Brazing Holes In Sheet Metal

Heat the joint where the two pieces of metal will meet.

Brazing holes in sheet metal.

A convenient method of preplacing filler metal is by using a brazing sheet an aluminum alloy base metal coated on one or both sides. Brazing is a technique for joining pieces of metal together by filling the join between the two metal pieces with a molten intermediary metal. Using lineman s pliers the plug is cut to shape slowly snipping into a circle. In most cases an overlapped joint will be stronger and braze together easier than a.

Holes in thin metal can be filled with plugs. Brazing is also much easier then welding it s a lot like using a glue gun. And for personal projects and small production runs brazing is much more cost effective. The kind of plug to use depends on how the thin metal is being used.

A filler for the holes is needed i used some soft copper from a pipe hanging fixture hammered flat it was a perfect thickness for this application. The equipment in this project can be bought for as little as 30 dollars. Regardless of the reason you will have holes that need welded shut. For thicker sheet metal an old copper penny might be a quick source of material.

Then clean the surfaces using soapy water or a. Brazing is a quick and inexpensive alternative to welding. Steps use the wire brush or emery cloth to scuff the surface of the metal. Perhaps a simple rivet or sheet metal screw can be secured in the hole.

Brazed metal can also be stronger then welds. If the hole needs to contain a liquid a rubber washer can go on the sheet metal screw to render it water tight. If you are going to weld on thin sheet metal such as car body parts then you re going to have holes to weld from time to time. Brazing is distinguished from welding because it uses an intermediary material usually a copper zinc alloy to join the two metal pieces rather than melting the pieces.

Heat treatable or core alloys composed mainly of manganese or magnesium are also used.