFoot I have worked 3/16ths inch Brass with a hammer it split in 2 strikes even after i annealed it. i have not yet tried bronze under the hammer other then to peen it (and it peens well) as i only just got some casting shot made from it, but plan to test it soonish.
this looks like powder named vorakas mix with water to make it cream for the same purpose
Plumbers solder brass and copper all the time, no problem at all. Any old flux will work.
@@flyerphil7708 don’t know what I’m doing wrong. My very first attempt to solder two 1/4” brass bars together with ordinary solder and flux.
Please do be careful when soldering brass; aside from the usual from the solder, there is also the zinc in the brass itself that causes toxic fumes. I get that you’re experimenting, but you’re also teaching people… Zinc isn’t inert. Please take care of yourself.
😂😂😂
She's right, zinc flu is no joke and it compounds if you get more exposure and can lead to heavy metal toxicity.
@@scotcompston funny? She's right though. Heavy metal poisoning is a thing. Just to prove it, please go lick a lot of lead, please and thanks!
Nokorode flux. Not just for copper
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Plumbers flux
No more coffees mate!😂 Speaking at a million miles an hour. Slow down!
Your flux is probably radox.
What a dork.