Soldering Iron

[Dennis Toth]

I had to fix a locations of the uniflow line in my Ringmaster. I had picked up a large tip solder iron a Weller SP-80 from a sale table at the local hobby store for $5. This is a great soldering iron heats up fast. Lots of heat and big tip. Easily heated the tube solder and finished the job. Good little tool.

Best,   DennisT

[FLOYD CARTER]

For tanks, I now use a small butane soldering iron.  Remove the copper tip and you have a nice little butane torch!

[Bill Little]

I am like Floyd, I use a mini torch I got from Radio Shack to remove the end cap, and either my big Weller or my big Craftsman soldering gun to reassemble.  I also use rosin core solder.  Almost all the fluxes are corrosive and they are a pain to neutralize!

Thanks for the tip on the iron, my good one disappeared, I guess it grew legs and walked off.  I had it since 1972.

Bill

[FLOYD CARTER]

If you ask for "rosin core" solder, you might get blank looks.  Instead, go for "Radio Solder".  I use the Radio Shack kind.  Totally non-corrosive, and I seldom bother to wash my soldering work after finishing.

Floyd

[Bill Johnson]

For tanks, I now use a small butane soldering iron.  Remove the copper tip and you have a nice little butane torch!

I have the same torch and just used it last week to solder some pushrod ends on. Not having soldered anything in years, I think I applied way too much heat a couple times but eased up and got some good solder joints.

Due to a recent inadvertent high speed contact with the pavement, I have a slightly crushed tank that my friend declared as "trashed". I was doing some research here on soldering tanks and was thinking of buying a 80 watt soldering iron but think I'll try repairing the tank using the torch. 

Thanks for the post, Floyd.

[Avaiojet]

I tackled a tank once. 

It wasn't as easy as I expected. True learning experience. 

Now if I had the tank before I drilled the engine mounting holes and before I put in the blind nuts?

I didn't want to plug and redrill the mounting holes. A price to pay for lazyness. 

Here's the link.

Did get it done though.

"Eventually."

A line from the movie Seabiscuit.

http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php/topic,35403.0.html

[Bill Johnson]

Um Bill,"your friend" has many more tanks to replace that one, for free. Hint. Unless, of course, you want an exercise in frustration. like the rest of this wacko hobby. 

No, I have enough frustrations as it is.  Just looking to save some money.

[Tim Wescott]

Tinplate is so very easy to solder that you can use just about anything that'll melt solder.  I'm surprized that the butane torch works: I'd expect it to get things too hot.  But hey -- if it works, it works.