Quote:
|
pippin88: Nice post Gooserider.
|
Thanks
Quote:
|
I should have clarified in my soldering. I actually soldered the elbows and pipes (I've forgotten the difference between Tube and pipe. Is Tube the one measured on ID, and pipe on OD?) together with silver solder. The plate and pipes are just joined by normal solder. May not have been actual silver solder, but it comes in thin long sticks, and is sold by the kilo and wasn't cheap.
|
Not sure what sort of solder that would be, perhaps it's a European thing.
Here what is readily available is either the plumbing safe or lead based solders, both of which come in rolls of ~ 1/8" (3mm) 'wire'.
I might have built by doing one stage with lead and the other with plumbing safe to take advantage of the temp difference between the two solders. More likely I would have just used one, and done the plate/tube join first then the plumbing fittings. If you let the parts cool between steps, the plate would have had enough thermal mass that it wouldn't have unsoldered while doing the fittings. Another option is to immerse the parts you don't want soldered in water, or wrap them in a damp rag to keep them cool.
Quote:
|
I milled the flat just to make it easy to solder, rather than any heat conduction. It meant it didn't roll or have to be clamped.
|
That works, and is a good reason, however I probably would have skipped the mill step and used clamps. I would point out that milling the flat is good for getting a uniform cross section, but it would be much harder to get a constant flat if working by hand. An irregular flat would cause problems with gaps between the pipe and the plate. Since the pipe is flat as made not milling it avoids the whole issue.
The difference between Cu Tube and Cu pipe is a bit fuzzy. Typically pipe is defined by ID, with the OD being (obviously) somewhat larger. However the OD sizes have become constant references in order to keep the fitting choices simple, and different grades of Cu pipe and tubing in a given size will all have the same OD so as to use the same set of fittings, and the ID will vary depending on the grade of pipe / tube. However in general, pipe will have slightly thicker walls, and be rigid; while tubing will have thinner walls and be somewhat flexible. Pipe normally doesn't get bent, any bends are made with fittings, and it comes in straight lengths. Tubing can be bent (by hand in small sizes, with appropriate tools in larger ones) and usually comes in coils.
Gooserider