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[chplnstone]

i've found that mapp gas is more forgiving, and i have a steel pipe i slide into the barrel to both hold the work and keep solder out...1/2 inch emt with a slot cut in the side to reduce the o.d. ...i like the wet towel idea, may help with my df patching...

[Railgun]

A propane torch is more than enough for this.

Also you didn't say if it was but I'm assuming you were using a plated brass fitting? If it's chrome plated then you'll have a bad time with trying to solder it. If it's nickel then it should solder fine. If it's chrome your best bet is to run it into a pipe thread die that you don't care about and chew off the plating and expose the brass. Or just get a plain brass fitting.

And solder works best when it can flow in between surfaces and form a thin bonding film. This means that if you're using a pipe thread you do NOT want to tighten it. Instead run it in until it starts to tighten and then back it off until it's pointed the right way. This way the solder has a path to flow into and you'll end up with a BETTER bond than you would from a tight joint where it can only form a fillet on the outside. With that sort of joint you don't even need to add enough to fillet the joint although most of us would *** enough to form about a 1/32 inch radius just for looks. The amount of solder needed to do a joint of this sort would only be about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of .050 diameter electronics solder. If you're using heavy pipe solder of something like 1/8 diameter then you'd need less than 1/4 inch.

And as you found clean metal and flux IS a must. There's no point in even lighting the torch if you don't have flux. But this is how we learn. As for the body I'm guessing that you melted the brass?

[Reedrick]

Here's what I plan to go into surgery with:



Let me know if this looks correct.

[russc]

Looks good.

[Emerald Wolf]

Looks fine (assuming that is 60/40 solid core solder)...Just remember to heat the elbow the most since it's thicker than the tube (you'll also be less likely to unsolder something you don't want to)

Catchya on the Flip Side.....

Emerald Wolf -- also remember to pull all the rest of the guts out....

[Railgun]

And even though it LOOKS clean clean it again with fine sandpaper. Never use steel wool since it is lightly oiled to prevent rusting and the oil gets on the brass or other metals to be soldered. Or a new and clean stainless "tooth brush" mini brush makes a good last moment cleaner as well.

When it comes to soldering it can never be too clean.