making hardware?

[screwball]

hey guys im working on making a set of hardware out of brass and i wanted to know how you guys do it, my dad was telling me to use brazing rods but i was thinking that this might be to small for that. ive seen some other people solder the parts together? i know you have to use silver solder but is their anything else you have to do to get a strong bond? can some of you guys post up some pics of your homemade hardware if its not too much trouble.



Thanks,
James

[sailr]

Use a good ACID flux, not the rosin flux used for electrical soldering.

[screwball]

thanks sailr, what do you guys think about brazing it?

[eboat]

thanks sailr, what do you guys think about brazing it?

With the parts so small I think by the time you got the brazing rod hot enough to melt your small parts would melt or warp first
If you have the stuff to braze with you could try to stick a couple small pieces together before you go to all the trouble to cutting things to shape but I do not think it would work very well

[Jeff Wohlt]

I have made plenty of brass struts. Use silver solder. Acid Flux. You have to tin both parts of the strut....the blade bottom and the tube. I have a jig that then puts the parts in the correct angle and centers the blade and tube and then you just solder it together using a little more on each side as fillets. Brass solders very easily.

Test it when you are done and give it some muscle to see if you can break it apart...if done right you will not be able to break it.

[screwball]

thanks guys im going to go get some solder and stuff in a few minutes and ill report back when im done

[screwball]

ok guys i got my hardware made and it works great, pics tommorow morning

[FloatDaBoat]

James - appears from your last post that this might be a mite belated - here goes anyway ...
My strut construction method.
I use a Dremel plunge router attachment to cut a slot in the outer nested brass tubes for the brass strut plate to fit into. I glued two cutoff wheels together to obtain the 1/16” width for the slot.
File down a soldering tip with a file to obtain an angled flat area the size of the desired fillet.
I use a 40 watt soldering iron that I allow to get very hot before beginning the assembly process.
Tin the bottom & sides of the strut before inserting it into the slot in the tubes.
Use a jig to hold everything in alignment.
Use silver solder to tack the brass plate front, rear, & both sides. Acid flux isn’t really necessary if the brass isn‘t heavily oxidized, rosin works perfectly fine (flux is used to remove any oxidation so that the solder has a clean surface to adhere to). Proceed to fillet-in the joint with additional solder. Because I use a 40 watt iron, the initial tacked areas won’t re-melt, & it’s fairly easy to flow & sculpt the solder into the joint.
Here’s a photo of the strut I fabricated:

[ncornacchi]

VERY clean work FDB....Is that 2nd tube behind strut for shaft lube?

[FloatDaBoat]

Yeah, the 3/32” tube’s for adding lubrication. I use a plastic syringe, with a piece of fuel tubing attached, to inject some after every run. The water here is chocked-full of minerals, & the residue left after it evaporates will wear out the bearing surfaces in no time if it’s not flushed out immediately.