Welding Tips and Tricks

I am wanting to purchase a small amount of each of these rods for tooling around in my spare time and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a certain brand name to start with and perhaps where to buy.

Weldingsupplydotcom has lots of choices. And they are really comparable to my local welding supply in Houston.


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crashbandit wrote:Weldingsupplydotcom has lots of choices. And they are really comparable to my local welding supply in Houston.
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Except you'll have to pay shipping (maybe) but no sales tax (maybe) if you buy online. The OP doesn't specify where he is but I'll assume the rod isn't available locally.

As a point of reference here's what I paid for 1lb at my LWS
AL Bronze 3/32" $15.70
Sil Bronze 1/16" 10.60

I'm in PA and paid just about the same as Lt did. I purchased mine at lws operated by air gas. Have also seen the AL and SI bronze rods in Praxair stores.

I looked on the website and 1lb of Silicon Bronze was 9.95 a pound but shipping was also about the same amount. So 20 bucks for 1 pound seemed kinda high to me. I was going to head to the Airgas store today which is about 35 miles from me but they're closed sat and sun. I am in NC and there isnt really a problem getting them.
I had not long ago ran across some rods and tried to use them and it was very bad results.. lots of spitting and popping and weird colors. I believe I had bare bronze rods instead of the Silicon ones. That was part of the question originally was to find out what exact brand to buy to ensure I don't run into the problem again.

EDIT: been roaming around youtube.. Gas brazing rods have zinc and Tig brazing rods have no zinc. this is probably why nothing worked for me at first.. and yes the rods looked almost identical. I made this mistake easily because I didn't obtain the "wrong" gas rods from its original packaging. Thanks for everyone that replied. When I get time to makes some test pieces and 'braze' them together.. I will share the pictures here. Thanks again.

FYI, for the Al bronze you want A2 for welding, A1 is not for joining

If you haven't been to the Harris website it is a very valuable source of info for filler materials, soldering, brazing and welding.

The link will land you on the SilBronze page, on the left you'll see the listing of all their products.

LtBadd wrote:FYI, for the Al bronze you want A2 for welding, A1 is not for joining

If you haven't been to the Harris website it is a very valuable source of info for filler materials, soldering, brazing and welding.

The link will land you on the SilBronze page, on the left you'll see the listing of all their products.

Thanks, I will keep this in mind when ordering. Good info!

To the OP, where in NC are you? If you just want a couple of sticks, maybe I can help.

OP, Jody uses the SI bronze and AL bronze rods in a demo and used AC for the aluminum rods and DC for the silicone.
I did the same and came up looking like a pro. The heat factor also comes into play. You don't want to liquify the base metal, just get it hot and lay the filler on top. Once again, my 2 cents. Have fun and stay safe.
Bill.

VA-Sawyer wrote:To the OP, where in NC are you? If you just want a couple of sticks, maybe I can help.

Thanks but that's allright, Ill get some ordered soon. I don't have a lot of time to mess with it anyway right now due to high volume at work. I am central NC. near a little town called Star. Thanks very much for your kind offer though!

BillE.Dee wrote:OP, Jody uses the SI bronze and AL bronze rods in a demo and used AC for the aluminum rods and DC for the silicone.
I did the same and came up looking like a pro. The heat factor also comes into play. You don't want to liquify the base metal, just get it hot and lay the filler on top. Once again, my 2 cents. Have fun and stay safe.
Bill.

I thought it might be a little tricky adding rod before a puddle really forms. I feel like I will eventually figure it out once I get started. I have been paying very close attention to Jody's videos and some others I found. This is more for fun than anything anyways so I will enjoy all parts of the learning curve. Thanks for your 2 pennies!

jbwelds wrote: I thought it might be a little tricky adding rod before a puddle really forms. I feel like I will eventually figure it out once I get started. I have been paying very close attention to Jody's videos and some others I found. This is more for fun than anything anyways so I will enjoy all parts of the learning curve. Thanks for your 2 pennies!

I use a ratio of 60-75% of amps required to weld the base metal when using SilBr. Works just fine.