Gearclash Posted June 17 Posted June 17 Anybody use silver solder for electrical connections? If so what are you using for heat? I just worked on a starter that had the brush wires silver soldered. My electric solder guns don’t make the heat needed to melt silver solder. My small acetylene torch is much too imprecise. Internet search isn’t all that helpful, don’t want to do trial and error if there is experience out there. Thanks! 1 Quote
vtfireman85 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 My butane torch has a soldering tip, haven’t had any issues, if you can get your hands on a mid sized copper maybe 3/4” dia it should work just fine also. 2 Quote
Sask466 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 I am curious as to why you want to use silver solder on a copper wire? It seems like overkill from a strength and temperature perspective. I am interested in your thoughts! 1 Quote
Gearclash Posted June 18 Author Posted June 18 29 minutes ago, Sask466 said: I am curious as to why you want to use silver solder on a copper wire? It seems like overkill from a strength and temperature perspective. I am interested in your thoughts! At the least I need to be able to undo an existing joint. Also, from my reading, silver solder is the only way to attach copper to steel without a fastener. Regular solder doesn’t work. 2 of the brushes in this starter were soldered to the steel brush frame. I worked around the silver solder by soldering the new brush wires to the old wire stubs that were silver soldered but it was a major PITA. Had I been able to replicate the original work it would have gone much better and I would have more confidence in the repair. 1 1 Quote
lorenzo Posted June 18 Posted June 18 You can attach copper to steel with 15% silfoss. Little less heat required then the typical 45% silver solder. Your still going to have to get it much hotter then traditional methods of soldering basic wires. Preventing the insulation from melting will be the trick. Would love to see your results. Any refrigeration/ HVAC holesale house will have 15% silfoss, if you cant find any let me know i will mail you some. Quote
acem Posted June 18 Posted June 18 My old starter/alternator man used a small arc welder and some attachment that worked good. 1 Quote
Gearclash Posted June 18 Author Posted June 18 1 hour ago, lorenzo said: Preventing the insulation from melting will be the trick. All the insulation near the solder connections on this starter was a loose fit tube. I'm guessing it can take much greater heat than regular molded insulation? Also I am suspecting that the original soldering may have used something like an electric spot welder. Pretty sure this was a Chinese clone of a Denso starter used on many Ford vehicles and also on some of the Case 4 cylinder diesels. Starter quit working so I pulled it off and tore it apart to see what went wrong. It was in really good shape except for notable wear on the solenoid contact and also the brushes were worn to the point that 2 of them were bottomed out. It is on a hard starting Case 188 diesel in a skid steer so the starter has a hard life. Starter is back together and working. 1 Quote
Rawleigh99 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 If you have a TIG torch available that should work too. Just set the amperage real low. 1 Quote
mmi Posted June 18 Posted June 18 11 hours ago, Gearclash said: It is on a hard starting Case 188 diesel in a skid steer so the starter has a hard life. Need pump work/cables/fuel leak ? Maybe just the application/timing? 10x better ALL around than IH 188 just replaced starter bushing that caused solenoid blowout. 2 spins,running, purrs all day on 5gal. 1 Quote
dale560 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 These are what dad used years ago to resolder parts inside the starter. If you had a old blacksmith forge you lit the coal and warmed these up. 3 Quote
Rawleigh99 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 I have a couple of those and the charcoal stove to heat them in. You can always heat them with a barbecue or a torch. 2 Quote
dale560 Posted June 18 Posted June 18 1 minute ago, Rawleigh99 said: I have a couple of those and the charcoal stove to heat them in. You can always heat them with a barbecue or a torch. He us3d the Bertha torch or big acetylene tip to heat him. 1 Quote
New Englander Posted June 19 Posted June 19 I've got three of those old irons. One was my dad's the others were given to me. If needed I heat with a MAP torch. My cousin's radiator shop always had a flame on one. They would solder gas tanks with them too. 2 Quote
dale560 Posted June 19 Posted June 19 4 hours ago, New Englander said: I've got three of those old irons. One was my dad's the others were given to me. If needed I heat with a MAP torch. My cousin's radiator shop always had a flame on one. They would solder gas tanks with them too. The last time dad spent a lot of time with it. He soldered a fuel tank for a 930 case. I was about 8 years old then. He used it a bit at a time to fix the odd m and jd put put starters when I was little also but later on the bigger delco you could buy a rebuilt for not crazy money of everything was bad. So he just really rebuilt the good ones after that and bought remans for the burnt up ones. 2 Quote
Rawleigh99 Posted June 19 Posted June 19 I would think any large chunk of brass or copper held in Vice grips would work! Quote
Gearclash Posted June 19 Author Posted June 19 On 6/17/2026 at 8:24 PM, lorenzo said: You can attach copper to steel with 15% silfoss. Little less heat required then the typical 45% silver solder. Your still going to have to get it much hotter then traditional methods of soldering basic wires. Preventing the insulation from melting will be the trick. Would love to see your results. Any refrigeration/ HVAC holesale house will have 15% silfoss, if you cant find any let me know i will mail you some. I see the silfoss product is readily available online. What I still don’t know is what tool can produce sufficient heat without damaging adjacent components. Open flame won’t work. I tried my cute acetylene torch that can generate enough heat to braze 1/2” hydraulic lines but the flame was spreading and hitting insulators on the brush frame. No bueno. Will something like this with a pencil tip attachment work? https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-VersaFlame-Multi-Function-Butane-Torch/dp/B0F2VYVKGQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3HZIFW85BM5PN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sptqelDgWPf0m5vowKpqv5Rxq30ELU0BQo3EB26mRDGKse8FYK048x48QBrms3e1A8-0eCwqTIy_A8YCu5epQsPwI_6KapNpn66nks18K6a7HmqhzH8h9pTGEbwhbcFwlovMsnRbV8uhfzJxWPPOM9W8wARG27X34Src2WyUwom8AxAAEC_QP1YDOYN9TbpGyNqIK6K12qY7PPdRIBFHfg.DU2fljJfKP6otmszkOyVFWoFI-dGlHsTyTPAqsRKNwo&dib_tag=se&keywords=dremel+torch&qid=1781905383&sprefix=drem+torch%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-1 Quote
vtfireman85 Posted June 19 Posted June 19 On 6/18/2026 at 6:17 PM, dale560 said: These are what dad used years ago to resolder parts inside the starter. If you had a old blacksmith forge you lit the coal and warmed these up. They use those at Leader for soldering pans, they have maybe 3-4 going at any given time, have a makeshift forge with a weed burner. Some sort of liquid flux that’s pretty mean. Quote
acem Posted June 20 Posted June 20 I think my old Alternator/Starter guy used a carbon arch electrode heating element or something similar. It's been a while so I may be wrong. He used low amperage whatever it was. Maybe something else. Quote
Rawleigh99 Posted June 20 Posted June 20 How about a jewelry torch you could attach to your acetylene and oxygen tanks? https://duckduckgo.com/y.js?ad_domain=amazon.com&ad_provider=bing&ad_type=prad&click_metadata=V5wnjNhYLI7KVS65_rzPcznQoHMgxOdIAN92llJq0dDmDqizP27p3YqXZNvVdIQYNMEyVUB6noe5lA0oum1tB2xabavnPP0xWpsX9G0Oa_gJIe9lL9kbmQjUzO6aoM1FWvoyW4AgLSrhcw192MaP9g.Mip4nqLeCoeXFKrmmXbHDw&eddgt=wNH1AnE-5XaDihWqAztLFg%3D%3D&rut=941bf210ac29883d43f6c127e9ba5411df43af9c59819bc0b56a58e91ccf079b&u3=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Faclick%3Fld%3De8o0wtR0AJLcys3AyRhX-fYTVUCUwXflz15O_Yvu6NqfacMkR-Pzz8TbmmF5c6kmLIQpRPiQ10o-VKsv_V86x4X8LLMPUOD3Meg6Cd2aWOe6no1tM0tbqpS1-EqdtiKruQf0wcI36n0Uumk27Kve62Qm1QVYVrtMCQsJoOJwvPQeUIafeMH9SdhOMFEjliHq3eiVof6TxkqmEiya0jn9NlDViSdps%26u%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%26rlid%3D18f31990b328140f86bc73a6c160c9d9&vqd=4-332787252716423267359985742596411734087&iurl={1}IG%3D5B81D6BAABFC44D0B0A1536BBBAF382F%26CID%3D3FC3B9BCB27566A40867AEC2B3B1677A%26ID%3DDevEx%2C5085.1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.