Trevithick Dredger Engine-2 steps forward, 1 step back.
by John
A few posts back I reported how I very cleverly silver soldered together some “sliced bread” bits of brass and bronze, because I did not have big enough material.
Then I spent a day machining the outlines, drilling the holes and finishing the parts.
Today I silver soldered the parts to the Trevithick boiler. The joins in the material were so good they were invisible, and the fact that the joins were there did not enter my brain.
And this was the outcome.
Before
After
The beautiful silver soldered join melted as I attempted to silver solder the part to the boiler. It has made the part unusable.
I will go through the exercise again, but next time I will bronze braze the join. Bronze will not melt or let go with silver soldering temperatures.
I will try to not make this mistake again. I try to not make the same mistake more than 3 or 4 times.
johnsmachines 
Hi John,
Must admit I have made the same mistake. Brazing might work, but it is difficult to get a good inner adhesion with bronze as it doesn’t have the capillary action that silver solder has. I finished up copping the cost of correct size brass, which did hurt, but worked well in the long term.
I am enjoying watching your build.
Cheers
Ned
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