Common Questions and Answers to
pot metal repair

Here you will find many of the common questions that I am asked about repairing pot metal.

Can you solder Pot metal?
Yes. Using the products I’ve mentioned here.  However you will find it a far more of a gratifying experience over using one of the leading brands of pot metal solder kits, because you won’t be throwing much money away as you’re learning how, whereas if you had purchased one of the leading pot metal solder kits.

Solder for Pot Metal:
There are a few brands of pot metal solder kits,(And I’ve used most of them..) however I have found that this solder and flux is the best bang for your buck. Otherwise you’ll have to spend a small fortune and chances are you’ll burn through it before you learn enough to get the job done.  By far the best solder for pot metal are the products mentioned here. For two reason: The ease of use and cost effectiveness. $25+ bucks and you’re set!

Unfortunately, we’ve are experiencing inflation near the likes of the Carter presidancy in the mid 70’s and things have gotten a bit more expensive including the pot metal flux and solder I’ve mentioned here. However you will be pleasantly surprized that even though the initial cost is comparitive, you still get more for the money and you can buy the flux and or solder individually.

What to look for when searching for pot metal solder and flux:
Solder that can be used for pot metal is different than conventional solder. It has most of the same components with the addition of zinc. Those components are usually Tin, antimony, lead and zinc. The addition of zinc allows it to adhere to just about any non-ferrous metal including pot metal. However pot metal is such a dirty, contaminated material, that the addition of zinc is not enough to make the other components of solder adhere. You must use an ammonium based flux. Conventional soldering flux will not work.

Pot metal soldering flux is much different than the common soldering flux found locally. Unfortunately the science behind the flux is kept secret from those who would “steal” the intellectual rights to it. However After many tests on multiple flux brands, I have found that as mentioned above, an ammonium based flux works as well as any that’s offered in those expensive kits.

Silver soldering Pot Metal:
In my opinion, many people are a bit confused about silver solder and conventional low temp, 60/40 solder. Silver solder is a high temperature material with a melting point between 1145 to 1650ºF and is used for brazing copper tubing such as air conditioning systems and the like. “Silver” 60/40 solder is a low temperature material used for many instances involving the need to join copper water tubing, electronics, tin etc. However, “silver solder” for pot metal does not work well with conventional means. However, it can be done, but it takes a considerable amount of understanding and is far beyond the scope of this writing.

How to solder Pot Metal:
Soldering pot metal is fairly easy for someone such as a plumber; you still must understand how the process works. Otherwise it’ll be like doing anything else that takes a skill. Here is a page that is devoted to the subject which offers some general insight of how to solder pot metal – tools you’ll need as well as the products to successfully get the job done. Read more…

Solder-it for pot metal paste:
This is one of those things that I have not used. I have to assume that it’s some sort of glue or a granulated bismuth/tin mixed with an ammonium based flux which in my mind wouldn’t be much tougher than epoxy or any other type of glue. I’ll have to leave that venture up to you.

Pot Metal repair Glue:
If you are going to use glue. I highly recommend a thick CA (Cyanoacrylate) glue and baking soda over epoxy. Epoxy is usually gray or black in color and is of a thick consistency whereas CA glue is thin and clear and when a bit of baking soda is sprinkled around the glue joint, it becomes very hard. Thick CA glue with baking soda, in my mind is far better choice than any epoxy for a pot metal glue. However, if you insist on epoxy, I would recommend one of these clear 5 minute epoxy’s.

Is there a pot metal repair kit I recommend?:
No. I don’t recommend anyone buying a kit. They are too expensive for what you get. I do recommend these pot metal repair products which are sold separately and work really well at half the cost.

Pot Metal Welding:
In all of our experience, welding is the only way to go unless the piece is too far gone (rotted)? If this is the case I would have to recommend filling the rotted area(s) with a soft sandable material such as automotive finishing putty or bondo to restore the shape then using the existing part to create 3D scannable pattern for reverse engineering. This will allow one to create a castable pattern for creating a new part. that is of course if the part is totally decayed and unable to be repaired?  

Repair rod:
I’ve tried many brands of pot metal rod and unfortunately none of them worked well enough for our liking. All of them tend to have impurities (foreign material other than metal) that we’ve found to be troublesome to use. We’ve created our own alloy rod and mix materials for the perfect weld on each individual project we encounter. The photo to the right shows an example of the rod we produce. Granted it isn’t as pretty as commercial rod, but it behaves much better than commercially sold materials.

We update this pot metal repair page with common questions that come up, but it’s hard to keep up with repairs, invoicing, shipping, inquiries and maintaining the website, not to mention answering text messages and phone calls. Don’t get me wrong, I love every minute of it, but our customers are the best people in the world and they always come first!

Updated Regularly…