TIG Welding Clarification

[acfixer69]

There should be no smoke issue slow down on the heat and not use so much solder if you flux it up good and bring the heat it from the inside of the ferrule it will suck it in and eliminate a seam type leak some times called a pinhole leak.

[En Bee]

That seems to have worked. It didn't pull through on the inside but at least the outside looks solid now. It didn't really produce much fumes either.

Thanks again for the help with this! Once it cools down, I'll clean it up and post some more photos.

[En Bee]

There should be no smoke issue slow down on the heat and not use so much solder if you flux it up good and bring the heat it from the inside of the ferrule it will suck it in and eliminate a seam type leak some times called a pinhole leak.

Should I go at it again and try to get it to pull through? I think there may be some carbon in the way preventing it from being attracted to the underside but I don't really know for sure if that's true.

[En Bee]

After cleaning it up, it looks like it actually did pull through a little bit more. The area in between the red squares looks like it didn't pull through and up the wall, but it looks like it may have at least pulled under the ferrule. I don't have a camera good enough to show quite what I'm seeing.

Should I call this good enough or keep at it? Do I risk messing up something if I try to get the solder to pull through further?

[En Bee]

So here's where I'm at with the joint (maybe) finished. I purchased the copper parts and had nothing to do with soldering those joints. Once I'm for sure finished with soldering the ferrule, I'm going to move on to the water circulation system. I think I'll probably start a new thread on that to share my build and link to this one since that's a different topic than what I started this thread for.

I'm going to wait to find out whether or not I should hit it again to try to pull more of the solder to the inside. I'm worried about messing it up though since it was so difficult for me to even get it to this point.

[acfixer69]

Your fit does look much better. Its your call on if you want to hit it again. If it were mine I would, but repairs are a little harder to repair virgin fits. You might try a static leak check if you have a blank cap to seal the ferrule and turn bowl upright and fill partly with water and let it stand for a while, if it leaks then you will have to rework it. If not test it again with a steam run. If you had used the right flux the first time it looks like you would have had it. Hell all this practice is going to help you on you next build

AC

[ben stiller]

I think you got a pretty decent joint there. As AC stated, it is much more difficult to do a repair than the original joint. Your column looks fairly light so I think you will be good. Unless you got a lot of flux on the bowl outside of the solder joint, that excess solder
around the ferrule should peel off. Mine came off very easily. Nice to see you stick with it and get the job done. You will spend many hours at your still reliving the build and will be proud of what you accomplished.

[En Bee]

Thanks guys! I'm going to finish off fitting the little black clamps that seal the cover to the pot. Then I'm going to do a steam run to check for leaks and see how everything looks. I'll report back! I'm hoping to get this done tonight but I'm assuming it'll be more like tomorrow night that I can test it out.

[En Bee]

I ran a little steam through it. None of the metal parts leaked! I did have a leak between the cover and giant PTFE gasket that I made out of a sheet of PTFE. It's the white ring in between the pot and cover. It leaked on the top portion. I'm going to play with my clamps and run more steam once I have my water pump and hoses (Wednesday). I'm wondering if I can wrap the lip of the cover in PTFE tape to get a better seal. That might get annoying having to replace that every time I switch batches.

[En Bee]

I think the problem has to do with the bottom of the cover being flat and not biting into the gasket enough. It started leaking after I turned the heat off.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[ben stiller]

Try adding a bunch of binder clips and see if that does not work. If you still have a leak, try wrapping both the pot rim and lid with
ptfe tape and not use the gasket. I use this method with binder clips and have no leaks. I also do not replace the ptfe very often. Sometimes I will freshen it up with a new wrap or 2. You could also wrap your gasket with tape to help it seal.

[En Bee]

Try adding a bunch of binder clips and see if that does not work. If you still have a leak, try wrapping both the pot rim and lid with
ptfe tape and not use the gasket. I use this method with binder clips and have no leaks. I also do not replace the ptfe very often. Sometimes I will freshen it up with a new wrap or 2. You could also wrap your gasket with tape to help it seal.

PTFE tape is definitely my next step! I wanted to see if using the other clamps would help first but they did not. However, after my second test, I am confident that the ferrule doesn't have any leaks! I used a mirror to check it for steam and let it run for a while and there was no leak at any point.

I've started a new thread about my build since "TIG Welding Clarification" is a weird title for the overall build. I'm going to continue my updates in that one. I think this part of the project (soldering) has been a success!

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=69995

In that thread, I posted a link back to here in case anyone wanted to see the cover being built. Thanks again everyone!

[Hoosier Shine9]

If you solder it I would recommend using Harris stay brite 8 and Harris stay clean liquid flux for best results.

+1 Absolutely.
Easy peasy. A small propane torch works well with this combination. It doesn't need much heat, If you have ever soldered copper (or electronics) it will come naturally.

RWH,
When you say small propane torch are you talking about one similar to this?
Thanks

014045123211lg.jpg (28.58 KiB) Viewed 2113 times

[acfixer69]

If you solder it I would recommend using Harris stay brite 8 and Harris stay clean liquid flux for best results.

+1 Absolutely.
Easy peasy. A small propane torch works well with this combination. It doesn't need much heat, If you have ever soldered copper (or electronics) it will come naturally.

RWH,
When you say small propane torch are you talking about one similar to this?
Thanks

014045123211lg.jpg

For small 2" it will soft solder in the right conditions sunshinne and no breeze and experience or luck.

[Hoosier Shine9]

I am wanting to:
1 } Put a 2" drain port on a Keg. When I set it up I didn't think about it . Cut the top of the Keg instead of putting the 4" on the bottom....
2 } put a 4" possibly a 6" on the top of a second Keg.
3 } put 2 or 3 -- 2" on the second Keg.

I have a buddy that does tig welding but I like doing things myself if possible. I might just get ahold of him and have him weld this one too.

[aircarbonarc]

I posted this 10 yrs ago, doesnt show the tig braize very good. I'll take some pics & post 'em soon.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8580

3rd pic down, copper to ss = silicon bronze to the copper fittings

the 2 stainless pieces are tig welded. The shape of the 2 bowls allowed for not having to use any filler rod.

-h-

i got hold of a few of those rods once and played around tig brazing and torch brazing copper together. I didn't end up ever using them for any still construction because i was worried that they werent a safe material. It was very easy, and made a nice looking strong clean bond and would like to use this in my construction of my conehead pot stills.

[Appalachian spirits]

Harris stay brite 8 and their stay clean solder will do the trick. Ive soldered bung on my stainless pot with it.

[MechEngineer_81]

I posted this 10 yrs ago, doesnt show the tig braize very good. I'll take some pics & post 'em soon.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8580

3rd pic down, copper to ss = silicon bronze to the copper fittings

the 2 stainless pieces are tig welded. The shape of the 2 bowls allowed for not having to use any filler rod.

-h-

i got hold of a few of those rods once and played around tig brazing and torch brazing copper together. I didn't end up ever using them for any still construction because i was worried that they werent a safe material. It was very easy, and made a nice looking strong clean bond and would like to use this in my construction of my conehead pot stills.

sorry for being slightly off topic OP, but I did a little research and testing on TIG welding copper to copper and copper to SS. it was for a project at work for some repairs on a commercial still and tried some of the bronze rod and TIG braising and never used the bronze rod either. I found 309L SS rod to weld the easiest for SS/copper and copper/copper. if you wanted that all copper look, and a more pure weld bead, I found Deoxygenated copper rods to be the only way to go. personally I found a argon/helium mix gas to make it way easier, and high amps and quick welding worked better than low and slow for less work piece heat saturation. I have spoken with a couple professional still manufacturers and they have said that is the typical setup they use anytime copper/SS or copper/copper welding is required.

I can start a new thread next time I get this setup again if anyone would be interested. might be a minute though.

as for the OP, good work learning to do it yourself! it may have been tough but you now have another tool in your tool box.