Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Resistance isn't futile


Tank top
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Now I'm onto the detailing stretch on the dock tank I've broken out my resistance soldering unit (RSU). Not a tool I use very often but it comes into its own for this sort of thing.

The photo shows a riveted plate and lug fitted to the top of the tank. To use the RSU I tinned the back of each part with the conventional iron, smeared flux on the tank and then holding the part in place with the RSU probe, pushed the foot switch. This makes current flow through the probe and then the part and solder. The solder heats up to melting point. Then I take my foot of the switch while leaving the probe in place. That allows the solder to cool and fix the part.

This is much easier than doing the same thing with a normal iron. This tool has to be removed to take away the heat which means another way of holding the part in place is required.

Best of all, little or no cleaning up of excess solder is required, a blessing around the little bits like this !

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