Working with Brass

[Jonnyb]

I was thinking about building a tender and was wondering how do you go about cutting and folding brass sheets?

I guess you need a Pillar Drill for accurate drilling.

The final question but equally important is silver soldering the best method for joining brass joints.

Ive not done anything like this before and would like to know what i might be letting myself in for.

Thanks

[mhlr]

If you don't have a fully kitted out workshop, it's still possible without all the expensive kit. To cut the brass sheet, I'd use a pair of tin-snips. For the folds, usually a vice works well for right angles and some sort of former if you want rounded edges like the handle of a tool... As for joining, yes, silver soldering or soft solder if you don't want to go down the silver soldering route. Just a mini blow tourch and a length of universal solder is what I use.

[Jonnyb]

Thank you for the above, that is really appreciated.

Just need to get a torch and some tin snips dont suppose you know where I can get these from?

Also really daft but i have no idea where to buy brass sheets and box section from, or how thick it needs to be.

[mhlr]

Well it depends what your nearest shops are. I got my solder from Homebase I think, it's a 'Tamar' product. I reckon you could get it from B&Q though. I got my small blow tourch off ebay, I find it much easier than a big one for these kinds of jobs. As for brass thicknesses etc, I'm not sure myself so I will have to let someone else answer that.

[SillyBilly]

Don't forget to clean up the brass VERY well before you solder it and use flux, if you do use a vice to bend the sheet, make sure you don't grip it straight in the jaws as the pattern on them may stamp itself in to the metal. Make sure you tidy up the tin snipped endge up with a file, you may even have to hit it with a ball hammer against another bit of metal to get the edge a bit tidyer after it's been cut.

[Jonnyb]

Good stuff, seems like I need to get ordering some bits.

Thanks Chaps

[ptlrcecil]

For thickness of brass I would use 1mm sheet, usually available from K&S at a B&Q.
As for joining if its a gas engine you could get away with soft soldering but if its meths (which can dribble onto the track, I would definatly use silver solder in case the soft solder melts.
Hope this helps mate.

[mhlr]

For thickness of brass I would use 1mm sheet, usually available from K&S at a B&Q.
As for joining if its a gas engine you could get away with soft soldering but if its meths (which can dribble onto the track, I would definatly use silver solder in case the soft solder melts.Hope this helps mate.

Why is that needed for a tender though?

[TonyW]

My recommendation would be do not, repeat do not, silver solder bodywork. To use silver solder the brass has to be at least cherry red, and your nice flat body panels will not be flat any more if you get them that hot. If you are really worried about a leaky meths engine melting soldered joints then you should find a higher melting point temperature soft solder.

[Palmerston]

Just dont use the outher bodyshell as methstank. Build a seperate tank and silversolder it.