Anybody want to guess---

[cobra428]

Hi Brian,
Where did you get the plans for this engine? Free? I'm getting interested. Still want to finish my V8 and radial but you can never have to many plans ;D

Tony

 

[chuck foster]

try here tony http://home.comcast.net/~webster_engines/ bottom of the page in the left hand corner.

chuck

 

[cobra428]

Thanks Chuck,
I'll have to look when I get home. Work computer is blocked from that site.

Tony

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I had one of those rather disgusting days, where I accomplished absolutely nothing. For starters, I have ran out of real work. (However, I've had a good run of work ever since the year started.) Secondly, I've been sick all day. One of those nasty flue like things---dizzy head, wobbly legs, off my feed. I tried to get started on the Webster fuel tank, but immediately blew the last two fuses I have for my CT129 mill. (These mills are somewhat underpowered, and are prone to blowing fuses, but I guess thats better than stripping gears). I went on a scavenger hunt in my storage room and did unearth a beautifull 24" length of 1" o.d. electropolished brass tube with 1/16" wall. In its former life it was a halogen floor lamp, but it had quit working and went into that storage area about 6 years ago---I was going to "fix it" someday, but now it will be reincarnated as a Webster fuel tank. I called a local hobby shop and ordered my Traxxas .15 carburetor---to the tune of $45.00 including taxes. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day!!!

 

[cobra428]

Brian, get well soon. I know how you feel, Ive been out of comish for 3 weeks with a bad back.....it stinks

Chuck, downloaded the plans from the site you gave me earlier :bow:

Tony

 

[Longboy]

.........Better days tommorrow Brian, this should cheer you up! If you had any doubts about the performance of these carbs on the Webster. "http://static.photobucket.com/playe...albums/i16/itshim1/TraxxiscarbonWebster.flv"> Dave.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Dang!!! There sure are enough parts to a simple gas tank. (at least the way I build one-------

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well, that was a whole afternoons worth of work. Now if I can solder everything together tomorrow without messing it up, I'll be happy. You will notice that the 3/8" diameter "pillar" that holds the tank up has been left extra long. I won't know the exact length to make it untill after I have my carburetor mounted.---Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I have never soft soldered brass. I have however, soldered many copper tube plumbing joints with Kester solder paste, wire solder, and a propane torch. I always had good luck with copper, and never had problems with leaks. Is using soft solder on brass much different?----Brian

 

[Shopguy]

Brian
Soft soldering brass is about the same as copper. You should have no problems.
Ernie J

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Brian
Soft soldering brass is about the same as copper. You should have no problems.
Ernie J

Thanks Ernie.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well Sir!!!! That got really ugly, really quickly!!! Did not act at all like copper. I used lots of solder paste, everything was clean--all newly machined brass. Solder would melt and ball up but absolutely not flow and/or bond to the brass. I know the solder is good---Its off a roll I have used many times for soldering copper sucesfully. The solder paste I use is a yellow greasy looking compound that is old as the hills, but it works on copper quite well. When I seen the solder was not flowing or sticking, I tried putting more solder paste on while everything was hot---I have on occasion had to do that on a soldered copper joint to get the solder to flow and bond, but --no dice!!! Now I wish I had silver soldered the darn thing. I'm not sure what to do now. I think I will wash everything off as well as I can with laquer thinners to get rid of any remaining solder paste and chuck everything into a jar of picle juice I have been saving for an occasion like this. I don't know whether to try again tomorrow with the soft solder, or resort to the silver solder. Any help from someone with experience soldering brass would be much appreciated.

 

[Ed T]

Brian,
Don't know what kind of soft solder you were using, but my overall impression from your picture is "too hot". I have soldered a lot of brass with ordinary plumbing solder, but not with the newer "safe stuff". Generally, it works OK. For most of my soft soldering for this kind of thing, I use Sta-Brite silver bearing solder and its companion flux. That means it has some silver in it, but it is not silver solder and goes on at a much lower temperature. It can be had at a good R/C hobby shop or, I'm sure, online from any number of places. It's made by Harris as I recall. The solder in combo with the flux is really great and you can soft solder things like a Razor blade to a piece of steel music wire. Works great!
One thing I have found really helpful with this kind of soldering is to arrange it so that you can cut little bits of solder and place them at the various joints and then heat things up 'til it flows out. This way, you can better control the amount of solder in the joint and avoid getting too much which still works, but looks ugly. Anyhow, I think you'll need to clean everything up nice and pretty and try again. Good luck on the second go around.

 

[rake60]

My first attempt at soft soldering brass was building the burner for my Poppin engine.

As Ed points out the new "safe" solder can be difficult to work with. I can still get the old
lead base soft solder here at a local hardware store. That is what I used to this result.

After a little cleaning up it became this.

I certainly can not claim to have any experience at it.
That was the first time I ever tried it.

Rick

 

[Maryak]

Brian,

I would use killed spirits, ( diluted hydrochloric acid), as the flux. Use a kids watercolour paint brush brush for application and do it in a well ventilated area - the fumes will give your sinuses a good work out.

Hope this helps


Best Regards
Bob

 

[shred]

Did you flux separately or just in with the solder paste?

In my experience brass likes to oxidize more, requiring more pre-cleaning and more fluxing to avoid the usual burnt mess.

 

[cfellows]

Brian, I wonder if that brass tube maybe had a coat of lacquer or other finish on it to keep it from oxidizing or tarnishing?

Chuck.

 

[Shopguy]

Brian
I'm also wondering, as Chuck is, if there might not have been some sort of a coating on the brass tube. ??? I have always used 50/50 lead tin solder for brass. Lots of plumbing fittings are brass. Maryak's sugestion of using dilute hydrochoric acid as flux works very well. Buy it locally as muriatic acid. The fumes are not the most pleasant and don't leave the bottle near your steel tools, they'll rust.
Give it another go.
Regards
Ernie J

 

[Longboy]

Soldering is such a mess and for a high visibility component like a fuel tank clear epoxy can't be beat. Can't even mess this up.

 

[Deanofid]

Brian, there appears to be some kind of soot all over your parts. If you're using something other than an air/fuel torch, like propane or butane, then I think you have the flame set to too much fuel gas.

Brass is very easy to soft solder, and you shouldn't have any mess with this at all. You're having trouble with solder/flux, or heat here. Use a known (new) flux and 50/50 or 60/40 tin/lead, or a 96/4 tin/silver. You don't need to get it very hot for these solders, either.

The suggestion of lacquer on the tube is something to look into. All that soot tells me a tale, though.

Dean