Soldering a tender

A domestic oven will get hot enough to melt lead/tin solder. I've used ours to heat a job up, whip it out and chase the solder around with a hot iron, then cover it up and let it cool slowly (and evenly).

And you don't need an account to deal with RS nowadays

Brian,

I think you are right. I'll start with the solder with the epoxy in my back pocket for tricky leaks.

Richard/ Duncan,

Yes, I tried the flame on the front plate as a sort of trial. I knew the part was probably small enough and simple enough to straighten out again if it did go pear shaped and it did. It was almost as if the heated side relaxed and expanded whilst the cool side stayed exactly as it was. The result being a banana shaped curve. Heating both sides with the oven or a blower would obviously reduce the impact of the uneven heating and sounds like it works - definitely worth a go.

I am not quite sure how the manager will feel about the oven being used for this kind of work and it is no good sending her out shopping. I can guarantee that she will smell it when she walks back in. Her sense of smell is incredible.

Phil H

Duncan no you dont need an account for rs but they wont send leaded solder to a private address it's for professional use only and needs to go to a business. I know this as I had orders for it declined until I sent it to a business.