Likes: 0
Needs Pictures: 0
Results 16 to 19 of 19
Thread: Silver soldering on the cheap?
-
22nd Nov 2018, 06:07 PM #16Golden Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Gippsland Victoria
- Posts
- 733
Carbide and Acetylene
This post prompted by Graham mentioning Acetylene above ........ 50 years ago in Cloncurry Qld we could buy what we called Carbide from the grocery shop.
Carbide + Water yields acetylene and it was rumoured that some old folk still had acetylene lamps that they used the Carbide in.
Google tells me the correct name is calcium carbide.
Did metalworkers ever use this stuff to braze ?
Am guessing its too dangerous to be sold nowadays and has been banned. Some videos on youtube.
BillLast edited by steamingbill; 22nd Nov 2018 at 06:08 PM. Reason: typos
-
22nd Nov 2018, 06:41 PM #17
Bill,
I would say yes, as when I was an apprentice attending TAFE there was carbide generation equipment on display at Kelvin Grove campus , Brisbane.
When this equipment was last used, I have no idea. We thought it was old fashioned junk and we preferred this modern oxy acetylene cylinders.
I suspect young metaltrades apprentices have a similar attitude with the plasma cutter compared with my "modern" oxy acetylene process.
Grahame
-
23rd Nov 2018, 02:15 AM #18Golden Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Cairns, Q
- Posts
- 666
Bill,
I started working in a Queensland sugar mill in 1955. I don't remember seeing acetylene cylinders in use in the first couple of years I was there. All the portable oxy-acetylene sets consisted of a cylinder of oxygen and an acetylene generator mounted on a trolley with big diameter iron wheels. These were used for all the normal cutting,welding, heating and brazing tasks around the mill in exactly the same way as modern sets are used today. I never got to use one, but I seem to remember being told that a different blowpipe was used from that used with bottled acetylene - not sure of this though.
We also used rather crude portable open flame acetylene lights for light when attending to cane train derailments at night.
Another common use for calcium carbide in the district by farmers was as fuel for clockwork driven automatic animal and bird scaring guns, which could be set to fire at any rate from about every twenty seconds up to many minutes between shots.
Frank
-
24th Nov 2018, 11:38 AM #19Intermediate Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2000
- Location
- Perth
- Posts
- 34
Regarding the acetylene generators, they are still pretty common in Indonesia / Bali I saw a couple of sets outside little roadside workshops when I was there earlier this year.
Eskimo, brazing the 11/8" with mapp gas, was that with nitrogen purge running? Not that it's really relevant to the current conversation but I find that makes a big difference whether you need to get the oxy out or not.
Similar Threads
-
Silver Soldering,
By tonywolf in forum G'day mate - THE WELCOME WAGON -Introduce yourselfReplies: 5Last Post: 1st Feb 2017, 01:16 PM -
Silver soldering question
By phaser in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 31Last Post: 7th Apr 2016, 11:22 AM -
Jigs for Silver Soldering
By electrosteam in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 5Last Post: 6th Jan 2014, 09:50 AM -
silver soldering
By Rossluck in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 14Last Post: 25th Sep 2009, 09:01 PM -
Silver Soldering
By John Richards in forum METALWORK GENERALReplies: 15Last Post: 13th Jul 2008, 08:38 PM