silicon bronze welding wire

[doity9]

Having TIG welded sheet metal with silicon bronze filler rod with great results I would like to know if it is suitable for auto body restoration work? It flows like butter with low heat and appears to be strong enough for panel work, I also need to know if it will take paint without the problems that the old braze method has. I cannot seem to find an answer from any one using this process including the Cronatron chemist. Thanks Doity9

[ASKANDY]

Doity,
Are you thinking of MIG welding this??

A-

[doity9]

silicon bronze welding wire

I plan on tig welding with this wire, but I do consider mig. Thanks ED

[H80N]

doity9
have used PHOS_BRONZE... IE. Everdur in the distant past in tig welding body panels for automotive restoration work... BUT.. this was only suitable in places where you were not going to work the metal any longer.... if you needed to planish, dolly, form etc... is likely to crack along the weld line... for those applications.. tig with mild steel rod and work the panel to your hearts content....
on paint work for bronze filler... not a problem... brazing with gas leaves borax flux and metal salts in a glasslike deposit.. is hard to remove totally so sometimes creeps out from under paint... in tig.. no flux so no nasty deposits to worry about..... but would etch with a phosphoric acid type metal prep before priming to improve adhesion....
hope this helps
Heiti

[doity9]

silicon bronze welding wire

Thank you for the reply, That just what I thought, I needed to here it from an expert like yourself. Thanks ED

[HAWK]

doity9,

I am no chemist, but am wondering if the phosporus bronze versus the silicon bronze have different properties affecting the workability and surface paint adhesion.

[H80N]

HAWK
that is a good point!! I do not know if there is a difference either...
Thanks
Heiti

[ASKANDY]

The Silicon Bronze should offer good ductility over Phos-Bronze as the Phos-Bronze is more of a Copper/tin allow and seem to work harden easily and are subject to hot cracking. The Si-Br will weld easier than the Ph-Br and should be easy to shape. I have never used a planishing hammer on it but it flows so nice that I would guess you could. I use the Si-Br on header flanges mostly and don't know how it would paint up.

Try it on some scrap and let us know!

Thanks

Andy

[aametalmaster]

I bought a new 22# spool of .023 Silicon Bronze off ebay for 10 bucks. Went to pick it up today and the guy gave me a second 22# spool for 10 bucks also. So 44# for 20 bucks , not bad. I am planning to play on some sheetmetal, just playing around. Will let everyone know how it works...Bob

[tallwelder]

Having used silicone bronze like Andy said on header flanges I have only one ill effect to share, chrome plating sometimes shows a slight tint where the si-br was used.
Having such a limited amount of experience with mig welding (less than 30 min.) I would like to know how it is used as a filler with mig? I dont melt the parent material when tigging si-br, please explain how it is done with mig. Sorry for asking what is probably common knowledge amongst mig welders. Carl