I hope you’re feeling better every day Keith after your surgery and all. Take things easy as you don’t sound to have your usual sparkle in your voice and demeanour. Don’t rush to get back to work. I know from experience that health issues can take their time to get better.

Love to see a picture of the assembled whistle. Ray.

I used to work for General Electric and we used to have to repair a lot of brass , when we couldn’t get a good weld job using melted bronze or whatever we always silver solder and we had a very high success rate. You could’ve use silver solder down in there in the inside joint to add the extra strength that you were wanting to provide on the ear but you didn’t and I know you silver solder all the time. Gary Black

hi keith i had to do a similar repair and to get some material in the cavity i mixed a paste of flux and brass shavings and put some in the middle and torch brazed it worked real well

I know _exactly_ what you mean about wanting to be able to get inside and just finish this properly. I often feel that urge to do 'just a little more' when I am carrying out repair jobs around the house or whatever. Sadly; equally often that 'little bit more' ends up ruining all the work you have done to that point! Frustrating as this is, I think you made the right decision Keith. It doesn't look like it is going to have to tie off a battleship or hold up the Forth Bridge all on its own!!! So... Likely working as a simple pivot it will give many years more service. If not... Hopefully the chap will return it to you and the process of casting a whole new part will be fascinating to watch also. That top-aligned thread though... That will be a toughy!

Re: getting the part upright with the threads. This is a common issue in steam fittings. The solution is very simple. Copper shim washers of various thickness are inserted, and then when tightened up, the rotational angle of the fitting is controlled.

Next, I would try machining off a bit of the curved brass arm to make a bed for your patch piece. Just so it has more contact surface to hold it together. Then solder or braze the patch in place. Or cut the end off entirely, drill and tap it for a brass post, screw on a new blank of brass, braze it in place, and machine some new ears on it.

Perfect case for milling a shelf in the casting, making the new tab to precisely fit and then silver soldering. Only downside I could see would be the very slight hint of the silver in the joint but it would absolutely be strong. I have no experience with tig brazing so I personally would never attempt it. Go with what you know.

Punch and hammer torque wrench. Gotta love it!

Silver solder to the inside portion with a jewelers torch would help.

Speaking of brass, I really like your brass vice jaw protectors. My vice has plastic ones that are unsatisfactory and fall off easily, time for an upgrade! Looking good Keith, nice repair work too!

I am glad to see your operation went well and I hope your recovery is painless and quick

Great material and channel. I have learned much from watching you overvthe year's. I recently acquired a 1950s craftsman electric motor and Tommlee engineering bandsaw. This channel has given me the inspiration to restore these items.

Chuckle...when I first saw this I though it might be the one from the cotton gin that got stuck on at the museum when I was there. Some youngster got a bit carried away. I believe you were running the sawmill that day. Thanks for the video.

I think the reason for the two different pieces melting sooner than the other is that the original brass piece probably has lead in it while the replacement part may be lead free brass.

Maybe ask the customer if they could provide some sort of a rope guide for the traditional lanyard, so a sideways pull could not be applied to the lever??

Very glad to see you all over your surgery and back in the shop. If you get an opportunity, would you put out a list of your setup for videoing your shop? Just things like the camera lights and microphone sound system you use would be most appreciated. Thank you

Sometimes good enough, is good enough. Thanks for sharing.

Another successful repair. Thanks for sharing.

Great video Keith, keep'um coming..

Thank you for sharing. Nice repair.👍

I enjoy your channel and have learned something in each episode. l As a journeymen welder I have these observations; a vee prep and filler rod would have provided full thickness weld and when base metal and the filler rod are melted the joint is considered a "weld". Brazing only melts the filler rod. Welding on small parts is always difficult, patience is the key.

I’ve had success with shavings or a small brass or bronze rod with enough heat to melt and flow into the small areas. Seems to work quite well. A pretty common technique used in model building.

Keith, me thinks I would have milled a step on the part for the ear to set on for more surface area to attach to. I would probably used gas to do the welding so the flux could have cleaned the area better than the TIG gas, and the braze might have flowed better between the parts.

If it fails in the future, making a new part from scratch could be avoided by simply making a new ear + stem and then cutting the OG stem half and half with the new one and soldering those together. I've repaired old glass caps in the same manner in the past and even before the tinning process covered the seam, it was almost invisible.

Need to regrind your weld electrode and keep it clean and sharp to eliminate splatter!

Hi Keith. This is still welding, even though the materials are dissimilar. Since you are melting the parent material. Dissimilar metals can and are often welded together. Copper-silicon would have been a better filler material, though.

Very tricky repair. You did good with what you had. I'd recommend silver solder next time IF the color isn't important. Extremely strong - seems to be stronger than the brass.

KEITH, GREAT JOB, YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR DOING WELL, SEE YOU WHEN...

Try AC tig on brass next time. Ac cleans that zinc during the weld, brass is hard to weld

You need some Kant-twist clamps! Thanks for the video.

Another option that can work well is to use aluminum bronze filler with AC TIG. Works good on bronze castings.

A tiny bit of flux only on the two mating surfaces might have allowed some of the molten metal to flow down into the space between the two parts. I have done a great deal of silver soldering and brazing. Mostly with a Prestolite Torch. Ron W4BIN

Silver solder would be an alternative, good job on the brazing.

Good job. I wonder if leaving a small gap and fluxing and silver soldering that joint might have worked as well.

Would have been better without dipping the tungsten into the weld. Nice ball of brass you had on your tungsten tip, though.

Why not cut the ends make a new bolt section then just butt weld the new to the old seems like that would be a much stronger and simpler fix? Either way nice repair should work fine

Silver solder the inside.

Kieth I saw on the news that your state has been hit by unusual storms I hope you were not affected

Nice!!

5:25 This is pretty much the only civilized way to cut brass. With a hacksaw it's a chore, with a cutter disc it spreads the dust everywhere.

I would have used silver soldering on this to get a full bond through the entire cross section. let's hope it will work.

I think and can tell you from experience that the second you dipped that tungsten into the puddle you should have stopped and re-ground the tungsten EVERY time you dipped it Inoticed there was a few... as much as it sucks to do, not doing it makes it EXTREMELY hard to continue welding and get good fusion you can tell by the blob of brass on the tip getting bigger and bigger and it also contributed to why it kept melting away on you

Curious as to why you didn't bevel the parts after clamping so you could get full penetration on the weld joint. And why you sanded the flat surface of the replacement piece if only to wish it was thicker later. Nice to see you in the shop again

Nice job Keith! Looks like you've lost a bit of weight.

About "tracing that piece that we have here" (@ 4:00) - I think the better way would be to drill a hole first (in the "donor piece" - just eyeballing its location) of the same dia as the one in the remaining ear, then put a short screw through it, screw on a nut, and tighten it - then just roughly chop-off the brass piece to the shape of the ear and finish it with a hand file (there is nothing critical about the exact shape or dimension of the new ear, I assume - and hand filling brass is a breeze). Then I'd "adjust" the edge to be welded, and instead of clamping the flat stock with a C-clamp I''d drill a hole in this piece of steel - and I'd use again a screw to hold everything together - cuz that would give me a better access to the weld area. ...But then again there's more than one way to skin a cat, and every guy is his own boss in his own shop. Anyway, "just sayin'". Also, for holding a bronze piece in a vice (vise) I'd use plain aluminium (i.e. very soft one) jaws, as copper has the tendency to get work-harden (so soft aluminium alloy seem to be a safer option). PS: I noticed that central part of the donor piece looks slightly thicker (2:26) than the outer parts - so it might be a more suitable one for cutting new ear...? Of course, I know "it's too late, pal" - well, for THIS TIME it's too late, but maybe one day, some day, in the future... ;-)

Technical question for welders: I was told to avoid welding galvanized items because the fumes from the zinc coating can be toxic. Would this be a problem with brass, which is a copper/zinc alloy?

Silver solder might have been better, and allowed you to get all around the joint. But it would take a tight fit first. This should work though.

Easyflo may have given a more satisfactory result, you obviously chose the way you made the repair for a reason

Just with a briefest glance when you tipped the donor part it really looks like the center section where the smiley face is, is thicker than the part you used. The step in material thickness would seem to bare that out. Could you check that out?

Keith, Considering that the brass is a relatively soft material, it may have been easier to cut the piece using a fine blade on a bandsaw in a woodshop, or by using a fret saw. If it has to be cast you might try using the lost wax method. I have had good luck with this for small brass parts. Bob

i think your DO ALL ban saw needs a new blade as it's doing a lot of jumping around there i would also say is missing a lot of teeth as well enjoyed the video and all well explained as to the how to of things as is the normal from you thanks

Could you have made a 3d model and had one cast for the future and show the machining of the part! For a interest follow up!

Put it on the mill and cut a lap joint, then tig a longer run. Not sure it would pass antiquity inspection tho.

Hiya Keith

Easy enough to get a new casting line up, just make it a bit thicker and turn it away till it lines up, trial and error time.

Of all things, I'd like to know how a steam whistle could get that beat up.

Surely it would have been stronger and easier to cut off the remaining tab and weld on a new solid piece and start again.

why not drill a hole in the new part and in the spacer and use a nut and bold to clamp the part down with that the holes will always be inline for tig welding

Pipe wrench marks are tragic

Never seen a doall band saw so quite what ,why, and how?

I fits where it touches Keith.................

😍😍😍😍

Could you not of heated it with a torch and brazed the inside of the joint with brass rod?

Why not silver solder the inside of that part? Should be easy.

Good morning

Please explain... what is 'Whatamonadoo'? Is it a word in American English? If so, please let me know the real English equivalent.

Sounds like your missing a tooth or two on that bandsaw blade , and that should not be brass but bronze, I hear that the zinc in brass doesn't play well with steam

I mean.. why didn't you just cut the steel plate to roughly the shape too (Undersized preferably)..? You could have aligned it easy easier

Obviously you were joking by having the bandsaw upper guide out of position, and pushing the brass material with your fingers 🙄. A 2 day apprentice is taught better than that. Also starting with a small piece you cut off, drill a hole through it, then use a small bolt with a 1/4 spacer between. You have way too much spacer material, that will act as a heat sink, not allowing a good weld. But to each, their own 😱

Quite a poor design, the ears should be part of the bowl abs will always be aligned and solid,

Hi Keith, i like ur contributions to youtube, But dont follow the advices, Abom79 gave us three years ago, to lose some weight. He still is as fat at that moment, he announced that.