I've had a bit of a set back while fettling my BR49. The needle valve portion has separated from the main body. Is this a soft soldered joint? Kind of looks like it, but I'm not sure and I don't want this joint to fail under heat and pressure. If it is soft solder, would 50/50 (lead/tin) solder be appropriate? I can do soft solder but if it's a silver brazed joint, I'll have to learn a new technique. Thanks for your advice, Dan
Hi Dan it will be a soft solder joint just clean it up flux it and solder it I think if i was doing it i would put it in place and screw the needle in so any solder wont block the hole in the bottom then G clamp it up. I would just use the electrian type solder with the flux core flows well. Keep most of the heat on the piece thats come adrift as you may melt the solder join where the control tap knob goes as well Off course dont feed in too much solder as your going to sieze the tap up. maybe cut a small lengh of solder wrap it round where your new join is to be and just heat it up then see how it is apply a bit more if needed. good luck with and all the best for new year to you and all on this site pete
Al, Thanks for your kind offer for a replacement. The solder job appears to have worked as it does not leak and I did not plug it up. Pete, Thanks for your advice. I used thin electronics rosin core solder, lead/tin mix unknown. I included a picture of the heat sink used to protect the other valve; a piece of old sock soaked with cold water. The two pieces stuck together well so I skipped the C clamp. Seems to have worked as it does not leak. Dan
Great work, Dan. Did you have to do any special preparation to the joining surfaces prior to soldering, ie. cleaning or de-oxidising? I ask because my trade is in repairing vintage electronics, and I know that soldering to old plated terminals and the like can be a real chore. A lot of cleaning and polishing as well as a more aggressive flux is often necessary. (Followed by more cleaning to remove said aggressive flux) I would be afraid to even attempt something like you did for fear of the solder refusing to "wet" and flow effectively. Thanks! Doug E.
Hi Doug, I did do a bit of cleaning. First I heated the parts individually and when flowing, wiped off the old solder as best I could. For the male tube part I used some 220 sandpaper to clean and rough up the joint. For the female joint in the control cock I found a slightly smaller dowel than the joint opening, wrapped some sandpaper around the dowel and cleaned up the inside that way. I used a fine point artist's brush to apply just a small amount flux to each joint. I use a product called C-FLUX which per-cleans and pre-tins. It works really well. I took Pete's advice and used fine electronic rosin core solder. The big fear was blocking the very fine feed hole which is located just below the internal joint edge. I didn't feed in a lot of solder and got lucky as the joint is not plugged and holding. Dan
