Member postings for fizzy

I tried some a few yrs back....wasnt impressed

Whilst its not something I would do on a complete boiler.....if the silver solder has clearly taken to both surfaces (and it is obvious when it hasnt) then the joint should be sound. I have removed soft solder from joints and re-soldered with silver solder, albeit on brass with no ill effect. If youve cleaned away the soft solder and used quality flux, rod and given it enough heat then all should be well. If it passes test at twice wp then you know its taken properly. As stated above, any soft solder would have turned a nasty, almost black colour after pickling and would stand out. Hope this helps.

Whilst copper oxide will react with sulfuric acid as a redox reaction the copper metal itself, for all intent and purpose does not react and will be unaffected. This can be demonstrated by leaving a clean piece of copper in a bath of conc sulfuric acid for six months (or by losing a boiler end plate!) and then upon finding it checking its condition and thickness...unchanged so far as is possible for me to detect. Not suprising since copper is one of the least reactive metals we have. So whilst the pickle will remove the oxide layer it wont remove the solder which may be engrained in its surface. Funnily enough we bought our daughter a microscope for christmas and last weekend put a piece of new 'flat', smooth copper plate on for her to see what the surface looks like. Even at relatively low magnification it is very rough.

For boilers I have to use oxy/prop as I need the heat, but for all of my smaller items, gas tanks, burners etc I use a Rothenberger Sure Fire and can verify that they are well made and put out good heat, trigger fired so very versitile too. Nigel,

Pendle Steam Boilers.

A couple of steppers and its CNC ready. Those big cnc ball screws arent cheap though.

As a full time copper boiler maker I do quite a bit of this.....I only ever use CCGT tips (as per JB) for turning copper as they out perform everything else by a country mile - no grabbing and clean cuts. Standard drills are fine but beware that your holes will all come out slightly under size. You need to lubricate when drilling copper, and it gives a better cut when turning, I use wd40 as it does the whole machind good and doesnt smell bad. Good luck!

As a professional boiler maker I can tell you that I have previously attempted to salvage boilers akin to this and in ever case failed. Bear in mind that I am making them all week, every week and silver soldering on a daily basis. You might get lucky if you drill them out and re-stay but more likely is that you will end up with leaks all over the place as you attempt to re-solder them. This might sound like a defeatest attitude but having been there on several occassions I know what to expect. Good luck though and keep us posted.

dont take any notice of the location filter - the chinese all say they are UK based. Take a look at delivery time, anything over a week is suspect. I get annoyed by the advertised amount bearing no relationship to the actual amount...its a minefield!

Ive got all Issue 8 2012 - pm me if you want it

What spindle speed Jason? Is it likely to give the same results on a non cnc machine? Thanks.

Neil - read your post out loud to my 6 yr old daughter to the tune of We wish you a merry christmas.....happy christmas one and all.

my genuine Mititoyo Abosolute now srarts at 16.8888, nothing I can do will change it - given up on it!

Jason.....ive worked with quite a few gas variants with our burners and for off the shelf reliability the Coleman extreme is about asa good as it gets **LINK**

Akin to taking a shower just before you go mud wrestling - speaks volumes.

Made for a tangental tool I think. No idea why you would bother though.

Call me old fashioned but if I have to take a soldering iron to repair a brand new machine im guessing there will be lots more unforseen issues and it would be going straight back to the seller for a refund!

Chap who makes blades once told me, if it breaks on the weld then its a badly made blade - avoid! Ive been down the braze them back together but unless your desperate its just not worth the effort. I used the cheap Silverline ones off ebay with varying success. Then I bought one from a local shop....had it years...its a lot thicker than my previous ones and the box said Cobalt tipped (anyone know how this is even possible?). Anyway, vutting up to 1/4" brass and copper with only SIX tpi I ddnt expect it to hold out for long - best blade I ever used by a mile. Still using it! Even kept box somewhere so I gan try to source another.

for sheer out the box plug and play you cant get much better than the Flashforge Finder - incudes slicing and gmail software. Easy to design basic stuff in Tinkercad. Limited only by a bed of 140 x 140 but ideal entry level, very well built and under £200.

Howard I think you may be correct - I hate turning long thin parts, never turns out well!

2.8mm or 12 SWG would do the job. Its to hold together 3d printed tank tracks at 1/8 scale. Stainless would be good but as mild steel is easier for me to work with thats what I need. I use EKP as a supplier to PSB but never gave them a thought - will take a look. Thanks.