Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm making a kinetic sculpture with 20 ga stainless steel sheet that needs a counterweight hidden inside one of the pieces. I have cut 1/8" lead sheet for the counterbalance and need to attach it to the stainless steel. See attached photo. I tried to solder it with flux, clean surfaces, and a propane torch, but it just melted and did not stick. Would silicon bronze with TIG or MIG work? It needs to be permanent and secure with many years of exposure to an outdoor environment. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

i have no idea what would stick to lead.
i would be inclined to simply box it in.

tweake wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2024 10:44 pm i have no idea what would stick to lead.
i would be inclined to simply box it in.

Yup.. Or a slight mod/change to boxing the stack of plates in in is to add some vertical plates on the steel plates as a base with optionally some pins/bolts sticking out to make a box/cup. Make sure to make the 'cup' walls not exactly plumb, but angle them inwards a little.

Then melt the led and pour it into the 'cup' you made. Once it solidifies it's now caputured inside the box as the angled sides won't let the block come out and the bolts/pins also help to let the led grip the steel.

Then finish the sculpture around it and it's pretty much in there until someone melts it out again.

Could also drill some holes through the complete steel and led 'sandwich', stick some round bar through it and (plug)weld those on both ends to pin/locate the plates between the steel outer.

Bye, Arno.

You could braze the lead to carbon steel, then weld the carbon steel to the stainless. Lead won’t stick to stainless without an intermediate layer.