I am making HO chainlink fence from 1/16" stainless steel rod from K&S and I was wondering if anyone knows how to solder stainless steel? Or is there a better way to attach stainless steel rods together? Is it possible to solder stainless steel? Thanks for your help[:)]
don’t thin u can solder it, have to use super glue or epoxy
You cannot bsolder stainless steel, you can braze it, but you had better being that away from your layout so don’t melt things. I think it would be better to epoxy fence.
I haven’t seen the stuff in some time (haven’t looked for it, either), but there used to be a low-melting-point solder that would stick to just about anything – stainless, tool steel, nickel plate…It came in a small roll, along with a liquid flux in a small bottle. I’ve still got an 8" crescent wrench that I stuck a blob of this stuff onto, using a 40 watt iron. Seems like the name was “stay-brite” or something like that. You might check Lowes or Sears if your LHS has never heard of it.
PS. I just did a google search and found “sta-brite” silver solder at Tower Hobbies. 1/2 oz. + bottle of flux. Melts at 430 degrees.
You might have to rough up the surface of the stainless a little.
Hope this helps!
Actually you CAN solder to SS but it takes a special kind of solder and flux. (Even then, it’s not much fun and not very practical.) Actually, a spot (or resistance) welder would be a better choice but…chances are you wouldn’t have access to one.
Question: Are you trying to attach the SS rods end to end, or perpendicular to one another to make the chainlink fence? 1/16" OD rod? Is this for a G-scale layout?
Tom
I just wanted everyone who helped me out with this questions to know that the Sta-Brite solder worked great. Once I figured out how it worked my fence went together quickly. So if you want to solder stainless steel this is the way to do it. Thanks again for all your help.[:)]
Stainless steel can be soft soldered using a standard soldering iron and cored/uncored solder if Phosphoric Acid is used as a flux. It is easier than soldering copper because SS is a poor conductor of heat.