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Copper welding

don johnson - Monday, December 4, 2006 - 11:05pm

I have been creating water features using soft copper foil and tubing. I don't like the color of solder and tried de-oxidized copper with a gas torch. The copper tubing melted before the rod. What success have others had with a color matching method of joining copper.

Don


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simmsie's picture

copper welding

simmsie - Tuesday, December 5, 2006 - 7:51pm

I've had good luck welding copper up to 5/16" with both mig and tig, but it must be de-oxidized. With mig, you need a spool gun, as the wire is too soft to run through a normal gun liner. If you buy sheet or plate, be sure to specify de-oxidized. Normal copper plumbing pipe welds well, so it must be de-ox.

web site: www.johnesimms.com


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Ries's picture

I have done a bunch of

Ries - Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - 12:40pm

I have done a bunch of copper with tig- deoxidised filler rod, as John says, is well worth buying- and it works quite well. It requires a lot of amps- which means a big tig machine, you cant just slide by with one of those little 150 amp home machines. But it works very well, looks great, and the color match is as good as you are gonna get.


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visitor's picture

Welding copper

visitor - Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - 1:22pm

Not surprisingly, I agree with John and Ries. I weld copper quite a bit, generally 0.043 inch think, and use deoxidized copper rod with TIG. It has taken a while, but I do pretty well with it now. Copper is not easy to weld, kind of like aluminum.

You did not say what diameter copper rod you were using, and what thickness copper you were welding. I am using 1/16 inch rod, only a little thicker than the copper that I am welding.

I would note that some people report good success welding copper with copper electrical wire.

Have you tried phos-copper brazing? It works very well, very quick, and the color match is good if you leave it in an as-welded finish. (If you grind it, the color match is not good). Phos copper is commonly used for fountains, which is your application.

Richard


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don johnson's picture

copper welding

don johnson - Thursday, December 7, 2006 - 12:00am

Thanks everyone for the great inputs. It appears that I need to update my equipment and practice! I practiced on 1/4 refrigeration grade tubing, but couldn't get a good result ( using a torch). I will look int TIG next although my shop has limited electrical amperage suppled to it.

I am impressed by the work being done by the contributors. I hope to get anywhere near that someday.

Don


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warren's picture

Don, Best thing is to use

warren - Friday, December 8, 2006 - 11:19pm

snakesnakeDon, Best thing is to use phos copper rod. I myself like the Harris "O" http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com/consumables/catalogsection.asp?Category=brazing_phoscop Pros- low melting, looks like copper, patina like copper Cons- cannot bend or hammer will crack, sanding or scotch brite will remove the copper color (will get a dull nickle color, but still will patina), hard to do multiple assemblies because other joints close buy will melt Here is how I use it. The tree branch is welded with the phos copper rod all over and then patina with liver of sulfur. The snake is also welded with phos copper rod. The nickle color on the snake is when I filled in with the phos copper rod and sanded on the copper film.


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