Solder..?

[Keith HaleParticipant @keithhale68713]

Hi john. After melting, silver solder ALWAYS flows to where it is hottest. Examine your heating technique to create the best heat pattern.
Regards
Keith
PS The book will guide you!😏

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

I thought Yorkshire fittings were so named because they used less solder!

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Thanks for all the info guys, some interesting reading there.

This is right off the top of my head so bear with me, I wondered if I could make some small castings with the solder. I know that solder is relatively soft but I wouldnt want to machine the castings just clean them up by hand. I was wondering what I could use for the moulds, would some form of clay work, it would be good if it would as I could make the patterns from wood and press them into the clay to form the moulds.

Or is it a daft idea..?

Ron

 

Edited By Ron Laden on 24/08/2018 09:34:50

[Clive Brown 1Participant @clivebrown1]

Probably more or less how lead soldiers were made once upon a time.

Just to add; I used plaster-of-paris to cast lead keels for model sailing boats. Best to make sure it's dry though.

Edited By Clive Brown 1 on 24/08/2018 10:30:48

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Don’t know, but apple wood is used for forming molten glass, so wood moulds could be used a few times before they deteriorated?

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Cuttlefish shell (you know – like budgies gave in their cages) was used for making small single sided castings – press the original pattern into the soft side and pour your solder into the depression that is left.

Alternately try some lost wax casting by covering or investing a wax pattern in plaster inside a short length of copper tube with a funnel like entrance at the top. Heat until the wax has melted away and then melt some solder in the funnel. Clap a metal lid on with a circle of wetted cloth in it (I used to use the lid of a pipe tobacco tin) and the steam will force the metal into the mould. Break out your finished casting. You will need more heat for this though.

This method was used by dental technicians years ago and I attended a demonstration at the Nottingham SMEE in the seventies before trying it out myself with what was then called students metal, however I suspect that you will need absolution from H&S to do it today!

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

My grandfather lost three fingers off his right hand when he was 14 years old, left with a thumb and little finger he had a long career as a plumber in the proper sense of the word, wiping a joint was no problem and making a lead lined cistern and such things were normal jobs.

Mike

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by duncan webster on 24/08/2018 00:33:45:

Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 23/08/2018 23:36:51:

Duncan,

You'll note that I said "suspended" in water. Being an empirical sort of guy I have just measured a cut off a rectangular steel bar and calculated the vol at 94.67 cc and weighed it at 737g. This gives a density of 7.79 which seems reasonably correct for mild steel. I then suspended the bar from a thread and lowered it into a bowl of water that was sat on a tared scale. The indicated weight was 95g which equates, to sufficient accuracy, to 95cc. I'll let you do the algebra, I can't remember how.

Cheers,

Rod

That's not what you suggested in your first post ' weigh it suspended in water'. This to me at least means having the lump of lead/steel/whatever hanging from a balance, not what you've just described. Yes this second way measures the volume directly since 1cc of water weighs 1 gm. You need some conversion factors to do it in Imperial units

Just an observation, if you had the lump suspended from a spring balance and dipped it in a bowl of water on a scale, the spring balance reading will go down by the same amount as the scale's reading goes up (assuming they are both accurate).

Now, tell me – how can you weigh your head accurately without removing it?

Neil

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

Why would I want to do that?

Tim

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