Whats up guys long time since I have been around...things have been a little weirder than normal. Anyways getting to work on a little side project and decided I wanted to give lead fill a try. The problem I have run into is nobody has what I need, but in talking with some folks they reccomended I try brass instead. So whats the good, bad and ugly about doing it this way and any tips you can share would be greatly appreciated. A bit too cold today to get to trying it so I figured gathering more info is what today is all about.
Well I have some smaller body trim holes on an old FJ40 I was going to practice with. The holes might be as much as 1/8" and under and a couple little rust patches. I am using this rig to practice on since I am going to cut it up for a buggy build and this way by the time I get to the rod build I will know what I am doing...kinda.
I am working on a 64 Impala that had all the trim brazed up at least 10 years ago. when you look down the side you can see where every trim hole used to be. some of the filler over the top has failed completely. brass and filler do not work together. brazing holes is for people who do not know any better. your holes should be welded up. if you want to practice.. practice doing it right.
It will take you a while to get used to daubing the brazing rod if the holes are on a vertical surface, otherwise it should be pretty easy to get used to if you've used a torch before. I use brazing techniques when I want some strength in the area without getting things too god awfull hot. It does get hot enough to warp things especially if it is a long flat panel with little or no support. I try to stick to areas that have a lot of support from channels to areas just over a cross brace. The lead would be better if you are worried about the warpage. Brass is harder to finish than lead but easier to apply. You also don't have to worry so much about neutralizing the acidic properties of the lead flux. The brazing flux is more like glass and can be filed or bead blasted away easily. It will be less difficult than filing down a steel weld. If properly prepped you can use polyester filler. If not you can have trouble getting it to stick. It is hard to beat a mig welder with steel wire for keeping things as cool as possible then back it up with copper sheet.
With that small of a hole I'd just use a mig welder if you have access to one.Might even be a good time to buy a cheapo to learn on.Easyist way I know of.
Totally different animals. But neither is recommended in your case! My old boss knew nothing but brazing, and that's what I learned and used for years. But there can be adhesion problems with modern plastic using brass, so I don't recommend it. And lead is too soft to use to fill holes, though in the old days they would back the hole with a penny and lead it up. Supposed to last, but i never investigated it. MIG'em!
I used brass to fill holes where the trim was on my 65 Ford pickup,,,oh,,,20 years or so ago,,,,looked great for a while but looks really bad now,,,plastic filler has started to let go. Stay away from brass,,,HRP
Hey, In the days before "squirt gun" (mig) welders all we had in the collision,kustom shop was brass and steel, gas welded. The trouble would usually start when you mudded over the brazing flux and the fire scale ya shoulda ground off/out after brazing. Too, the smooth surface of a brazed bead didn't offer much "tooth "for filler to bite to. You can solder up these holes, using a small piece of tin behind the larger holes for backing. Be sure to properly tin the area you want the solder to stick to. They can also be brazed up, but if you've little experance using a torch and brazing rod, the middle of a quart- er panel or door skin is no place to learn! Yeah, a squirt gun weld, and a piece of copper pipe flattened and held behind the hole to be welded, will prevent blow through of the moultin metal in the hole being welded up. Swankey Devils C.C.
Anyhoo, since we're talking about it, my current 'on-the-road' Kustom is a 61 Dodge that my old boss began customizing in the early 80's, worked on it til the late 90's, never finished it. My pal Vic found it, bought it and gave it to me, knowing whose car it was, and it's history. I fixed it up...not a full resto, I tried to preserve as much of the old custom work as I could. What I did with the old brasswork on it, was to clean it to the bare brass and steel, and then coat it with HOK epoxy primer. You can put bodyfiller over it, and I thought it would be a good 'barrier' between the brass and the bondo. So far (2 years) so good. Another way to preserve work like this is to go over the brass with lead as a filler, or just "tin" the brass with lead, again to separate it from the actual plastic work, and then bondo over it, if your're uncomfortable with working with lead all the way. I believe the hardener in the plastic (an oxidiser) reacts with the brass to make the plastic pull away from it eventually. But if you don't completely remove the flux from brazing, the repair will fail very quickly. My 55 Olds was mostly done in brass, and due to my boss's stringent cleaning and sanding of the brazed areas, has held up pretty well fro over 25 years.
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