On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:23:44 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wibbled:

Tim Watts wrote:
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:44:20 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wibbled:

I think I qualify as 'competent' I once had a plumber ask "Owjer do
*THAT*?" He'd never seen the copper welding rod which makes virtually
visually undetectable joins in copper pipe, and it's intended for
plumbing use...

I'll have to look at that (I usually solder mine).

Next time I'm in Naaaardge I'll drop in at Wensum Welding and ask for
its proper name and manufacturer.

Or you can DIY while we remember it: Wensum Welding Supplies, 12 Derby
St., Norwich, NR2 4PU, tel no by emu if you want it. (It's on Yell...

You fettle the ends so that there are no big gaps (preferably), heat to
red, and apply rod (no flux needed with copper). It zips round the two
ends and providing you don't use too little or too much, you get a
perfect join.

Would that work with pipes cut with a rotating pipe cutter? The ends
would be perfectly square, but slightly belled in.

Sounds slightly like brazing (I never got on with that, but it was iron
to iron). Now that you mention it, I've seen airconditioning units (big
15kW ones) where they "brazed" the pipes. Wonder if that was the same
thing, or whether they really meant "brazed".

The copper pipes in my old man's barn split one winter and he was not
looking forward to putting in a new section, so I offered to mend it for
him. I peened the split edges back together, heated the pipe with a
butane blowtorch (propane's better) and applied the remedy. Job done in
about quarter of an hour.





--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.