Managed to make a hole on my stainless pot

[Olleman]

Hi,

I managed doing something quite creative the other day after a brewing session. I placed my (empty and cleaned) pot onto one of my marine batteries which gave me a big flash and then, to my surprise, I see a hole in the bottom of the pot. Even though this is a funny and stupid misstake I'm not to keen on buying a new pot...does someone have any idea on how to repair it? The hole is just a couple of mm in diameter and a collegue told me it would be narly impossible to weld since the material is so thin...

Any other idea other than not placing more pots onto my marine batteries with exposed poles ?

,OIle

[a-slayer]

Stainless steel washers, nut and bolt.

[Olleman]

Thanks but sounds like that would make the bottom of the pot uneven and since I use an induction plate it doesn't seem like an option.

[Fil]

induction?? I was going to suggest soldering a patch on top using standard domestic lead free plumbing solder and flux. a hi power BIG 100w+ electric soldering iron would be needed, a flame torch would need a lot of skill not to heat the thin skin directly causing it to buckle and warp with heat.

a bit of flattened copper tube would make a good patch as it would suck the heat from an iron. however ss and copper expand at different rates with heat which will strees the joint so a Thin SS patch would be better..
sand to key both surfacase and key well with plenty of flux, sandwich some lead free solder (1cm?) between the hole and top plate and press down with a big hot iron till solder leaks out and melds with the fluxed pot base, flux a good 1" around the patch, solder is soft and can be sanded off ..



Alternativly some JB-waterweld or jb-weld could be used to patch the hole and could be sanded flat on the base.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JB-J-B-Weld-8 ... 3641.l6368

waterweld is deemed safe for potable water supplies, afaik thats drinking water, and hi temps..

[Fil]

if soldering dont solder on a metal surface it could stick!!.. wooden work bench that can take a bit of heat is ok .. some molten solder may well leak out to waste if over a void. a nice flat silicone baking sheet is ideal

[Olleman]

Thanks that's a good suggestion and I will look into the soldering solution, sounds simple enough if I can just get a hold of a big soldering iron.

I wonder if "Water weld" is the same as "Chemical metal"...this was something I looked into at first but it wasn't approved for food or potable water.

[Fil]

probably similar, jbweld has been used as a permanent joint seal with some diy brewery builds by members in here, overtime its been noted that its colour pales a little? JB-weld isnt rated for potable water tho, while the waterweld variant is??
Again if used with a top plate the amount of epoxy exposure to brew liquid can be minimised dramatically if in any doubt.

[Kev888]

Welding could be done, but it is stainless and thin too, so I'd say a job for experts only. Silver-soldering a patch on top would be a safer option IMO, and may be what I'd try, but it needs special flux and a decent blow-torch (and could still bow a little). Glue like J-B Weld may work, but I'd be suspicious of failure with the base being directly heated by the hob; claims are made for its strength, its heat resistance and its ability to stick stainless but my experience is that you don't necessarily get all of these at the same time. Similar for waterweld; it is good where it can be moulded around things and 'may' work here, but it doesn't adhere as strongly as J-B weld so personally i'd not trust it as a permanent fix on a flat, heated base with gallons of boiling wort.

If you wanted to DIY it cheaply, without any special tools and don't mind a lump inside then you could use a machine screw to fill the hole. Sadly, this is much more complicated by needing the base to be free of lumps but a countersunk screw could still be used. If the pot is thin, then rather than drilling the countersink recess (which would leave virtually nothing) you can dimple the pot to form it, then place a countersunk bit of metal (or washer) on the inside. As a vaguely similar example, this was something i did to fix a lump of stainless to the side of my pot with M5 screws, but it sounds like you could manage with much smaller so it would be less bulky - say M2 or M3:

The dimple was made by pulling a slightly larger diameter csk screw into the hole - braced by a stack of washers on the other side, with holes just big enough to accommodate the reverse of the dimple:

FWIW this (centre) was the lump of metal fitted over the reverse of the dimples - the countersinks in it were just big enough to clear the convex side of the dimples and I threaded the holes:

But for your purposes some washers or softer (more easily drilled) non-rusting material could probably be used with a nut on top. I used J-B weld as a sealant in the join, but probably fernox LS-X or food grade silicone would work also.

[Olleman]

Excellent and big thanks for the "step by step" process.

I'll look into both options!

[Mashman]

And get some insulated caps on those terminals before you set the shed alight

[Olleman]

Would this solder do the trick?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3FT-1m-Long-Sol ... SwX61ZCAG7

,Olle

[Kev888]

It would no doubt do something, but if i understand correctly it is just soft solder with a bit of silver in. proper silver solder is more like 50% silver, and has a high melting temperature (often bought in the form of rods). The flux needed is therefore also somewhat different; special flux is really important IMO when soldering to stainless.