mig welding silicon bronze

Date 06-04-2003 22:07

Does anybody have experience welding silicon bronze sheet, say 18 or 16 gauge? Yes I'm off on another weird art welding project. Because the bronze is so expensive I'm hesitant to cut up a piece just to learn from my mistakes as I did with steel.
Is argon or mix better? What about fumes? My welding text says copper alloy fumes are toxic, will an N99 respirator be sufficient? What about heating it with a rosebud? Will the flux build up in multiple layers of bead? What kind of wire is available and will the weld color match the sheet?
I really appreciate any insight you can offer. You guys have saved my sculpture babies more than once!
Thanks,
Artgirl

By 49DegreesNorth (**)

Date 06-05-2003 02:06

Hi, Artgirl,

I cannot answer most of your questions, but I have welded a bit of silicon bronze (not sheet -- stuff I cast) and can tell you that the stuff welds really nicely, like steel. An N99 respirator -- is that a charcoal respirator? Charcoal is what you want. My understanding -- and I could be wrong here, is that it isn't the copper as much as the zinc in some copper alloys (e.g. brass) which is the problem. But I have read the same about copper (been told not to buy copper-coated TIG rod). I would really like to know how toxic this is. Are you doing mig? There are slightly different silicon bronzes, I'm afraid. My one project was a bow roller for a boat, and the whole thing corroded up nice and green -- welds and the rest indistinguishable.

By the way, do you know of a good book on patina-ing copper? Don't want to post this off-topic thing to the whole list... thanks!

Chris

By artgirl (*)

Date 06-05-2003 13:31

Ron Young is an expert on patina. He has a website for his company, Sculpt Nouveau. Most patina designed for bronze can be used on copper. His book is very informative and not too expensive. He also offers sample kits on his website and you can e-mail questions.
Good luck!

By dee

Date 06-07-2003 04:40

49,
Symptoms and effects of copper toxicity include metal fume fever,sneezing, nausea, and possible renal (I recall that to be kidney) damage. I hope that was part of your question.

Now I go on...

Many of these kinds of toxic metals- lead, ferrous or ferric iron (remember your radical ions?),mercury, nickel, zinc,cadmium,cobalt and some others can be effectively detoxified by a chemical process (chelation), which causes the toxic element to form a stable chemical bond with the chelating agent and permit the toxic elements to be excreted safely by the body. The cure could be more dangerous than the metals, so it might be a subject you want to discuss with your doctor next time you get a check-up... and oh-yah... you can't take it orally.

On a slightly different tangent, I doubt the effects of the Cu coating on your tig rod are any more severe than the Cu on my MIG wire. I dont think any of us are aware of adverse effects from it in anyone we know. On the other hand, I dont know what the Cu actually DOES on these consumables (I guess it's supposed to inhibit corrosion but you can't proove it by me)
Best advice you already know is to follow Bill Clinton's example and not inhale.

I close on the footnote that I'd like to have a concise table of (respirator) mask filter media and the toxic agents for which they are effective. Anyone know where I can download, borrow, or buy one?

Regards,
d