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Soldering stainless steel wire

I've managed to get a small DIY spot-welder going, but I'm finding that the metals I can successfully spot-weld (nichrome wire, and stainless steel wire, so far) cannot be soldered, which for one of the purposes I had in mind is rather a nuisance.

One possibility I've thought of is to electroplate copper onto the wire at the end where I want to solder it. I'll probably try this tomorrow, my time in Australia. If it's a bad idea, I'd like to know before I buy the CuSO4.

Also, any thoughts on what I might manage to both spot-weld and solder?

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else
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I have successfully 'tinned' stranded SS wire with silver braze, then soldered to it.

I'd never tried before, but it was very much easier than I expected, with flux on the wire, the braze wicks into the SS wire beautifully.

Or could you crimp?

Cheers

--
Syd
Reply to
Syd Rumpo

Plating copper onto iron from copper sulphate is a mugs game. The bond is nothing like good enough. Plating iron onto copper is doable at home.

You might get it to solder or rather braze first at high temperature if you use the right flux to get clean metal and a hot flame.

Be *extremely* careful with fluoride and HF based stainless steel fluxes they are exceptionally unforgiving and the Health & Safety film for working with HF is notorious for causing casualties in the audience.

--
Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

why not do as I suggested once before get some stainless crimp ferules (for fishing traces),if you are still working on temperature sensors connection for kiln

Reply to
F Murtz

Spot weld a solderable wire to the stainless? ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Yes, but so far I've not found anything that is both solderable and spot-weldable.

Sylvia

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Silver solder (Braze) with a micro torch..

Jamie

Reply to
Maynard A. Philbrook Jr.

Nickel should work. You could also plate it.

Reply to
Tom Miller

Thanks for the replies people.

This was about fixing a car key-fob which was always temperamental as original designed, because the battery contacts always played up.

Having had trouble soldering the wires I could spot-weld, I went back to the idea of soldering copper wires to the battery, which I'd previously given up on, and following the advice given by someone on one of these groups (to that person, apologies for not naming you, but a search hasn't revealed the post in question). I seem to be getting a good solder joint, so that's the approach I'll use.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

On Tue, 18 Feb 2014 20:26:44 +1100, Sylvia Else Gave us:

cANNOT 'SOLDER' STAINLESS. iT requires A WELD JOINT, WHICH IS DEFINED BY both

Cannot 'solder' stainless. It REQUIRES a weld joint, which is defined by BOTH surface having been melted, and joined.

"Solder" melts NEITHER surface, and is 100% adhesive or cohesive attachment, but that only upon the surface molecules of the workpieces.

Welding makes fully melded bonds.

Spot welding is what you want, but deformation at the joint must be avoided.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

On Tue, 18 Feb 2014 10:43:43 +0000, Martin Brown Gave us:

It would by just as easy to use conductive epoxy bonds.

Think about what you will be sinking all that heat into as well.

Masterbond make a nice, new, recently advertised conductive epoxy. Maybe they would send her a sample.

If this "wire" is going to also have physical tension on it, some fixturing beyond the electrical contact establishment may need to be considered.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

Aha! A new fob will only set you back ~$65... my wife lost her's on a Girl Scout camping trip... you have to stand on your head and wiggle your ears to reprogram the car :-( ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142   Skype: Contacts Only  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

CAN SOLDER STAINLESS STEEL.

CAN

Reply to
F Murtz

You also can get tabbed button batteries , which I did for a welding helmet which was not made for battery replacement

Reply to
F Murtz

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:44:49 +1100, Sylvia Else Gave us:

If you do attempt to plate it first, be sure to abrade it roughly first. Like with a file even... BIG scratches.

Plating (electroplating) tends to follow underlying contours until it starts getting 'thick'. You can use the scratches as a gauge for the plating thickness.

CRC handbook has a guide on certain metallic platings and the thickness at which they no longer reflect the underlying 'texture' features.

Stainless wire is drawn with a very clean surface quality, for typical medical application, so abrading it should make it plate better, and take whatever you are trying to make solderable with it affix better.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:38:34 +1100, F Murtz Gave us:

You use incorrect terminology.

Can attach, but the action is not "soldering".

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

Soldering leads to a battery is really a bad idea. The battery life will be short at best.

tm

Reply to
Tom Miller

Maybe an after-market fob would have better battery contacts, but how to know? All three of the manufacturer supplied keys that I possess have displayed the same problem.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Jaycar used to sell them, but stopped doing so. I haven't looked for them since. Using them in this application wasn't so easy, since I had to trim the tab, and at least one came off in the process.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Soldering batteries without tabs is a bad idea. The bump indicating the '+' side is usually a spring loaded pressure relief valve. You'll melt it shut with the soldering iron if it's made of plastic.

Try replacing fob's power filter capacitor with an ultra-low ESR cap, like a 100 microfarad MLCC. The contacts will spot weld themselves to the battery as needed.

Reply to
Kevin McMurtrie

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