Home brazing?

[Joolstacho]

I have the same problem with my arc welder, as soon as the arc strikes I can't see where I'm going.
I read somewhere that if you put a super-bright light on the work it makes it easier because the brightness contrast is reduced.
Haven't tried it yet, I'm sure there would be welders on here who could give us a hint.

[Greybeard]

GB I reckon that brazing depends on the quality of the joints. Brazing is not as good as welding if the joints are not very good. Brazing needs good contact of the parts, whereas welding can tolerate and 'fill' gaps.

Yes, I remember from metalwork at school being shown about making a good close joint so the melted metal uses capillary action to suck up into the joint, same with soldering.

[Greybeard]

I have the same problem with my arc welder, as soon as the arc strikes I can't see where I'm going.

I'm going to try adjusting the control on my welding helmet to see if I can get a better view.

[mikeb]

i feel your pain GB. my solution was turn the darkening down a bit (if yours is adjustable) and put a very bright light above the welding table (or floor in my case). being very amateur i found it hard to weld around bends but a few practice runs and doing it in 2 or 3 sections helped. and an angle grinder is your friend!

attached a pic to hopefully inspire, but which may appall the proper welders among us.

PS - the inner corner lugs with threads are for mounting a large box - fancy huh?

[Greybeard]

attached a pic to hopefully inspire....

Wow, that is beautiful.

How did you do the bends?

What tube did you use?

[Greybeard]

When number three child was young I restored an ancient pedal car Jeep for him, (I had one when I was a nipper). I had my BOC Portapack at the time. I made this steering wheel and all the chassis and pedal parts.

[RDfella]

Welding helmets are too dark for brazing / silver soldering. Try a pair of not-too-dark sunglasses.

[Greybeard]

Welding helmets are too dark for brazing / silver soldering. Try a pair of not-too-dark sunglasses.

Yes, I do know that. My problem is seeing my MIG weld through the auto darkening glass.

[mikeb]

GB – however you made that steering wheel looks good!
for the B's carrier, I used 5/8 mild steel tube – ½” is the standard but I wanted heavy duty.
I had access to a proper tube bender at the time – bench mounted with various formers. They cost proper money. I’ve other times tried those pipe crusher types but even fill of sand with heat they are a nightmare. Much harder than mig.

[Greybeard]

GB – however you made that steering wheel looks good!
for the B's carrier, I used 5/8 mild steel tube – ½” is the standard but I wanted heavy duty.
I had access to a proper tube bender at the time – bench mounted with various formers. They cost proper money. I’ve other times tried those pipe crusher types but even fill of sand with heat they are a nightmare. Much harder than mig.

I used a section of telephone pole, (I was a telephone engineer at the time) as a former for the steering wheel, also chassis bends. I heated the pipe with my OxyAcetyline torch. Cut the ends to meet and welded together.

Maybe I could hire a suitable pipe bender for my carrier.

What did you mean by "Much harder than mig"

[mikeb]

i mean using a mig welder (in a simple home-shop mild steel way) is super easy (i taught one of my daughters the basics when she was 12). (tho welding around curves an upside down way less easy)
bending tube with a proper tube bender is ok-ish but tricky to get the bends in exactly the same place for something mirrored like a carrier. do some test pieces.
Bending tube without crushing it with one of those cheap pipe-crusher types is very difficult even with sand and heat, and involves lots of swearing and ends up looking bad.
but my skills are low - "YMMV" as they say.

[Greybeard]

YMMV = your mileage may vary. I had to look that up. You youngsters are 'Down with the kids'.

[Greybeard]

This video is a bit laboured but shows a homemade tube bender.

https://youtu.be/0WmH_jKsP8c

[coater87]

 GB,

 My  welding helmit is auto darkening but you still have the choice of how dark you want the screen.

 When I first started welding it was at 13. With age  I eventually couldn't see at that and would lower it.

I am down to 11, some days 10 just so I can see what Is going on.

 This is not good for your eyes, but once you get to 5 you can study the sun without a cardboard tube - so there are always benefits.

 Lee

[Greybeard]

Don't try this at home kids! 😎