On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 22:22:49 GMT, Ken Sterling (Ken Sterling) wrote:

Gang,
Looking for some suggestions here, from the vast knowledge and
experience grouped together in RCM.
I have posted a couple of files to the dropbox (if you care to look)
called windshield.txt and windshield.jpg.
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/windshield.txt
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/windshield.jpg
The project involves a custom shaped windshield, and the mounting
thereof, to a metal autobody. The specially shaped 1/4" plate glass
windshields (one on driver's side, one on passenger's side) need a
molding attached to each "end" of the glass to permit mounting.
I obtained some 3/8" square brass, milled a 1/4" groove (1/4" deep)
along the entire length of the 12" pieces. As I need to "bend" the
"u" channel around the corners of the glass in the shapes shown in the
drawing (hand drawing, not to scale BTW) I tried saw kerfing to create
the bend. That part worked great - however, filling in the kerfs is
another matter. Using the O/A torch with a small tip, I tried filling
in the openings with brass rod = disaster. I'm gonna need (probably)
something brass colored that will melt at a much lower heat or
something. The tips of the u channel where the kerfs were cut melted
away under the flame of the torch and the inside of the 1/4" groove
got ruined also. Now kinda thinking some solder and something to
color the solder to the brass color. .... Any ideas, suggestions
would be appreciated. The drawing in the dropbox is just a rough hand
drawn picture to give you the general idea. If you need more
specifics, I can be e-mailed. Thanks a bunch for any help.

You might try using Sil-Phos (or any of the other names it goes by).
It's what refrigeration guys use to braze copper tubing together. It's
mostly copper with 5-10% silver and a small amount of phosphorus to
make it self fluxing on copper. You'll need to use a high temperature
silver solder flux for the brass despite the self fluxing nature on
copper. I'm not positive it'll work though since it might be a little
high temperature for the brass. I know I had problems the one time I
tried to use it on a brass fitting but I didn't have any flux with me
at the time.

Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm