In article ,
Don Foreman wrote:

On Sun, 15 May 2005 10:50:36 -0400, Joseph Gwinn
wrote:



I haven't tried silver-bearing solder on steel, but I would suspect that
the pre-tinning is still a good idea, especially as the actual soldering
step is done without touching anything.

I also note that the 63-37 solder melts at 371 degrees F (not C), so it
could be melted in a toaster oven, in a low-tech version of furnace
soldering. My main fear would be that this would heat things too
slowly, causing the flux to boil away before reaching soldering
temperature, so I'd use a small soft-flamed torch.

The 430F tin-silver solder readily wets steel, stainless, copper and
brass. 63-37 doesn't wet steel nearly as readily, nor is it nearly as
strong.

See
http://users.goldengate.net/~dforeman/spinner/
for a quicky experiment with 3/32" drillrod in a 1" dia brass wheel.
I used a Lil' Torch, #6 tip, running oxypropane.

I countersunk the hole to provide a "collar" of solder. You can see
how the solder forms a small concave fillet on the drillrod, proof
that it is wetting it nicely. 63-37 will wet copper or brass this
way, but not steel.

Looks really nice. Maybe a bit too much solder used, but that's a
cosmetic issue only. How long did the actual soldering take?

What is the percentage composition of the tin-silver solder you used,
and the maker?

Joe Gwinn