T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
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2198.1 | Welded or brazed?? | MARVIN::ROBINSON | NCL on a PC | Tue Jan 04 1994 13:49 | 23 |
| re -1
>Nickle-Bronze welding rod
Sounds like the frame is brazed together. This uses brass rod as a solder
(I assume the frames are not themselves made from brass!!). There are
various grades available using different alloys to alter the temperature
of melting and their strenght. There are also a range of silver solders
which brings the range down to just over 600 degrees C.
Brazing rods (and silver solders) are widely available in the USA through
model engineering suppliers - probably not automotive places though.
There are a range of fluxes available - depends on the temperature you are
using.
Brazing / silver soldering is easy with a suiable torch. I use either
methane with compressed air or propane self blown. I do not like oxyacetalyn
as it is too hot and local.
By the way, a brazed or silver soldered joint well done is as strong as
mild steel. - out of interest what material is used for the frames?
Dave
|
2198.2 | The USA must have it! | ROCKS::CAMP | | Wed Jan 05 1994 13:08 | 12 |
| Might be worth a try looking up your local welding equipment suppliers
in the yellow pages. They are likely to have various grades of brazing
rods and fluxes. As .1 mentioned they are not true welding rods but brazing
rods, and typically requires the work to be fluxed then brought to a
dull red heat (depends on the type of brazing of course) and the rod
applied and the braze will run into the joint. Some rods have the flux
added to the outside of the rod so the work can be heated with the
torch and the rod put into the joint and melted, and the process can be
repeated along the length of the joint.
I think its likely that a good welding supplier would have all you
require to do this type of work.
|
2198.3 | Not normal brazing or welding stuff | NYTP05::JANKOWITZ | Twisty little passages all alike | Thu Jan 06 1994 12:51 | 24 |
| Nickle-Bronze seems to be a cross between welding and brazing. It is a
lower temperature like brazing but leaves a fillet like welding. You
can't weld to these joints. If you try adding welding rod, all you get
is piles of sparks and a real mess. You can braze to it using
Silver-Bronze rod, but you lose the fillet, which looks so nice the
way Lola did it. That's because normal brazing flows into the joint
unlike welding or brazing with Nickle-Bronze rod. That would also show
off the fact that you've worked on the joint. As you mention, flux is
also required. From what I've heard, a paste flux is much more
desireable for this than is the powder or rods which already have the
flux coating.
The frame and suspension seems to be made of a mild steel tubing,
nothing fancy.
I've tried all of the local welding supply places and some not very
local like Connecticut and California. I've called Carl Haas Auto, the
US Lola importer who says they don't know how the car is welded
together (?).
If I've got the stuff right, it's supposed to be (or once was) very
popular in England. That's why I'm trying this notes conference.
Glenn
|
2198.4 | I'll enquire. | ROCKS::CAMP | | Thu Jan 06 1994 14:27 | 3 |
| We have a BOC supplier near the office, I'll call in tomorrow and see
what they have to say about Nickle-Bronze rods.
Mike
|
2198.5 | phone 'em up. | CMOTEC::JASPER | Stuck on the Flypaper of Life | Fri Jan 07 1994 13:06 | 9 |
| BOC=British Oxygen Company
Have you phoned Lola UK ? They MUST know :-)
UKcode-480-451301
Tony.
|
2198.6 | | WOTVAX::MACFARLANE | | Thu Aug 17 1995 14:33 | 22 |
| Just Browsing I came across this note about Nickel Bronze welding. Did
you find a supplier? Back in the seventies I built a tube steel race
car chassis, and cast around for the best way to weld the tubes. At
that time most of the race car manufacturers were using Nickel Bronze -
as has been said, it was a cross between brazing and welding, being a
high temperature brazing process with increased penetration, but with
a similar lack of distortion associated with brazing.
Even back then I had the devil's own job finding a source of rods (we
used plain nickel bronze rods and powder flux). The joints were
brilliant - very strong and tough.
Most people these days seem to have switched to MIG or TIG welding -
modern welding gear gives very good quality control. The only thing I
can suggest you try is Arch Motors - Arch used to be the primary
supplier of tube welded chassis to the race-car trade (they probably
manufactured your Lola chassis), and they're still in business. They
produce the chassis frames for Caterham, who produce the successor to
the Lotus Seven - their number in the UK is (44) 1480 459 661. I would
imagine that they know all there is to know about tube welded chassis.
Cheers
|