The ash I am talking about came form the burning of the sacrificial board when silver soldering the top edge to the pan itself!
Today's ash pan session was spent by soldering up the four corners using the highest temperature silver solder I had. The reasoning being that I could use a lower melting point for the connection of the top edge to the
ash pan.
After the corners were done I decided to place the ash pan into the pickle solution whilst I chain drilled the copper sheet being used for the top edge. Once the drilling was completed the sheet of copper was
taken to the Proxxon bandsaw and the inside cut out.
The ash pan was then mated to the top edge and a scribe mark placed around the pan so it could be located again when soldering. The silver solder paste was then mixed and 'painted' onto both the edge of the ash pan and the top plate.
To hold the ashpan in place a couple of heavy steel blocks was placed on top and then lengths of silver solder cut and placed against the edge of the ashpan and into the flux.
The ash pan itself was then heated with the propane torch, bringing the ash pan to cherry red, where upon the solder rod melts itself and flows between the joint.
It is important that the flame does not impinge on the solder rod itself, melting it before the surrounding metal is ready. I started work on the left hand corner, moving the flame around to the otherside when the solder started to flow.
The ashpan unit was allowed to cool before placing it into the pickle solution. After cleaning up a little, the ash pan was then placed onto the up turned boiler and pleasingly the holes and pins were still aligned.
The next job will be to file up the inside edges of the ashpan top edge then make the fittings for the grate and the damper plate, not forgetting the holes to be drilled in the four pins for split pins to reside it. It is the split pins that hold the ash pan in place and these are pulled out if the fire needs to be dumped quickly, when in use.
A few words but a lot of work done..................
About Mike Freeman
Hello, my name is Mike Freeman and I am a retired Chief Fire Officer from the United Kingdom with a keen interest in model engineering, silver caddy spoons and sea fishing. I live in the pretty fishing port of Brixham, South Devon, in the United Kingdom.
I am a sufferer of degenerative osteoarthritis, which impacts on the amount of time I can spend in the workshop, and is the reason why you will see seats and a stool in some of the photo's. I have only recently added the above sentence after a discussion with one of my Doctor's from the excellent pain clinic, based in Torbay. This does affect concentration one of the reasons why I double then re-double my measurements and set ups.
Before completing nearly 30 years of public service I and my wife Sandy, owned and ran, a small restaurant in Okehampton Devon. Prior to marriage I worked for my father in his various businesses, in the early days these were garages, which he bought in a run down state, then built them up before moving on, to start again.
I took every opportunity in those early days, to work in his workshop's
learning 'on the job' rather than as an apprentice. This, I suspect, is the reason why my building various model's in the early days, turned into model engineering, when funds allowed the required equipment to be bought.
My workshop comprises one half of a detached double garage. It has a
stud wall separating the two halves and unusually perhaps, its own
shower/toilet/washbasin compartment! (the true reason for buying the
bungalow - don't tell the wife!!!)
It is fully insulated with a ceiling and fluorescent lighting supplementing the one window. Several double electrical sockets are dotted around in
relevant positions.
Equipment consists of 2 lathes (1 Myford ML 10 and 1 Chinese variable
speed motor with etched glass DRO's), 1 milling machine (RF25 far East) floor standing pillar drill, Proxxon bandsaw, Warco bandsaw, 6" wire brush and polishing mop motor, 6" coarse and fine grinder, Proxxon mini drill, various benches and an engineers vice. I have just acquired a third lathe, a Myford ML7 which I am at present evaluating so I can decide which of the Myford's I will keep.
I have only just bought the Chinese lathe and had it fitted with DRO's prior to delivery. And what a bonus they are! So good in fact that I decided to buy another set for the Milling machine. Whilst my engineering experience can only be described as limited, I find the use of DRO's has affected my accuracy levels which have improved tremendously (although that's not saying much!) and would recommend their fitting to any model engineer.
Prior to retirement I built for my son's 17th birthday a Locost car. This
was a tremendous project and a great feeling when it passed its test. The book it was based on suggests it can be built for £250. Ours was nothing special in the sense of all new parts but still cost about £900 to build!
Just done my first lot of brazing this weekend and some of the brass is coloured pink like your copper above. Is that the flux? Will the pickle sort that out? What is the pickle made of?
Hello Andy, have a look at this link on my website http://www.mikes-models.com/silversoldering.html The effects you are seeing are correct. The pickling bath I use is based on citric acid.
Chronos (UK) have a couple of products that might be of interest to you,. Here is a link http://www.mikes-models.com/silversoldering.html they have a pickle but also a surface conditioner that cleans and preserves, although I have never used that product.
If you put the part in a pickle solution for 30 minutes then wash in clean water, it should clean up to bright metal with a wire brush. I will post a picture of the ash pan tomorrow just before painting for you to see.
In answer to your specific questions, yes the pink is due to the flux and shows how effective the flux was. The pickle will sort it out and should be done to prevent the corrosive nature of the flux from taking effect. My pickle solution is based on citric acid and is a commercial product.
Hope this helps. Why not send me some photo’s and I will post them here.
Kindest regards, Mike.