I have a cobra torch and have couple holes I need to weld up. I ran a practice piece with some "Bare Bronze Rod" and I really like the way the bronze flowed into the areas on the practive piece. Question is...Can you use Bare bronze rod for welding up some patch panels and pin holes? Will the Bondo and paint/primer hold/stick to the weld? I never used bronze before and kinda new to this O/A welding so trying different things.... thanks!
i'm not a big fan of brazing, but if you tin over it with lead the paint/bondo/primer will then stick
I knew paint/bondo wouldnt stick to brass..but couldnt find anything on bronze. The areas I would be welding wouldnt be stress/strength areas.
I'm of the opinion NOW, that it shouldn't really be done. BUT, when I first started learning custom bodywork, my mentor used it exclusively. Even when I bought a MIG welder to work on my car, he refused to use it. His work lasted a very long time, and even today, there's a 54 Merc we worked on together, that still has it's bodywork and paint intack, since about 1982. I did 95% of the welding on my 55 Olds in brass, using flux coated rod, not bronze, and it, too still is holding up since the early 80's. Back then, my boss was a stickler for cleaning the brass up. Even to the point of using one of those portable spotblaster/vacuum machines they used to have. Now, when I had a chace to revisit his bodywork, as I finished up a car he was building in the late 70's, but never finished, I did go over some of his brazing, but I cleaned the hell out of it, and put a coat of epoxy primer over it to seal it up from the effects of bodo/paint. 5 years, it's still perfect. So, yes, I think you "can" use it, but it's not the best way to do sheet metal work on cars. Lead DOES go over it very well, and does NOT react with it, or have any problems with brass/bronze.
ive found several websites that recommend silicone bronze....i guess its some kind of flux built in and others that seem to be "old timers" that stand by plain old bronze...they seem to rough it up and welding to make sure it has some bite for holding the primer.
Yeah it's easier than welding at first but learn how to weld and you will never look back. Some used to say that it was the flux that caused the paint and bondo to pop off but do you really want to take that chance? Real welding is really not that hard. Learn how to control the puddle with practice and you are on your way.
Chopolds and Tommy have it right. Before I had a mig and did butt joints, I brazed and did lap joints. I am not a body man. But have never had any of the brass lift or bubble. I always use old fashioned material, laquer primer and finish in Acrylic enamal. Preparation before welding to remove all rust, spot blasting if pitted. And good prep before primer. I quess this means building the filler metal high enough to grind it down to have good clean brass to finish. Always used plain rods with a dip in the powder for flux.
but BRASS and BRONZE are two different materials. Brass is a combination of copper and zinc while brass is a combination of copper and tin.
Who knows what I bought 30 years ago, I go into the welding store, tell the counter guy I want brazing rod, he says how many pounds? I have no idea if what I would buy would be brass or bronze. It's like brass fittings, some of them are bronze, too. And I don't know which is which. And we would gas weld with coat hangers.
I also used brass rod to fill holes on my car and 30 years later the paint is still on it. Got to remove all the flux before painting.
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