.016 semi hard brass

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Any ideas on how to butt-weld two pieces together without having a huge mess on my hands?Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:Hey Brainfarth,The easiest & cleanest method would be to silver-solder it. Pick up some 60/40 or 55/45 & some past flux(I use Lucas-Milhaupt Handi-flux) & use O/A. You didn't indicate thickness & length of the joint you want to do. Sil-sol is quite easy to work with & no real mess.DennyComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:16/1000" is fairly thin for a real butt joint, especially if it's a wide sheet which might warp as you moved up the joint. Any chance you could grind opposing bevels or tapers to lengthen the contact point? More details always help.
Reply:They are only 4" wide. The sheets only come in 24" wide by 96" long and some of the strips are over 100" long.  I was not looking forward to the weldment.  I'm not sure if I can use silver solder because it is used in a sewage treatment plant as some kind of scraper face.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:I'm surprised that brass would work in that environment; sounds physically a bit harsh. Any chance something else like Monel might not be better, or is that not up to discussion? Might still have the same size problem though.In any case, you might contact a mill which rolls the sheets to see if you could get a special order just a bit longer than standard. I have no idea if any are still even in the country, but would assume so.Maybe start with a supplier like MSC and work your way up the chain.
Reply:Silver solder works for the customer, so I went with it... There was a bit of trial and error but I finally figured it out.  I tried to overlap the pieces with a chunk of silver solder in between the two.  It kinda worked on my test piece then failed on the actual part.  Then I butt the two together and tig welded them together, using silver solder as the filler.  With no prep, it worked out pretty well. After I made a pass on one side, I followed the seam on the back side and it drew the solder though and over the edges by about 1/16 of an inch.  I was running anywhere from 40 to 13amps.And I noticed that the brass softened quite a bit when I first tried with an OA torch, but not bad at all with the TIG torch. Attached ImagesCommon sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.