Lead loading / Wiping.

[Chazza]

Step Number 9.

I cant see any need to wash the flux off; it will boil off as the solder and/ or heat is applied. I have done a lot of soldering of seams over the years, usually on sheet metal work and never had a problem, as long as the work is washed in water afterwards.

Cheers Charlie

[Chris_Hamilton]

May I ask what the advantage of using the tinmans solder is? Probably just my ignorance but what is the advantage of doing it that way versus the more commonly known way using 30/70?

[Moving molecules .]

Hi Chris, the extra Tin ( 40% ) side of Tinmans Solder helps it to adhere to the metal....


So for the Modern way ,you would like to think if you have bought a good quality paste this Should have the same 60/40 ratio but grind up to make the more modern paste type.

[Moving molecules .]

Step Number 9.

I cant see any need to wash the flux off; it will boil off as the solder and/ or heat is applied. I have done a lot of soldering of seams over the years, usually on sheet metal work and never had a problem, as long as the work is washed in water afterwards.

Cheers Charlie

Hi Charlie, For me it was just a preventative Measure really.... you know the Brown stuff you sometimes get.

l wash this off before I File with a 8TPI File.

May be a bit OTT.....

lead gets a bad rap by many painters....😊

[Jaymce]

The only thing I do different from what has been outlined is after tinning I do a hot wipe with a cloth. I then clean all the excess residue / flux with baking soda or tsp and water. While not necessary as someone pointed out I feel it is a precautionary measure. I then clean again with coarse steel wool and acetone to remove any soda / tsp residue .

Now I begin to load the lead. The 70/30 is much easier to work.

you have to get enough on in the first pass as it is very difficult to go back and add more.

I learned a bit over the last few years at World of Wheels shows. Amazing to watch Winfield work lead. Watched min lead a 50 Merc from the center of the windshield to the center of the cowl including the pillar keeping it all in a plastic state.

[Steve Murphy]

Going back about 40 years ago I worked at a GM plant that built Buick’s and Oldsmobile’s and I ground the lead filled seams on the roof joints the leading guys did just beforehand. My memory is they had a tinning flux they brushed on and heat it with a torch and wiped it with a cloth. They still used wood paddles and tallow and lead sticks back then. And all of us grinding the lead had to have a blood test every two weeks to check if the lead was getting too high. 😬

[Ron Kirkpatrick]

I’ve been doing leading this way since the 1970’s I still do it to this day.

[Chazza]

Just re-read this thread and was surprised to see that I had written something. Must be old age.

Anyway in response to a couple of posts;

* Flux for tinning, is zinc chloride, I think. When I was a boy, an elderly friend would make his own by putting a piece of zinc in hydrochloric acid. The gas given off is hydrogen, so no naked flames. When the zinc stops fizzing the flux has been formed. An old name for this was "killed spirits". American members will know Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) as muriatic acid. I found it far more convenient to buy Baker's Soldering Fluid, because Mr Baker had already killed the spirits for me.

* Someone asked why bother using the 60/40 solder first. If the metal is scrupulously clean, it is extremely easy to tin and the solder flows well to cover the entire surface. Body solder does not stick easily to bare steel but it will bond to solder easily.

Why not use flux paste? Probably expense I suspect. I have never used the paste so I don't know.

Cheers Charlie

[cliffrod]

Just re-read this thread and was surprised to see that I had written something....

Cheers Charlie

these are likely the most honest words that will ever be posted here.. Glad I'm not alone. Thanks for the smile, Charlie.