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View Full Version : Fabrication and Shop Techniques Copper Chimney covers



Jim Stewart
06-28-2013, 7:34 AM
I have stainless steel chimney caps on my house, but I had the chimneys redone and the covers no longer fit. The new brick was smaller. Now the caps are larger than the chimney. I had the originals made years ago and that place is out of business. I am thinking of taking a 4-inch grinder and cutting the stainless smaller. That would cut off the rectangular portion of the cap. I would then rent a metal break and remake the rectangular portion out of copper. I would then attach the copper to the stainless using rivets and silicone, or maybe solder the copper corners. Think this would work? I haven't done much metal work, but I did make copper flashing for my front porch and it came out fine. One other question. I cannot solder copper to SS, Correct? Thanks, Jim

Thomas Bank
06-28-2013, 11:20 AM
Working backwards, shouldn't be a problem to solder copper to SS.

But how much smaller is the new chimney? Is it possible to just shim out the cap to make it fit on the smaller chimney? And if you have to fabricate new, why not just use stainless for the new parts? I'm thinking you're going to fall over when you price out the copper...

George Carlson
06-28-2013, 2:05 PM
Most stainless solders well. You need to use the clear liquid flux (name escapes me), it has HF in it, so be careful. Don't use Ruby Fluid on the stainless. But you may have a big problem with corrosion due to the dissimilar metals. I wonder if you could cut the cap, overlap the joints to make it smaller, then pop rivet with stainless rivets.

Jim Stewart
06-29-2013, 6:39 AM
The pop rivet method sound good. I am not sure about the reaction of the metals. Copper is certainly reactive, but maybe not so much with SS. I was thinking that I could use a bed of silicone between the two metals to lessen the reaction effect.
I have some Copper from the flashing work that I did left over and I was thinking of using that material.
Thanks for the suggestions. Jim

jack forsberg
06-29-2013, 11:24 AM
jim

I am always working on Historical details for my buildings . in this case i was trying to clad a Selkirk chimney. i would wrap the SS in Ice shield so your new copper flashing is only decorative.


the Idea here was a wood cladding to look art and crafts. I will be placing it on my shop at 45 degs to the slop of the roof to forgo the cricket. be it wood or brick you don't want water coming in on top.



http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/001-40.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/002-37.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/003-35.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/004-30.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/006-32.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/009-18.jpg
http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/tool613/010-17.jpg


jack
English machines

Ryan Baker
06-29-2013, 7:34 PM
That's a nice looking building Jack.

Jim Stewart
07-03-2013, 8:08 PM
Wow Jack! I watched the video of your shop; that is pretty amazing work and nice machines. I think my project may be delayed a year as I was diagnosed with cancer of the Esophagus on Monday. Still have some tests to do and I don't no the extent of the Cancer yet. At best I will be on chemo every day for a while. I may look for someone local to do this work. My son can go up and take off the current covers and then cover with a tarp. I have two flues but I only use one. The house is two-story creek stone built in 1830. I am not familiar with the ice shield but the old flue covers seem to work well. It would be nice if they have some breaks to form a drainage. The current ones are flat and when it snows I seen the evaporation rise off the cover as the heat from the flue melts it. I have a Jotul 500 stove and when I had the flue tops rebuilt I insulated the old flue. It is amazing in that I now produce a very small amount of creosote over the year.