Coffee Maker Fix, another ppe .

[CWB]

about a week ago the coffee make started spewing water all over the counter and sounded like it had ingested some of my chili and jerky .

i pulled the bottom plate off and found that the aluminum casting that contains the boiler tube and heating element ("U" shaped) had developed a stress crack of the inner center of the radius in the area between the two cast-in channels .

i have fixed this POS-1 twice before but for different problems .
not being one to give up easily (my gf has a different thoughts about this characteristic) , i went looking for my stick aluminum solder ...
alas , it was not to be found .

a trip to the hardware store proved fruitful ...
about 30 minutes after arriving back home the coffee maker was purring right along .
i filled in the radius area and also the straight portions (out to 1.5") .
let's see that crack out now !

the package says that it contains Al and Si ... hmmm ...
it had a tube of a liquid "halogen flux" (fluorine ?) , the stuff works better than the stick solder i have *somewhere* .

[tekwiz]

Fluorides are a common ingredient in specialty brazing fluxes.


If I had known, I have several of those heat plates hanging around, including one that I welded sidewalls to, in order to use it as a solder pot. I can send you one if you want.

[CWB]

hopefully i am good for a while .
i sure will keep that in mind though .