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Author Topic: Decided to burn up some brass.  (Read 4577 times)

Umi_Ryuzuki

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Decided to burn up some brass.
« on: October 23, 2015, 11:50:13 pm »

Everyone has one of those stalled projects...
Yes you do, its over there collecting dust, or the cat sleeps in it.  %)


One of mine is the LA Fireboat #2.
I sail it now and then and lament a bit over it's unfinished statues, and every now and
then look at the parts that I've started and mentally build some part or other.
The project was mostly stalled over my inablility to duplicate my original water pump.
Then it became just another boat, as a friend up North finished his, and ran it at most events.


However, the model and the parts lying around, and the fact that I still enjoy
sailing the model demand that it gets a bit of attention now and again.
So this last three days I dedicated a bit of time to one of those special parts that
I had planned to build for so many year.


Presented for your perusal, the swim step.  :-)

Mad Scientist

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2015, 12:11:21 am »

This page - http://www.ral.ca/designs/fireboats.html - has a good photo of this fireboat, 1/2 way down the page.

Just in case you hadn't seen this particular shot.  -  Tom
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Mark T

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2015, 09:59:59 am »

lovely piece of metalwork there Umi  :-))   It looks identical to the real thing you can't get better than that!

Umi_Ryuzuki

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2015, 07:06:56 pm »

Thank you,


I wouldn't say identical, but I am very pleased with the result and it's operation.


 O0

red181

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2015, 07:22:29 pm »

Cant beat some brass work! well done, I have tried a number of times to silver solder, but it always fails, the solder never seems to flow,  :((
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cos918

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2015, 08:11:12 pm »

Very well made .Did you use a soldering Iron or a blow torch .


John
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Umi_Ryuzuki

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2015, 10:14:58 pm »

Red,
It is easy to overheat the work and the solder will just ball up and dance around like
water on a waxed car.  Clean joints and a good flux is one aspect, the other is the right solder.
I soldered pretty well, and then a friend lent me a stick of "REAL silver solder", I was unable to solder for the next year and a half. Then another friend stopped by and looked at the stick and said, "NO,... throw that out... " but didn't give me another option.
I found this Alpha Fry silver braze at the hardware store, and immediately gained back my ability.
It comes with the solder and flux, and really has worked well. 56% silver


Hi Cos,


A little of both, I silver soldered the two frames, and major cross pieces, then
I soft soldered the grating, and minor cross members. At some points I had
two torches running just to get enough heat for the hard solder to flow.


At the grating, I used soft electrical solder. I fluxed the grating and frame with
Kester's self cleaning soldering paste. At first I tried to torch the grate, but quickly
realized I was overheating the work, and was going to burn or damage the grating.
So I used a soldering iron set at about 350°C and tinned the frame(this also heated it),
then laid the grating over the solder, and used the iron to sort of burnish the frame into
place, adding solder as I worked my way around the edges. Once the grating was firmly
set, I then came back with the torch and a slowly worked my way around heating the
solder joint and letting everything settle. Pressing down with a scrap piece of brass as needed.
For the horizontal cross members I would press coat the joint with flux, and then lay a
short cutting of solder on the seam. I would then heat the metal till the solder flowed.
If it flowed to one side, I would heat the opposite side of the joint to get it to flow back across.


I cut and soldered the frames in one evening, then came back in the morning to finish the pieces.
I then puzzled over my hinge points for the day, and commited to drilling them that night.


 :-)


I was trying to imagine how I would have approached your gantry pieces.
Those are a difficult bit of puzzle. I think I would have silver soldered the
major pieces. Ended up with bits of wet paper towel to close up the framing and
then soft soldered the stanchions and railings. You really did a nice job on those and
the rest of the gantry brass work.  :-))

cos918

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Re: Decided to burn up some brass.
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2015, 10:24:53 pm »

Hi Umi
nice way you approached you project.Like the way you have used different solderers for different joints. One to remember   
 My self I have never silvered soldered. The platforms on the gantry are all soft solder with an Iron . My Iron was running about 420 deg not full power but not to far off it.  I use plumbing flux .


John

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