That is the way I think of it. Boilers are copper (in gauge 0/1), all fittings are bronze.
Terry Griner 387-0902 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Harry Wade Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 9:49 PM To: Small-scale live steam discussions Subject: [SSLiveSteam] bronzes At 01:38 PM 11/29/06 -0600, you wrote: >There's been discussion about bronze components not standing up to live steam. There is a discussion about BRASS components not standing up to live steam. >The problem Is the bronze being for brazed on connections are of >unknown composition. The bronze that should be used is an alloy identified as C92300. This is not necessarily the case. This alloy certainly CAN be used but it is by far not the only one. If it can be said about any bronze that one "should" be used it would be C510 phosphor bronze (now CDA5100) and there are specific reasons for this which pertain directly to live steam use. 510 is a very tough alloy and although it solders like pure copper it will take and hold fine threads as well as mild steel. Any of us who have tried to thread copper know how problematic that can be, even with care, sharp taps, and a good tapping fluid. The drawbacks of C5100 are that it's very tough and can turn drill bits blue at typical drilling speeds, and it has been difficult to find and buy in small quantites depending upon your local resources althought the on-line metals sites are now taking care of that. Although it's unnescessarily tough and hard for making fittings (valves, gauges, etc) it makes great bushings, stays, and studs. The fact is thought that there are dozens of bronzes which can be used, 92300 among them, all of which will perform without a noticeable difference. >This indicates that brass with less than 15% zinc isn't a problem - >Steve I disagree with this approach because I think this creates a technical slippery slope (which US Ga1 live steamers seem to like) whereupon just about anything (like soft solder for boilers) can somehow be justified as being "OK." My feeling is once you start telling people "a 15% brass is OK" the 15% will be lost in the shuffle and pretty soon "brass" will be OK, . . . and it's not OK, at least I don't feel that it's OK to teach that it's OK. It's also my guess that tryng to find a brass with less than 15% zinc might be as difficult if not more so than finding the equivalent bronze so why not just get the bronze. There is a mind-boggling number of "brasses" and "bronzes" many of which are seperated by only a tiny percentile lead or tin. A quick check of alloys shows that metals classified as true bronzes contain between 0% and 8% zinc, with the majority being around 4% or less and this is a far cry from 15% zinc. If we accept that our specification for boiler materials is for "bronze", then I think we should start at the bottom, making 0% zinc metal the most desireable and work up from there with each successively higher % of zinc being thought of as less acceptable with a 15% brass being least acceptable of all. Regards, Harry Wade Nashville Tennessee _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
