ZiderHead's Workbench - Tools and Soldering

[Simon Dunkley]

Likewise - I have several pieces of wood with unusual branding marks on them.

A very useful scraper can be made from a broken vee-shaped needle file. The important thing is for the scraper to be three-sided, but using a knife rather than a 3-square sections means I can use the different widths of the faces. I have been known to use it in chiselling mode, too.

One final method - as I don't like glass fibres everywhere - is that you can use the purple Scothbrite I always recommend for cleaning the metal before tinning, to clean up after tinning and also after soldering. When I say after tinning, I do mean immediately after for if the solder is still hot, you can wipe some of it away, and less solder before joining two pieces of metal means less cleaning up afterwards.

 

[ZiderHead]

I managed to find some softwood strip offcuts, have been using them in my vice - much better

I'll need to tinker with the rivetter a bit more I think, it works ok but the rivets dont look very prominent without using so much force that some are going through the etch, even after some further blunting of the tip. I have a feeling they are going to disappear under the paint. I cant really blunt it any more as its already distorting the etches somewhat.

Time to stop faffing and get stuck in!

Clonk ... Clonk ... Clonk!



They look ok to me:



Some distortion



... which, on the solebars at least, is corrected with the fold:



It looks like Ive actually started on a kit now. Huzzah!


... and had to stop there I only have ?1.2mm solder left so need to order some more 0.5mm to stand a chance of making a neat job of the chassis. Plus my brain hurts and I'm going crosseyed. Time for a glass of Muscadet methinks.


So here I am after my first modelling session in 30yrs ... cant believe I left it so long, and cant wait to have another crack at this brassfoolery again very soon. Thanks again for all the help and encouragement

Jon

 

[SteveO]

Nice work Jon. I'd recommend the use of a rivet punch that supports the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet to avoid as much distortion as possible (if you don't like the distortion, that it is). My rivet press cost about £40, which is not exactly cheap for something that has such a limited use, but as I see it, it has about 20 years to pay for itself, which I'm sure it will.

Looking forward to seeing more!

 

[Heather Kay]

I'd recommend the use of a rivet punch that supports the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet to avoid as much distortion as possible (if you don't like the distortion, that it is).

I have a Graskop riveting tool, made by Dick Ganderton. It has a small anvil with a depression in it that helps form the rivet top.

I understand you can use a soft metal, such as a piece of lead sheet, to perform a similar function. It might be worth trying that to see if it supports the work and reduces the distorting effect.

 

[Simon Dunkley]

I have a Graskop riveting tool, made by Dick Ganderton. It has a small anvil with a depression in it that helps form the rivet top.

I'm sure you can cheer it up somehow...

I have one of these, two, with a variety of punches and dies, and it is much, much better than using lead sheet, etc.

I once saw a rivet embossing tool with a lever which was rotated in the style of a press, rather than up and down. Was it Lacey, or Leakey? Whichever, it is undoubtedly the most sensitive way to control the pressure.

 

[SteveO]

I use the one sold by the chap in Lancing (which is just up the road from me). I can't remember the brand but it's a lever-action type sold with a few different anvils and dies for different scales. It works very well with minimal distortion.

 

[Ian G]

GW Models has the lever type press with different anvils, I use this type.

Ian G

 

[Heather Kay]

The problem with the Graskop style tool is getting consistency with the hammer hits. Once you get your eye and hand in it's very good, but all too easy to accidentally hit the punch too hard, or not hard enough. One of those calibrated drop hammer style doodads would be useful, but probably more awkward to use than just a normal Birmingham Screwdriver.

 

[Dog Star]

One of those calibrated drop hammer style doodads would be useful, but probably more awkward to use than just a normal Birmingham Screwdriver.

Fine for models from the "Dark Side", especially if manufactured in the "Black Country".

 

[djparkins]

Nice work Jon. I'd recommend the use of a rivet punch that supports the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet to avoid as much distortion as possible (if you don't like the distortion, that it is). My rivet press cost about £40, which is not exactly cheap for something that has such a limited use, but as I see it, it has about 20 years to pay for itself, which I'm sure it will.

Looking forward to seeing more!

The GW Models one is 'the thing' + a 14" Hold & Fold tool

 

[Ian G]

I can vouch for the good use of the 14 inch hold and fold along with a 2 inch one for the Dogfish.

Ian G

 

[Simon Dunkley]

The problem with the Graskop style tool is getting consistency with the hammer hits. Once you get your eye and hand in it's very good, but all too easy to accidentally hit the punch too hard, or not hard enough. One of those calibrated drop hammer style doodads would be useful, but probably more awkward to use than just a normal Birmingham Screwdriver.

A drop-hammer is available for the Graskop, or was when I bought mine not too many years ago. I know 'cos I got one!

The GW Models rivetter is very nice, but you have to be careful not to knock the bar which holds the punches. Other makes of rivet punch use welded, or possibly even cast, U-on-its-side to keep the punch and anvil in-line. The GW press is fabricated and bolted, so don't knock it off the workbench onto the floor! (Don't ask me how I know this...)

 

[ZiderHead]

I understand you can use a soft metal, such as a piece of lead sheet, to perform a similar function. It might be worth trying that to see if it supports the work and reduces the distorting effect.

Heather, that lead sounds worth a go. I tried out a range of materials I had lying around for the right amount of support: cutting mat, polystyrene packing, softwood, hardwood etc. and the best of the bunch was some old (and pretty hardened) pine strip as shown.

I looked at the various rivetting options and a decent press is the obvious choice, but as I'm dipping my toe with my first kit I wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible just in case it wasnt for me. If I want to build more stock after this kit (and I'm pretty sure I will now), I'll invest in some more efficient tools.

The GW Models one is 'the thing' + a 14" Hold & Fold tool

Hi David. I looked at various bending bars and folding tools but again for cost I figured for my first wagon I could get away with the 8" blade and my steel rule, and it worked out ok for the solebars (which I hope will be the trickiest fold being long and thin.) Those Hold'n'Folds look really good but seem to cost about £15/inch ...

btw are you sure you want to watch this build given the potential for newbies to butcher your lovely kits?

Jon

 

[Dog Star]

Hi David.... are you sure you want to watch this build given the potential for newbies to butcher your lovely kits?

If you do ok, then David is likely to be pleased.
If you do otherwise, then David might well think "fair enough, he tried, he will be back for another kit".

No matter what, MMP kits are infectious.

regards, Graham

 

[Heather Kay]

No matter what, MMP kits are infectious.

*looks suitably worried*

 

[marsa69]

Do we need jabs to protect against MMP kits then?

 

[Dog Star]

*looks suitably worried*

Pride cometh etc., etc, etc.. First a RMB... then some 16T minerals, followed by a Glass Wagon (S7 of course), and finally moving to West of Fishguard to be close to the seat of etchineering ready for the release of luverly Sulzer Diesels .

Do not worry Heather, there is always a remedy, always a panacea... just keep posting the progress on your favourite forum and accept that a newsletter editor is bound to request copy.

regards, Prof Barking Mad, in the yard, watching a Squiggle.

 

[djparkins]

and finally moving to West of Fishguard

Yeah! Best thing I ever did - I look out the window in the moring on a coastal view that probably has changed little in 100 years+ - when the sea mist has not rolled in!!!

Yes, Wales - where 'Men are Men and the Sheep are Worried'! [as the the tourist postcards say]

DJP/MMP

 

[Steph Dale]

I once saw a rivet embossing tool with a lever which was rotated in the style of a press, rather than up and down. Was it Lacey, or Leakey? Whichever, it is undoubtedly the most sensitive way to control the pressure.

Leakey. I've got a set of his rollers and have to admit they're really nicely made tools.

The GW Models rivetter is very nice, but you have to be careful not to knock the bar which holds the punches. Other makes of rivet punch use welded, or possibly even cast, U-on-its-side to keep the punch and anvil in-line. The GW press is fabricated and bolted, so don't knock it off the workbench onto the floor! (Don't ask me how I know this...)

Just in case that comment frightens anyone off it's worth adding that knocking a GW press off the workbench might result in painful foot injury, but it's not a problem for the device itself which is a synch to re-set using the method described on the instruction sheet. I've got both of the co-ordinate table riveters and their flexibility and durability is amazing - they're about the only rivetter I know which can rivet a rolled smokebox, for example.

I actually had more problems with a Metalsmiths rivet press where the die and anvil weren't in alignment so it only produced oval rivets...

Steph

 

[ZiderHead]

A quick question - should I be soldering along every fold?

I know it adds massively to the strength so I'll be doing everything structural, but what about folded etches that wont be taking loads?