after brazing and soaking i cut up the joint with a hacksaw (32t Starrett RedStripe), then cut each half into thirds and cleaned up the edges with a stationary belt snader. this allowed for good inspection of the filler penetration. it's hard to see and especially to photograph. it appears as a thin line of gold between the silver steel. generally it's better than i had expected, although i overdid it in several places. the camera died before i could get a photo of an area with poor penetration. those areas were usually at the edges, where it seemed clearances might have been too large, or perhaps i just didn't use enough in that spot. generally i think i'm still using more heat than necessary, but heat control is real tricky.
previously i had tried with a #4 tip (we have either PurOx or OxWeld torches--working on translating that based on this). today i used a #6 with a more carburizing flame than before. the steel still kept getting too hot--bright orange, asopposed to the dull red i think i want. and i'm still unsure what part of the flame to use to heat.
also the miter wasn't especially good on this one. i re-used the length of 1" dia. tube that i had failed to join last time, and it didn't match especially well.
even despite that, don't go thinking these shards are fragile. even with a thin lug and all cut up like this, they're sturdy enough that i can't bend and part by hand or with leverage from a table.
i'm intentionally showing these with minimal clean-up, both because i can't recall seeing photos like this anywhere before and because it should help a more experience eye tell how well i'm doing.
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1 comment:
Good to see you're finally putting a torch to steel! The brazing is (for me) the best part of the building process. And it looks like you're on the way to me. I'm still at the beginning of the learning curve, but I do have a few comments for ya:
During my first two frames, I noticed a marked improvement in my brazing. I went from loading in the silver stressing about getting full penetration (and uglifying the shorelines in the process)to making the silver do what I wanted it to. I built a fork last Sunday that needed little to no work on the shorelines- so you're right, the actual process is easy, but doing it well is lots and lots of practice. You're fortunate to be doing this with an instructor.
I can't really tell too much from the pics, so the only other thing I have to tell you is that if (under pretty good lighting) you see a change in the color of the steel, you've already cooked that part of the joint, nothing else will be going in there. If the lighting is dim, you can maybe see a dull red in the steel, but orange? Stick a fork in it.
Keep at it!
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