ZiderHead's Workbench - Tools and Soldering

[Ian G]

I found when I started constructing the dogfish, do not tin the solebars, but slot them in the chassis frame and tack solder, when happy lots of flux and run the hot iron along its length, you will find with most of the build you do not need much solder as every thing slots together well, also if you look at my builds to much solder means alot of work cleaning it off.

Ian G

 

[ZiderHead]

thanks Ian that sounds like a good plan

I had an hour to do a little more at the weekend (yes just 1 hour over a bank holiday weekend! ... work is really interfering with my playtime ) and folded up and dry fitted all the main chassis stuff, which was trickier than expected. It took me a while to realise I hadnt filed off the flashes/tabs (not sure what theyre called) completely so a few swipes with Switzerland's finest and it came together beautifully. The tolerances are really fine with these kits, and that is in no way a critisism - even unsoldered it feels solid and placed on the plate glass was already completely square and true ... wow.

I'm thinking I might put in the support/hangars for the steps at this stage too - theres slots in the solebars and W-iron inner frames that need to line up for them and they are really close to the solebar soldering ... may be better to get them in and lined up before soldering up the solebars ... maybe?

 

[Ian G]

I left the step hangers very late in my builds as they are quite flimsy and easly bent out of shape.

Ian G

 

[ZiderHead]

ok that sounds sensible, in that case I'll just slide in some scrap etch temporarily to line the slots up while soldering the solebars to the frame.