Spotwelder

B

BradleySmall

Joined
Mar 6, 2022
Messages
317
I have heard people spot weld their bolsters to liners.

What kind of machine is used to do this? What are the implications? Can I do this with brass liners (3/32) and nickel silver or brass bolsters (1/8)?
Is this still possible when working with SS or Titanium?
 
You use a spot welding machine. Harbor Freight sells them. I can't imagine they would be useful for spot welding bolsters on. Hubertus spot weld their bolsters, and the come loose.
I have one, but never took it out of the box.
 
I have heard it is finicky to set up because you need to shape the tips in some fashion as to enable welding materials of different thickness (as you alluded to). I have no idea about using different metal types. Luke Swenson uses a spot welder for bolsters in his video on Chris Crawford’s site. I think that Bill Ruple talks about using one too. I looked into it briefly, then decided to solder them. Soldering has worked well for me on stainless-to-stainless and brass-to-brass builds.
 
I have the heavier HF model (220v). I use it for stainless and carbon, but I also solder. Not sure doing both is effective, but that’s what I do.
 
Not all, but most. In my mind, I am trying to create a moisture barrier under the bolster that I don’t think spot welding provides. Soldering alone would provide that, but then I worry about a solder-only bolster falling off, even though I have never had that happen (yet). Redundant.
 
I know a few makers who spot weld them on, basically they have trouble soldering so do it that way.
 
Just finished soldering 5 sets. Didn't enjoy it. :)

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Soft soldering is easy. I don't understand why some people have so much trouble with it.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Soft soldering is easy. I don't understand why some people have so much trouble with it.
Click to expand...
You'd be amazed at what I can manage to have trouble with...

Bradley, I tend to suck at most things when I first try them, and I have gotten soldering bolsters down pretty well, so it may be worth sticking with it a bit. Did you reference those videos I linked to in the last discussion about this? I have found them very helpful. I also like having my pivot hole already drilled in the bolsters and having a pin in it for alignment. That is what Tony Bose did in the videos I linked so.
 
Sean Yaw said:
You'd be amazed at what I can manage to have trouble with...

Bradley, I tend to suck at most things when I first try them, and I have gotten soldering bolsters down pretty well, so it may be worth sticking with it a bit. Did you reference those videos I linked to in the last discussion about this? I have found them very helpful. I also like having my pivot hole already drilled in the bolsters and having a pin in it for alignment. That is what Tony Bose did in the videos I linked so.
Click to expand...
Do you drill your bolsters before cutting them out and attaching them.
 
Yes. I super glue the two bolsters together, drill them, put a pin through both, then grind the bottoms (interface with the handle material) flat and to where I want them to be. That way, since they are together, both bolsters are identical with respect to the thing that matters: pivot hole placement with respect to the flat bottom of the bolster. The bolsters are oversize on all the other sides. A little heat removes the super glue and then they are ready to solder on the liners. When I solder them on, I keep a very lightly oiled pin through the bolster and liner to help keep them aligned during the soldering. You still need to get the bottoms of the bolsters lined up with each other, but your single degree of freedom is just rotation about the pivot pin instead of two degrees of freedom without the pre-drilled bolsters. I use a file guide to line up the bolster bottoms, but Jason Ritchie has a pretty cool alignment jig that looks more repeatable for that operation:

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Not exactly an answer to OPs original question, but here's a pretty good bolster soldering video:

Best tips I can give are make sure everything is clean, use quality flux and solder, heat your parts evenly and slowly, and don't heat the solder, heat the metals you're soldering. It's a learned skill like anything else.
Oh, and watch your heat when you finish grind and shape the bolsters... :D
 
Wow! If it were as difficult as he makes it in that video no one would do it.
No need to "tin" (NOT TINE!) both parts (or either part). No need to clean the parts with acetone. No need to preheat before applying flux.
It also helps if you rough grind some lines in the back of your bolsters to help the solder flow-that way you can just flux, clamp the parts together, put a piece of solder AT the joint, heat until the solder is drawn into the joint.
 
Drew Riley said:
Not exactly an answer to OPs original question, but here's a pretty good bolster soldering video:

Best tips I can give are make sure everything is clean, use quality flux and solder, heat your parts evenly and slowly, and don't heat the solder, heat the metals you're soldering. It's a learned skill like anything else.
Oh, and watch your heat when you finish grind and shape the bolsters... :D
Click to expand...
Between that video and the one by MT and the 4 or 5 by Bose is what I took my technique from.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Wow! If it were as difficult as he makes it in that video no one would do it.
No need to "tin" (NOT TINE!) both parts (or either part). No need to clean the parts with acetone. No need to preheat before applying flux.
It also helps if you rough grind some lines in the back of your bolsters to help the solder flow-that way you can just flux, clamp the parts together, put a piece of solder AT the joint, heat until the solder is drawn into the joint.
Click to expand...
Having done my share of plumbing, sweating pipes, I expected it to work the same. I just wasn't sure if the spring clamp pressure would be the same as a slip coupling friction fit. I will definitely try the next ones sweated instead. All these shenanigans, made the whole thing quite the ordeal. I will also trust my pattern, and drill the holes ahead of time too. I am not sure if there is some superstition involved, or perhaps "make the new guy pay his dues"... but so far, I keep finding things that are less than intuitive. Sometimes, it holds true, and what I thought (intuitively) was wrong. But only sometimes. Pretty much all the videos and tutorials show it being done this way. I have yet to see one "sweat" the solder into the joint. Perhaps, when I do my next one I will make a video of sweating the solder in.
 
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