question about brazing?

[1BAD68]

can exhaust pipe be brazed or braze welded? Thinking about brazing my exhaust together because I dont have a welder

[Badbob]

Have it welded, or it will fall apart if you braze it. Too much vibration and heat cycles for a braze job to hold up. Buy yourself a little 110 volt mig and learn to do it yourself.

[is_it_EVER_done?]

Most, if not all, exhaust shops braze instead of MIG. It's quicker on thin tube, works perfectly, no chance of burn through (and time consuming repair of said burn through), and can be done in an invisible position (top of the pipe you can't see).

I mig all the pieces on the ground, but braze the rest that can only be done after installation. Try it and you will see why this is the standard.

[Charger-Bodie]

i have never seen any exhast brazed ,brazing sucks imo its brittle and doesnt last!

[firefighter3931]

i have never seen any exhast brazed ,brazing sucks imo its brittle and doesnt last!

I've NEVER seen an exhaust system brazed. 

A mig or even a small stick welder will work fine. 



Ron

[is_it_EVER_done?]

i have never seen any exhast brazed ,brazing sucks imo its brittle and doesnt last!

I've NEVER seen an exhaust system brazed. 

A mig or even a small stick welder will work fine. 
Ron

Either neither of you guys have ever had work done at a plain Jane muffler shop, or you don't understand the difference between welding and brazing.

Brazing is akin to soldering. If any of you have ever done home plumbing, you will know that pipe is soldered not welded. the reason for this is that solder is drawn into the joint to acheive a seal, wheras if it was welded, you would have to be able to do it "blind" on the portion that you can't see. Brazing doesn't involve solder, but the exact same principals apply.

I would suggest that you ask your local muffeler shop, but the probability is that they beleive they are "welding" even though it's not the case.

[The70RT]

i have never seen any exhast brazed ,brazing sucks imo its brittle and doesnt last!

I've NEVER seen an exhaust system brazed. 

A mig or even a small stick welder will work fine. 





Ron

Me either.......... I never seen any brazed..........never...........well maybe some hack job.

[Musicman]

A properly Brazed joint is stronger than a Welded joint... However, achieving the correct conditions for a properly brazed joint is nearly impossible, even for a highly trained, skilled technician working under the best of circumstances... conditions never seen in the Auto Mechanics world. Stick to welding, it's a lot easier.

[tkkruzer]

I had to do brazing for my welding certification, its not as strong as a regular weld. it is alot like soldering as mentioned before. it is stronger than soldering though. the point is brazing only glues two pieces of metal together, where welding makes them one piece. no comparison, also exhaust pipes have alot of vibration going thru them, different types of metal handle heat and vibrations differently. braze it and it will break, you want it to last? weld it TK

[1BAD68]

I do alot of brazing copper in refrigeration work, its the same strength as welding (with copper).
Other materials like exhaust pipe may not be the same as welding, but I tried a but joint braze on some scrap exhaust pipe and then beat it with a hammer and it didn't crack.
I'm thinking that brazing would be fine for slip joints on exhaust pipe. So seeing that I dont have a welder right now, I'm going to braze it, worst case scenario would be my exhaust starts leaking.

[Musicman]

I had to do brazing for my welding certification, its not as strong as a regular weld. it is alot like soldering as mentioned before.

You've obviously never trained or qualified under Naval Nuclear standards of engineering for Welding or Brazing.

To further define the statement made by 1BAD68... "I do alot of brazing copper in refrigeration work, its the same strength as welding (with copper). Other materials like exhaust pipe may not be the same as welding"
There are different grades of Braze Rods and Rings used for different metals, and for different combinations of metals, to insure structural integrity and strength.

[tkkruzer]

nope no military stuff, just L.A.county certification TK

[Musicman]

  Sorry if I came off sounding a bit forward, no offence intended, just trying to keep the information within the thread as accurate as possible.

[tkkruzer]

ts cool dude, its just that brazing had to be passed before I could go on to structural steel welding, and I had to braze two pieces of 1 inch cast iron plate cut with a 45 degree angle. after brazing it the put it in a press and broke it. and ther had better be brass and cast iron on both sides of the break. all i'm saying is brazing holds very well but welding is stonger by far. yes it will work but welding is still better. I dont mean to be an ass about it hope we are still buds have a great day TK

[Musicman]

No problem lad  , but I suggest you do a little research on the subject.  Simply put, both processes produce a joint that is stronger than the original material. However, welding requires that the base material be heated to temperatures which melt the base material, thereby distorting and weakening the original material in the area of the joint. Of course, when it comes to joining dissimilar metals, there's no question about it, Brazing soundly tromps welding in this area.
Again, we're not talking about grabbing a couple hunks of angle iron off the rack and sticking them together here... this a world where tolerancesare kept to within a couple of thousandths of an inch.