Soldering galvanized steel flashing?
e2canoe
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Can glavanized flashing material (28 gauge galvanized steel – painted one side) be soldered? I tried with some lead-free pipe solder I had lying around – big mess! The heat also discoloured the paint on the other side.
Replies
Yes it can be... 50/50 lead w/acid flux and clean ALL of the galvantic salts from the material. Use an iron instead of a torch.
Wire feed weld it and cold zinc the weld...
Enjoy all the health hazzards...
Kiss the paint good bye...
Glue it with gutter seal and pop rivet instead......
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming....
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Thanks for the tip IMERC. That's a lot of work. Maybe I will just use gutter seal like you suggested
Speaking of health hazards, you should have seen the nasty smoke coming off the galvanized foundation posts being arc welded for my porch a while back. I caught a wiff of it and got out of there. Gotta believe the guy who did it (he does nothing but this for a living) has some weird "smoker's lung" from all the zinc!
P.S. Just occured to me that the foundation posts I speak of may be unfamiliar to you guys. I'm just a DIY so maybe you experts know all about it but I'll post a separate thread about it just in case.
His lungs are the least of his problems...
How about his sineuses, liver and kidneys...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
Ah, zinc is fairly safe -- it keeps your blood cells from rusting!!
Sure, Galvanized metal can easily be soldered once the joint is cleaned. (I've done miles of it) use an soldering IRON . use normal 50/50 solder, use Muriatic acid (drug store) brush a 1/2" wide swath on the joint, and solder away.
Edited 7/27/2004 8:20 pm ET by Hube
Thanks Hube. I'll try that.
Muriatic acid at the drug store? Isn't Muriatic acid high concentration Hydrochloric Acid used for etching concrete and burning off your skin!? Not exactly stuff I would expect at the drug store.