Jazz 7mm Workbench

[Battledown]

4 hours ago, jazz said:

I always use MBO products fluxes and solders.

Looking on their website they have a huge product list that seem to be for solder baths and industrial circuit cards. Which do you use for, say, brass, nickel silver, steel and whitemetal?

[jazz]

3 hours ago, Battledown said:

Looking on their website they have a huge product list that seem to be for solder baths and industrial circuit cards. Which do you use for, say, brass, nickel silver, steel and whitemetal?

I use solder Sn50Pb32  Cd18   500g reel   (£59.99 inc delivery)    Flux Z60  watered down 50/50.    Good on brass, nickle silver and steel.    Kind to your soldering tips too.

[bluestag]

11 hours ago, jazz said:

I always solder from behind /under parts where possible.  The areas that cannot be done then solder will be visible.  I use various sizes of scratch brushes to remove as much as possible. Re the tender above this post, there is some showing on the tool box door.    Also it's being able to keep the amount down when going along a joint.  This it where a really good flux comes into play.  I always use MBO products fluxes and solders.

I can't get flux from Britain, I live in Los Angeles.   I brew my own from phosphoric acid.   It seems to work well.

[bluestag]

5 hours ago, bluestag said:

I can't get flux from Britain, I live in Los Angeles.   I brew my own from phosphoric acid.   It seems to work well.

And a change I have made that seems good:    I was using un-cored 63/37 (no rosin flux) and finding that my tips wear out quickly, and refuse to grab the solder.

 

I also have rosin cored 63/37, and I tried building with that.   They both are quite fine, .020" I think.   I was afraid I'd leave a lot of rosin on the work, but that does not seem the case.   And the iron tip seems to stay bright a lot longer.

[jazz]

Interesting, as I found quite the opposite.  Dropping rosin cored solder some years ago made my tips last quite a long time.  Using a tip cleaner there is no problem with picking up the solder. I guess what works for each individual is just fine. 

[jazz]

Turning back to the Jubilee,  today I've stripped it down and give it a good scrub ready for the paint shop tomorrow.

 

[bluestag]

22 hours ago, bluestag said:

 

2 hours ago, jazz said:

Turning back to the Jubilee,  today I've stripped it down and give it a good scrub ready for the paint shop tomorrow.

 

Darn!   That's clean.   I don't know how you do it. 

[Simond]

It’s either magic, or jif, an old toothbrush, and loads of elbow grease…

[jazz]

2 hours ago, bluestag said:

Darn!   That's clean.   I don't know how you do it. 

Thanks bluestag.  I dunk the lot into hot water    (but not hot enough to melt any low melt solder)      add some washing up liquid then using 'Barmans Friend' with an old toothbrush and scrub away.  For the awkward areas I use an old artists chisel paint brush.  Then soak each part in clean warm water in the second sink followed by a rinse under the tap with a clean soft paint brush.

 

Place in the airing cupboard for a while then it's ready for the paint after any masking required.

[bluestag]

43 minutes ago, jazz said:

Thanks bluestag.  I dunk the lot into hot water    (but not hot enough to melt any low melt solder)      add some washing up liquid then using 'Barmans Friend' with an old toothbrush and scrub away.  For the awkward areas I use an old artists chisel paint brush.  Then soak each part in clean warm water in the second sink followed by a rinse under the tap with a clean soft paint brush.

 

Place in the airing cupboard for a while then it's ready for the paint after any masking required.

"Barman's friend" is a sink scrubber, with abrasives?   My latest regime is bathroom tile cleaner (careful, the work gets crazy slippery) which seems to degrease very well.    Then, of all things, toilet bowl cleaner.   Avoid the stuff with bleach in it if you value your clothes.    It is substantially alkaline, and will burn your skin if it sits on it for a while.   It brightens up the brass substantially, but not as much as your results.    Next time I'll try some commet as well.

Edited February 2, 2022 by bluestag
additional thoughts

[jazz]

9 hours ago, bluestag said:

"Barman's friend" is a sink scrubber, with abrasives?   My latest regime is bathroom tile cleaner (careful, the work gets crazy slippery) which seems to degrease very well.    Then, of all things, toilet bowl cleaner.   Avoid the stuff with bleach in it if you value your clothes.    It is substantially alkaline, and will burn your skin if it sits on it for a while.   It brightens up the brass substantially, but not as much as your results.    Next time I'll try some commet as well.

That' why I use it, the abrasives clean it up very well.  I never use bleach.

[JeffP]

Around here we need to rinse in de-ionised, (distilled), water, not tap water unless we want a nice coating of limescale under our paint

[jazz]

36 minutes ago, JeffP said:

Around here we need to rinse in de-ionised, (distilled), water, not tap water unless we want a nice coating of limescale under our paint

I see,  thankfully we have soft water here.

[Battledown]

I clean my work with 50/50 methylated spirit/water mix after every session, rinse in warm water then dry using an old hair dryer - being bald its the only use I have for one! Pre painting I scrub with 'Shiny Sinks' using a soft brush, rinse under the tap using the soft brush, until it runs completely clear, then dry with the hairdryer. I have followed this with a dip in cellulose thinners but am not sure if this is really necessary.

[Regularity]

The key thing is to remove/neutralise any active acids from the metal at the end of each session, so a scrub with an old toothbrush in a tub of water+soda crystals will do that.

Regular cleaning with “Shiny Sinks”, “Barkeeper’s Friend” or whatever followed by a rinse in hot water isn’t essential, but it does keep things cleaner and that usually means less to do prior to paining, because the model won’t be so tarnished and also because anything not soldered properly, or loosened by the most recent session, will have been noticed and re-affixed at the next session, so less to do.

Regular cleaning with a mild abrasive kitchen cleaner is not a bad thing, and as it may lead to better attention to mistakes/errors as they happen, I think it’s a good idea which I will adopt going forward!

[sir douglas]

what ive found useful last year, is the hand cleaning alcohol with a tooth brush, which lifts off my la-co flux and soldering muck really easily

Edited February 4, 2022 by sir douglas

[jazz]

All boxed off for delivery.  The tender cross braces are left off until the painter has done his magic.   

 

Now for a break to recharge my batteries

 

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by jazz

[bluestag]

That's a pretty loco.   Very purposeful.

[jazz]

I couldn't resist finishing the Ex Taff Vale Kitson V Class.   Finally got the number plate from Narrow Planet.   Well worth the wait though.  

 

A Taff Vale Models kit and pleasant to build.   Powered by the Taff Vale gear box and their 1833 motor.

 

 

 

[Regularity]

Is the Buffalo now painted and numbered?

[jazz]

10 hours ago, Regularity said:

Is the Buffalo now painted and numbered?

 

This is the Buffalo loco.  It was finished quite a while ago.   I full photo will be added if you would like it.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by jazz

[jazz]

After the little break, it's back to the WB.  I've spent the past couple of days completing this DJH Peppercorn A2.   A bit of a beast to build.   That's the easy bit done.  Start the loco itself tomorrow.

 

(I really must try and sort out the focus on this camera)

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by jazz

[jazz]

Made a bit of progress on the chassis.  Took ages to try to figure it out as the instruction are basically an exploded diagram and none of the many parts are numbered. So a lot of head scratching.

 

[JeffP]

Is this an early kit? I thought the A2 was now all white metal except for cab sides and chassis?

[jazz]

These are the only w/metal body castings.