welding/gluing stainless

Hi all,

have one of those corner pole caddy things in my bathroom, actually just bought it not long ago. However, within a day or two of putting it up I noticed that the rod to hang a washcloth from was loose at one end, one of the spots where two wires were supposed to be welded to each other, well, they weren't. I managed to get a replacement from the vendor but they said they didn't want the old one back, which makes me wonder if there's an economical way to fix it so that I could possibly use it in the shower in the garage. Is there any adhesive that I could use that would have a hope of working? Or where would I be likely to find someone who could weld stainless using stainless filler material?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel
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Any decent weld shop should be able to do the SS for you. Get a price first. Some will do it for coffee money, others have a $100 minimum.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

If the welding shop quote seems a tat pricey, you could take advantage of the compatibility of stainless with silver solder. It can be used with MAPP gas on small projects although oxyacetylene is faster. Silver solder is underappreciated IMO, and has excellent strength properties, yet works at far lower temperatures than common brazing. A MAPP gas outfit is a lot cheaper than O-A and a nice step up from a propane torch. HTH

Joe

Reply to
Joe

thanks, I might try that, I already have a MAPP torch (just plain MAPP though, not oxy-MAPP - does that matter?)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Hi. How about silver solder brazing?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Cheap method might be a metal epoxy. We fixed a cast iron garden feature. A bowl/dish sat on the pedestal and was threaded, but was stripped on the disk. A little two part syringe of metal epoxy fixed it.

Reply to
Oren

On 1/24/2009 1:34 PM Oren spake thus:

Won't work on a connection with so little contact area; it'll just break right off.

Epoxy is good for a lot of repairs, but it has its limits.

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Be cheaper to buy another one, probably. (Also cheaper than taking to a welding shop.) For a garage shower, I'd try the wire-wrap thing somebody else mentioned (think tying a fishing lure), or even a small SS hose clamp. Doesn't need to be pretty, just strong and rust-resistant.

Actually, I'm jealous. Wish I had a garage shower, for after yard work. My garage gets awful cold in winter, though.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

yeah, same here. Water is shut off for the winter. Was hoping to be able to get a heat pump installed out there, but no raises this year. @#$%#@ stupid economy. Don't be too jealous, it's really badly built and needs to be redone, but first things first - get some heat out there, then get the busted VW out. Then maybe redo the shower :)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

To glue I would try JB Weld, scuff up the contact area with sand paper, clean with rubbing alcohol and glue.

Hose clamps? (Would most likely rust.)

Or how about U-bolts? They come zinc plated and in stainless steel.

Cheers, Jim

Reply to
Jim2009

Your MAPP outfit should work OK, maybe a bit slow if the the parts are good sized. One thing I learned years ago about silver solder is that the cheap alloys are hard to work with, terrible, actually. Getting the molten flux to cover the whole area you're working on is also rather important. An added trait of silver solder is that it is one of the best materials around for attaching tungsten carbide pieces to steel to make one-off special cutting tools for home projects. Hole saws from pieces of pipe and carbide are an example of a nifty way to drill out broken toilet bolts in concrete slabs, Naturally, this doesn't help a shop with a few hammers and rusty wrenches, but not all SWMBO's are so tight with family funds. HTH

Joe

Reply to
Joe

Could you recommend a product/where to purchase? What flux to use? I have to admit that this is a whole new area for me...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

The better welding stores will have complete kits of flux and solder usually quite modestly priced. The flux tends to dry out easily and must be kept a bit moist to be useful. This means that when you start the procedure you apply heat gradually tp dry the flux in place, then add more heat to melt and flow in the work area. If the solder in the the kit is hard to work, simply buy a small quantity of better solder at the store. Performance seems to be directly related to price IMO. Anyway, the flux supplied in the kits is way more than you will use with the metal supplied. Expanding on this topic of brazing, welding supply stores will have alloys referred to as 'nickel braze'. These are handy for folks that have O-A outfits. In cases where you need super high strength beyond ordinary brazing, and MIG or TIG isn't available, this alloy works super for 4130 steel commonly used by the Experimental Aircraft guys and sporty car racers. There is probably a NG devoted to this that might be informative. Cheers,

Joe

Reply to
Joe

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