Anyone around Colorado have oxy/acetylene welding equipment?

[tkent02]

Need to fix a bunch of pinholes in a gas tank. Thanks!

 

[GMSKEE]

TKent,

I buddy of mine does and is looking to sell it. I think hes asking $800 Canadian. Unfortunatly were in Canada. Dont know if it could be shipped though.

 

[tkent02]

I was hoping to just use it for a while, or trade a six pack or some carb work for some welding.
But thanks!

 

[Nessism]

You can do light brazing using a MAPP gas torch. I've never tried myself but people braze bicycle frames together using them along with silver alloy filler rods since it melts at a lower temp than brass. Worth a try if you can't find the proper equipment.

 

[Guest]

You can do light brazing using a MAPP gas torch. I've never tried myself but people braze bicycle frames together using them along with silver alloy filler rods since it melts at a lower temp than brass. Worth a try if you can't find the proper equipment.

I think that sounds like a very resonable suggestion - brazing or soldering should work well on pin-hole leaks. I would also seal the tank inside afterwards with POR-15 or similar stuff...

 

[tkent02]

I think that's the best bet. Who sells these silver alloy filler rods, a welding supply place?

Is it easy to get it to stick to steel?

 

[Nessism]

I think that's the best bet. Who sells these silver alloy filler rods, a welding supply place?

Is it easy to get it to stick to steel?

Yea, welding supply. Get some white paste flux too. 45% silver should be about right I think. 56% flows pretty easily so it may be too liquid after it gets hot.

I suggest you practice on some scrap before attacking your tank. You want the metal to come up to temp before touching the silver on there. The metal will be a dull red when its ready. As long as the metal is freshly abraded and degreased, the silver will stick no problem.

 

[seuadr]

I think that's the best bet. Who sells these silver alloy filler rods, a welding supply place?

Is it easy to get it to stick to steel?

go to an HVAC supply house. we join steel to copper, aluminum etc all the time with silver alloy. one of the better ones (it's not cheap!) is silvealoy 45, you can get it with flux coating as a rod, or without flux coating (you will need to use flux on steel) in a coil.

they make a turbo tip for mapp gas that you can braze very well with. you may be able to get away with propane as well ( most tips are dual fuel ) because the steel for tanks is pretty thin (comparitivly)

 

[Zooks]

Ask any plumber.

 

[Ponderosa]

Pm

Pm

Just sent you a PM...

 

[ALB80-850]

Trying not to be too negitive but, it may be easier to replace the tank with a decent used one. Brazing a gas tank will work(I've done it) although not on a bike. I'm not sure what the melting point of the silver solder is, in the event of a bike fire, one of the 1st things to melt(after the plastic bits) would be solder. Adding fuel to the fire comes to mind. Also, the prep work is key, no paint, rust or fuel residue, clean metal=best bond. Of course this is only my $.02. Good luck with the project.

Andy

 

[hampshirehog]

Don't worry about using solder - I've soldered up loads of tanks over the years with no issues. Sure, if the bike catches fire it could melt but then would you be within spitting distance anyway?

 

[tkent02]

Thanks for your concern. If tanks grew on tank trees I'd replace it, but they don't. There's no way a fire could melt the solder unless the tank was empty, it would have burn long enough to boil the gasoline out first, if that happened I'm really not going to care about that bike anymore. Certainly won't be sitting on it at the time.

 

[Nessism]

Silver brazing alloys are NOT solder, since they melt at a higher temperature. The 45% silver alloys melt at about 1200 F. If your bike gets this hot, you are in trouble regardless of what the tank is held together with.

 

[seuadr]

Silver brazing alloys are NOT solder, since they melt at a higher temperature. The 45% silver alloys melt at about 1200 F. If your bike gets this hot, you are in trouble regardless of what the tank is held together with.

no kidding

silver soldering is a misnomer that is a throwback to the "olden days" silver braze actually takes more temp than most brazes.

 

[Dave8338]

I've even leaded them. Actually works very well but lead is a little tricky to work with until you get the hang of it.

BUT you may not want to lead a bike tank as IF you get into an accident, scrape the paint off the tank, slide it into a water way; you may be fined by the feds for lead poisoning...