Here's a hybrid project where I got to display not only my poor welding skills, but my lack of practice with brazing!
We have this brand:
for branding these badges
to top our iconic "stick" tap handles.
As you can see from the top picture, the brass head of the brand is poorly attached to the steel handle with a single, shallow 8mm tapped blind hole. They go through some heat cycling in using them to brand wood:
The thread finally gave up the ghost due to the rocking motion necessary to get a uniform burn on the wood.
I needed to fix that.
I MIG welded the nut, shaft, and a thick washer together after using some Muriatic acid to strip the galvanizing off, then used some fluxed bronze rod to braze the steel assembly to the brass brand head. As you can see, I didn't do a great job of it and flirted with turning the brass head into a pool of molten metal.
A flapwheel and blending disk made my welds look a little better and I think I did a good enough job for a few hundred more tap handle toppers.
I guess I also got to demonstrate that my grinding skills could use some refinement.
