MadModder
Gallery, Projects and General => The Design Shop => Topic started by: John Hill on October 05, 2014, 06:33:36 PM
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There are a lot of parts in my atmospheric engine project that I need to assemble with a water tight seal. All the parts are mild steel.
Due to the available facilities I am considering soft soldering and specifically oven soldering. The idea is to 'tin' the mating surfaces, assemble the bits then heat in an oven so that the solder flows and I get a good seal.
Problem: I dont have a suitable oven!
Maybe I can make an oven of bricks and mount a hot air gun to blow hot air in and heat everything, gun claims 650C and 2000W. Is this another daft idea? :palm:
N.B. I dont want to use a flame to heat as the combustion products foul the solder joins.
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That sounds like a rather clever idea John.
I am about to try my hand at one of Jan Ridders' Egg Cup Stirling engines for which he says the crankshaft should be soldered. I had been trying to figure out how to do this without pushing the pieces out of place with the soldering iron.
I am still a few weeks away from making the crankshaft but guess what I am going to try. http://madmodder.net/Smileys/default/happy0065.gif
Jim
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I agree with Jim....a good idea, certainly worth pursuing! My first thought was that it seems similar to a sort of low temperature "dip brazing" for use with al. alloy.
From memory soft solder melts at something around 450 degrees C, but solder for electronics is something less I believe. No doubt the temperature range is governed by the makeup of the solder.
Certainly worth experimenting with.
Best of luck
cheers
Bill
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60/40 solder, as used on electronics, melts at around 370 degrees F which is well inside the range of kitchen ovens.
Joe
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60/40 solder, as used on electronics, melts at around 370 degrees F which is well inside the range of kitchen ovens.
And failing that, using two oven elements (which can usually withstand 800°F for quite a while) mounted inside a refractory brick enclosure will often do the trick. Wiring 220 VAC (assuming U.S. oven elements) requires attention to detail but is not too hard. ???
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You could go for something like this on a smaller scale.
http://www.priority1signs.com/index.php?id=491
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Interesting John, could you use a toasty oven ? lot of the surface mount guys rework them for flow soldering. My only concern with using the heat gun would be the need for a baffle, so nothing gets the full force of 650c