I’m totally frustrated by cost of 56% silver rod’s. Almost $50 for 2mm x 500mm rod here in Poland.
And I need to build “regular” lugged frame. Columbus slx and high quality cast iron lugs.
Need your advice based on your experience. Which minimum grade of silver enough for good liquidity and filling?
BTW Here we have a lot of 2% and 5% rod’s in adequate price.
It is what it is, 56% is the right rod for lugs, 2% and 5% is for plumbing.
Just choose what most bike factories have used for over 100 years, Bronze.
The fit up will want a slightly looser lug/tube clearances and you’ll have to increase the amount of heat you put into the joint. The flux will also need to be filler specific.
Here in the US I would suggest GasFlux’s C04 low fuming bronze filler and their type B flux. Andy.
As Andrew says, you should use Low Fuming Bronze (LFB) that is available from Ceeway in UK. Framebuilding.com is the site. I don’t know the trade restrictions between UK and EU at the moment.
You can use 45% as well. A bit cheaper and a little harder to get it to flow but is doable.