Author Topic: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)  (Read 327615 times)

Offline Jo

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #555 on: January 20, 2020, 07:54:42 AM »
I hate it when that happens  :toilet_claw:

As you proved just because something unintended happens does not mean we cannot get round it and no one will ever know :)

Jo
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Online Vixen

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #556 on: January 20, 2020, 12:48:26 PM »
Hi Kim,

How did you get on today? Did you fix it?

Mike
It is the journey that matters, not the destination

Sometimes, it can be a long and winding road

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #557 on: January 20, 2020, 06:38:19 PM »
Thanks Jo and Vixen.
I'm just about to head out to the shop.  My plan (yeah, right :)) is to finish soldering up the tank today.  I'll be sure and report back on how I do.

Kim

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #558 on: January 20, 2020, 07:15:51 PM »
Just catching back up Kim after a few days I missed. Sorry about the misshap, but excellent recovery. Things look great!!

Bill

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #559 on: January 20, 2020, 11:02:44 PM »
I'm really enjoying this thread. Lot's of learning. And although mishaps are a real bummer, I appreciate your posting them and seeing the recovery.

The tank assembly is awesome. When I first read it, I thought, man, he's going to be holding his breath throughout the process. I would be.
I would have been so scared, after all that work, to muss it up at the end.

Good job!  :ThumbsUp:
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #560 on: January 21, 2020, 05:02:31 AM »
Thank you for your support Bill and Zee!
As you can see, I need all the help I can get! :)
Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #561 on: January 21, 2020, 05:18:25 AM »
As promised earlier, here’s my update on today’s shop session. And (spoiler alert!) it didn’t come out too badly, I think.

So today, I cleaned up the parts around the solder joints again – being quite careful NOT to take any unnecessary risks this time around!

Then I assembled the parts with flux in the joints.  For the first solder session, I did the horseshoe assembly and the front and top plates.  This was about the minimum I could do.  I’d have liked to do the horseshoe assembly on its own but once I soldered down the verge board there would be no way to get to the hold-down screws for the front and top plates.  So I did them all at once.  Also, I assembled them all on the tank base to make sure everything was aligned properly.


With that part assembled, I removed the base plate and then took it over to the soldering station.


And here’s after soldering the whole thing.  There were a lot of joints there and it took me some time to get them all done. And things got pretty hot and boiled off the flux so I added more.  You can see the charred remains here.  But all in all, it actually came out not too bad!


After cleaning this section up, I reattached the soldered portion to the tank baseplate then fluxed the joints for the sides and screwed them in place.  Once everything was ready, I again removed the baseplate and went to solder things.  This is after soldering the sides in place.  Not quite as charred this time, but still, it’s a pretty good mess.


Here are a few beauty shots, after cleaning things up.  The underside isn’t so pretty:


But the outside isn’t so bad.  Still some discoloration and some more cleaning to do, but it's not too bad!


So I’m calling this a success!  Thank you all for your continued support and patience with me.
Kim

Offline Jo

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #562 on: January 21, 2020, 07:39:44 AM »
What are you using to clean off the old flux Kim?

Jo
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Offline Admiral_dk

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #563 on: January 21, 2020, 12:07:00 PM »
Nice progress and recoveries Kim  :cheers:

I would not be too worried about the coloration as long as the tank is water tight - as I'm sure it will be painted later (or ?).

Per

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #564 on: January 21, 2020, 08:13:23 PM »
What are you using to clean off the old flux Kim?

Jo

I usually soak in a pickle solution for a while.  Unfortunately, my pickle solution is several years old and has been used a lot. Probably need to change it out.  But worse than this, my pickle receptacle is too small for the tank to fit in.  It's an old large glass cooking pot - probably 5 quart or so?  I can't even submerge half of it.  So, left one side in for a minute, splashed it around a bit, then took it to the sink and used soap.  Probably not the best of solutions.  I should leave it soaking in the pickle longer I'm sure.

And get new pickle solution!

I don't like the really caustic stuff so I've been using Sparex No 2.

Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #565 on: January 21, 2020, 08:15:51 PM »
Nice progress and recoveries Kim  :cheers:

I would not be too worried about the coloration as long as the tank is water tight - as I'm sure it will be painted later (or ?).

Per

I did a quick check an found a leak around the front part, so did a little more soldering to fix that.  At the moment, it seems somewhat water tight.  I'll have to check more carefully before I'm all done.

And yes, it will definitely be painted!  Just have to make sure and get the gunk off of it so the paint's sticking to the metal! :)

Kim

Offline Admiral_dk

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #566 on: January 21, 2020, 09:12:53 PM »
Quote
And yes, it will definitely be painted!  Just have to make sure and get the gunk off of it so the paint's sticking to the metal! :)

Amen to that - but I'm sure that if you end up with a few spots that aren't removed in the pickle, you will use some very fine abrasive paper to get rid of that too - or similar solutions.
Just make sure whatever you use doesn't contain metal particles that can result in future oxidations under the paint ....

Offline Flyboy Jim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #567 on: January 21, 2020, 09:27:16 PM »
Your tank come out really nice Kim.

I wonder how an airbrush sand blaster would work for cleaning things up?

Jim
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Offline crueby

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #568 on: January 21, 2020, 09:31:50 PM »
Your tank come out really nice Kim.

I wonder how an airbrush sand blaster would work for cleaning things up?

Jim
Having used one I could say - they spray a very small pattern, would take a long time to do an area that big. Also would give the metal some texture that you may not want.

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #569 on: January 22, 2020, 05:01:54 AM »
I've got more filing to do also, so some abrasive work will come with that.

Yes, more cleanup is in my future, that's for sure!    ;)

Kim

 

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