Welding a lock nut on a Sanke

So as of now I have a 60qt Ice Cube cooler that I have my 1500w heating element in. It has worked great so far, I have noticed that the plastic liner is getting pretty flimsy and I am looking at putting it into a Sanke keg with a lock nut welded on to it, and transfer the rest of my hardware over to the keg. Since I haven't dealt with a welder before, how much have y'all paid for small jobs like this to be welded to a keggle? I know I can probably get it to work weldless but I think it would be cleaner if I could remove it easily.

You can also solder it yourself. Welders vary in skill and price....but many have gotten fantastic results with soldering. Do a search....there's a fantastic thread on it here.

Here's the thread. Thank you Quaffer for doing that! I soldered mine after reading that thread and it came out very nice. The advantage of soldering is if you muck it up you just get it hot, wipe it clean, and do it over. If your welder screws up then it's a much bigger deal to fix.

A welder I used charged me $20. I don't solder or weld, so that cost was well worth my time.

Yeah I am still on the fence about soldering it myself, I have done copper before. I figure by the time I buy the materials (liquid flux, and silver solder) I could have paid or nearly paid a welder to do it. Did y'all clamp down the lock nut when you were soldering it to the keg?

HDIr0n said:

Yeah I am still on the fence about soldering it myself, I have done copper before. I figure by the time I buy the materials (liquid flux, and silver solder) I could have paid or nearly paid a welder to do it. Did y'all clamp down the lock nut when you were soldering it to the keg?

Click to expand...

The solder/flux can be had without putting down a lot of money.

Tower Hobbies - Stay-Brite Silver Solder Kit

There is more than enough to do what you want to do.

HDIr0n said:

Yeah I am still on the fence about soldering it myself, I have done copper before. I figure by the time I buy the materials (liquid flux, and silver solder) I could have paid or nearly paid a welder to do it. Did y'all clamp down the lock nut when you were soldering it to the keg?

Click to expand...

While this is true, you'll have enough supplies to do several fittings. So if you want to modify things later, it will be easy. If you've done copper before, it's not too different. Just get your joint using a keg tool, and use the right flux/solder. And just barely heat enough to melt the solder. No more, no less. That thread is a really good read!

would this work?
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

For those that have put a lock nut on their keggle, did you clamp it down at all? I am guessing that is what a keg tool is?

HDIr0n said:

would this work?
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

For those that have put a lock nut on their keggle, did you clamp it down at all? I am guessing that is what a keg tool is?

Click to expand...

That is exactly the solder and flux to use.

I did not clamp down the nut to the keg. I simply set the keg on two 2x4's so it wouldn't roll and lined up the hole as best I could to 12'oclock. You do have to be careful when applying the solder because you can move the nut around. I like to use a propane torch and get the fitting nice and hot and then just let the solder bead all around it. I also find it helpful to just tack it first in a few spots instead of trying to lay a thick bead all around it at once.

Ok, I went by a local welding shop and got some Harris Stay-Silv white brazing flux, and some Harris 5% solder sticks. I am guessing that it is food safe, they guy at the store told me it was, but I am not sure whether he knows for sure. Does anybody here know if it is or not?

There is a huge difference between brazing and soldering. Be sure about what you bought. What is "5% solder sticks"? Brazing rod or solder?

Everything was cadmium free, and I think it was the silver percentage anyways here's a pic of one of the sticks. They might be brazing rods.

IMAG0089 by HDIr0n, on Flickr

found a link to what I bought
http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=484&product=RAD64001758

You should have gotten this http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=26&product=RAD64001776

You might be able to get those brazing rods to work. What I linked is what most have used. What you first linked from HD would have worked too.

Yeah HD didn't have that or anything similar, neither did lowes. I did get a half coupler to solder on, it was pretty messy with that flux. I am going to try to run by an airgas tomorrow.

Yeah if you can find that kit that I posted a link to, it's cake to solder a locknut on. I printed out the product page the second time I went in. I gave the sales guy the page and he found it in less than a minute.

that airgas sold you more expensive chit that you didn't need.

they have a "KIT" that comes with liquid flux and some solder. its made by harris, but branded as Radnar or some thing similar to that name.

this kit is $6 plus tax I think I paid less than $8 after tax.


this is the kit that was posted a few posts above mine.
http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=26&product=RAD64001776

I tried using harris stay sliv flux .its not made for soldering its made for brazing. needless to say i was out the $6 I paid for flux and ended up buying the "kit"

also to solder the lock nut on follow these directions.

drill hole
clean hole
clean area around hole
lay keg on side with hole facing straight up
make a circle of solder the same diameter as the lock nut
apply flux around hole
put circle of solder onto keg
place lock nut on top of circle of solder
heat up area around lock nut until the solder melts
??????????????
Profit

-=Jason=-

Yeah I just went weldless, and no soldering. I couldn't get it to work. I will have to try practicing some more before I take apart the weldless and solder everything.

If you just buy lead free plumbing solder, you'll be fine. I bet you over heated the joint.....