Brass soldering: rod vs tubing

[ismaelg]

Hello,

Brass soldering opens up a new world of modeling oportunities. Frames, roll cages, firewalls, roll bars etc. The possibilities are endless.

Solid brass rod vs tubing: Tubing requires careful bending to prevent kinking, and rod obviously weights more. Other than those 2 differences: Is there any advantage of one over the other? Does tubing solder faster because there is less material to heat?

Thanks,

[Guest zebm1]

It all depends on tha "flux" an tha "flame" , oh and bending brass is easy, ifn yu use coil springs on tha outside of yur tubing, Izzy.

:twisted: Zeb

[Jairus]

Ismael,

Sorry I didn't see this question before now. I guess I have been busy with other stuff....

Soldering brass tubing is easier than rod but only by a little.

Brass rod is stronger than tube and easier to bend.

Brass tube can be bent but you need to insert something inside the tube to support it inside like a piece of solder or plastic rod. Bend the tube around a piece of rod or tubing the same diameter as the bend you want and go slow.

If you are going to make roll cages then I would suggest you pick up some 1/16 K&S brass rod and start with that.

All soldering is easy if you know the basic secrets.

1 Clean the joint.

2 Use acid flux from the electronics store.

3 Heat the parts well with a good iron and use very little solder.

4 Scrub the soldered joint with a toothbrush, Ajax and HOT water to clean off the acid flux. You will be surprised how easy it really is!

Here is a couple of solder joints I have recently accomplished on a couple of slot cars. Good flow is important and moving the iron around will help the puddle and flow of the solder.

[LDO]

If you're using a soldering iron, you may have trouble making enough heat to solder brass rod. I tried soldering rectangular-section rod for a 1/24 pickup chassis and a propane torch didn't make enough heat.