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I posted a few days ago about the results of using a cheap stainless soldering flux that I got from AliExpress but it got lost when the forum was reset.

Well, it works really well and makes soldering SS just as easy as copper.

After a practice run I decided to make myself a new pot still riser using some SS tri clamp flanges I bought a while back.
I already had a length of 2.5" copper left from my column build, so I found a 2.5" copper 90 for a great price and got to it.

This is the flux if anyone is interested Even though the flanges were a bit of a sloppy fit in the copper tubing and I had to go back and reflow both of them to seal a couple of leaks, the flux really did bite into the stainless and made the solder wet out just like it does on copper, so it really was just like soldering copper to copper.
Although it's a bit longer than needed, I didn't bother chopping down the length of copper I had, as I'm happy to have the extra surface area on spirit runs to get a little passive reflux. I just cut a bit off to fit the other side of the 90 and soldered it all together.
Now I know that I can get solder to flow this well on stainless, I won't hesitate to do more stainless work myself and every time I order a few bits on AliExpress I'll be adding a bottle of this flux to the basket, it's like £3!

Nice looking riser Moose! I just stocked up on Harris or I'd grab some of that flux. I think I'm gonna get grain basket off Ali Express.

Rusty

I've bought loads of stainless bits off there now and never had a bad part.

To be fair, I've not had an issue with anything I've bought, and this includes fishing kit, electricals, and even phones!

Looks great keep us up to date with your build.

Bushman wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2025 11:08 am Looks great keep us up to date with your build.

I don't have anything else planned in the way of a build Bushman, it was just the riser since I had the copper and flanges already.

I will definitely think about soldering stainless more now though, so there may be a thumper in the near future for stripping grain!

Good stuff MooseMan and it makes me appreciate the products that are so freely available in the shelves in both New Zealand and Australia .
However , I envy your copper that a ferrule just slips inside . Damn , I have to add a copper couple each joint . Mind-you , I noticed you had to add a short section of pipe to your 90° .

I can see your 2” Mechanno set growing quickly now

Yes you are very lucky to be able to walk into a suppliers shop and buy what you need.
In the UK, plumbers merchants only stock supplies for soldering copper, that's it. The very biggest ones may have a brazing flux and rods, but no chance of anything else.

The ferrules fit my 67mm copper like a dick in a shirtsleeve to be honest Yummy, and I was mentally preparing to have to make a thin copper sleeve as a filler. I had to reorient both joints vertically, clean up and reflow them until the solder was brimming around the bottom to get a leak free joint.
There's no way that a ferrule would have soldered up on the elbow, so yeah I just chopped a bit off the end of the copper to put in there.

Now I know how well SS will solder with the correct flux, I am wondering what I could do with the other bits of big copper I have, maybe even a nice fat shotty, just because...

MooseMan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:09 am Now I know how well SS will solder with the correct flux, I am wondering what I could do with the other bits of big copper I have, maybe even a nice fat shotty, just because...

Yes please