Model Boat Mayhem
Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => Engineering Techniques and Materials. => Topic started by: tornup on November 25, 2012, 05:49:00 pm
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Hi All,
I am new here and very new the hobby.. was hoping someone might be able to help me...
I am planning on purchasing some 1mm brass rod from cornwallmodelboats.co.uk shortly, but wondering a couple of things:
has anyone ever ordered materials from them before? what is the delivery like?
My main question though, is I am planning on soldering this stuff a lot, am I right in thinking any brass will solder/bend OK? Because it is 1mm, I feel/think(not a lot of experience in this though!) it won't take a lot too heat it up enough for soldering.
Will normal (electronics) soft solder flow/bond OK with this material or do i need to look into specialist stuff like Silver solder(what i know will be stronger, but I can't see enough benefits to justify the cost.. of tooling and solder/flux)
Many thanks for all your help in advance, and thank you for reading!
Tom.
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Tom first of all a very warm welcome to this forum ,Right then your Brass rod will bend with NO problems at all,so dont worry.
As for needing any high tech solders then NO you can use a ordinarry soldering iron and soft solder to hold it together,I presume by the thickness of hte material the rod will be used for handrails and soft solder will be fine for this.
As for ordering form Cornwall Model boats never had a problem at all with their service
Dave
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Tom first of all a very warm welcome to this forum ,Right then your Brass rod will bend with NO problems at all,so dont worry.
As for needing any high tech solders then NO you can use a ordinarry soldering iron and soft solder to hold it together,I presume by the thickness of hte material the rod will be used for handrails and soft solder will be fine for this.
As for ordering form Cornwall Model boats never had a problem at all with their service
Dave
Hi Dave,
Many thanks for your swift reply! very useful information! and just what I needed to hear!!
To be honest for you, this project isn't actually for a boat related topic(shoot me if you must :|) My son is very interested in marble machines, and I'm attempting to build him something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5MVNnVbWa8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5MVNnVbWa8)
which uses 1mm brass for its tracks..
(although he also has a bigger interest in boats, so come across this site firstly because if the research I am doing into that! heh)
out of curiosity, what is the maximum diameter of brass rod that will solder with only an iron and soft solder?
once again, thanks for all your help!
Tom.
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I solder with a 100w soldering iron up to 2mm
Dave
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Probably the most important thing with soldering is cleanliness. Always wash the brass and polish with fine wire wool, then, when you think its clean, do it again!
After soldering you need to wash off the flux, do this by pickling overnight in citric acid - lemon juice, or you can buy it in bulk powder form from health food or home brew shops.
Ian
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Hey guys,
Thanks for all your replies!!
One thing that did confuse me is: why can I buy 1m of brass for 25p but the KS brass avalable everywhere is £2-3 for the same lenth, is there a diffidence in quality?
Thanks,
Tom
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Hey guys,
Thanks for all your replies!!
One thing that did confuse me is: why can I buy 1m of brass for 25p but the KS brass avalable everywhere is £2-3 for the same lenth, is there a diffidence in quality?
Thanks,
Tom
This may be heresey but I've always found KS to be overpriced for what you get. Their brass doesn't seem to be much better than anyone elses.
Have you considered using 1.5mm brazing rods for your projects if you cast around you might find it will work out cheaper then the 1mm brass. Avoid the flux cored rods but the regular bronze/brass rod can be bought for a few pounds per Kilo.
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I'm rubbish at soldering so can't help there, but regarding Cornwall Model Boats, they offer an excellent service. I've ordered from them many times and normally get my goodies within 24 hours at standard postage rate. 10/10.