7mm James' O gauge workbench thread

jhockuk

Western Thunderer
More progress, taking a little while to get this right.

Buffer beams:

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I was struggling using the larger iron to start with but I am getting use to it, some the soldering in the inside is not pretty, but it is out of sight.

The instructions can be a little tricky to follow but the kit goes together really well.
 

Pugsley

Western Thunderer
What iron are you using to build this, please?

I've got an Antex 50w, but it's not really man enough for the MMP tank wagon I'm currently building and I think this kit is constructed from thicker material. I might need to get a bigger iron for the structural stuff.
 

jhockuk

Western Thunderer
I am using a Weller 40 watt, which I do not think is man enough for this kit to be honest. The brass is .22 thick and does seem to sap the heat out of it.

I am thinking about picking up a higher capacity one this weekend at St Albans.
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
I built mine with an Antex 50W, set to max, using 145 & 175 solder and Andy Duncan's flux, so it can be done.

Simon
 

Pugsley

Western Thunderer
I'm trying to use multicore solder, so that's probably why I'm struggling. I think I'll invest in a 100w iron for structural work and keep the current Antex for detail work.

I know quite a few people say that you shouldn't use multicore for this kind of thing, but I've got a large reel of it and have sucessfully built up kits with it in the past - my 4mm tamper went together quite nicely with it.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I have to be honest, this is one area where I think bigger is better, I struggled to get by with an Antex and Weller of dubious wattage, it was ok but it was always a struggle and guesswork whether the join would hold. They worked fine for all my 4mm work but the extra mass of 7mm was a struggle.

Taking advice from here I opted for the ERSA 80 and my soldering went from high school metal work classes to almost seamless perfect joints (in my eyes LOL). I know they are expensive, but of all my tools, my ERSA and my newly acquired Vallorbe files have paid for themselves thousands of times over in sheer simplicity and joy of use. I'm so comfortable with them I hardly realize I'm using them, it's as natural as writing with a pencil, rather than my previous scratching with a burnt stick.

I only use 188° solder for brass work and the choice of safety flux makes it flow really well. But I know many use 145° for everything but I find it a little brittle, especially if you have to 'tweak' something straight after it's been soldered on the wonk ;) Of course, soldering it straight in the first place would solve that problem, but that's next months lesson I'm led to believe :thumbs:

Multicore works very well, usually they match the flux to the solder so it flows really well, older reels are much better as they tend to have more lead in which makes solder flow really well, more modern eco friendly multicores are not as comfortable to use, I've got a roll of high lead content 20yr old multicore at work, which I guard tooth and nail, it's far superior to the new stuff we get.
 
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jhockuk

Western Thunderer
I will have a look at the ERSA irons, not heard of them before.

I have hit a little bit of snag, the recommend buffers are slaters sprung buffers but when I went to fit them I noticed the frames are directly behind the holes for the buffers in the buffer beams.

This makes it difficult to fit the sprung buffers, has any encountered similar issues?

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oldravendale

Western Thunderer
I'll have to look up the reference, but somewhere om here are a coule of ideas about producing self contained buffers for just such a situation as this. I suffered it on my ex LNWR 7F 0-8-0.

If I can find the info I'll get back to you with the references. If not I'll try to describe how I did mine.

Brian
 

jhockuk

Western Thunderer
As Mick says they are expensive but it is a quality tool and I wouldn't be without mine now. I have since bought a couple of different tips for different jobs but it is a nice bit of kit.

http://www.conrad.com/ce/en/product/813123/Ersa-RDS-80-Soldering-Station-80W-230-VAC-50-Hz-150-450-C

It is not that expensive, if you compare it The equivalent product from Anntex so could well be worth a look. The UK site lists them at £130 so could be worth the investment.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
They come with a big fat tip, which is great for frames and generally most of the construction. But I also invested in a smaller flat ended tip from Ebay for detail work, these can be quite expensive so shop around, some were in the £30 range but I got mine for about £10 in the end.
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Mick,
In your post (#90) I think you've got your lead and tin mixed up. Modern solders are lead-free and contain higher percentages of tin, usually alloyed with silver and copper. They are fine to work with, but require completely segregated kit as allowing even a trace of lead in to a lead-free solder results in the mess you describe.
In practice it's much simpler to stick with a bit of power and old-school lead-based solders, but I do have a lead-free rig (25w Antex) for electrical work. For my model making I too rate the Ersa RDS80.
Steph
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Mick,
In your post (#90) I think you've got your lead and tin mixed up. Modern solders are lead-free and contain higher percentages of tin, usually alloyed with silver and copper. They are fine to work with, but require completely segregated kit as allowing even a trace of lead in to a lead-free solder results in the mess you describe.
In practice it's much simpler to stick with a bit of power and old-school lead-based solders, but I do have a lead-free rig (25w Antex) for electrical work. For my model making I too rate the Ersa RDS80.
Steph
Steph, yes of course :headbang: it's lead free the modern stuff, I will edit my original so as to not confuse others :thumbs:
 

jhockuk

Western Thunderer
Progress!

After many, many hours messing about with buffers, I gave up on the slaters ones I bought with kit. atrip to the St Albans show furnished me with Markits standard BR buffers, lovely things.

I just could not get the Slaters ones to sit flat on the buffer beam.

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adrian

Flying Squad
After many, many hours messing about with buffers, I gave up on the slaters ones I bought with kit. atrip to the St Albans show furnished me with Markits standard BR buffers, lovely things.
Congratulations - it's looking good, there's a lot to be said for just getting on with it and it's great to see the progress. Was the bonnet preformed or have you done that, it looks cleanly done and spot on so well done.
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
James PM'ed me to ask how I got the buffers to fit; to add to the pool of answers, here is my solution.

First solder the buffer housing to the buffer planks. Temporally assemble the chassis into the footplate. File a flat on the extension of the buffer rod so that it clears the inside edge of the inner frame; make it a nice sliding fit. When you assemble the buffer after painting, solder a length of thin wire to the extension of the buffer rod with the buffer at the correct extension. This is easier to do using a long length of wire which you then snip to length. I placed the loco in a cradle with a chock to hold the buffers in place as otherwise you run out of hands!
IMG_1394.JPG

He also asked where the buffers came from. I thought that were with the kit but I suspect the little grey cells are telling porkies.
Simon
 

jhockuk

Western Thunderer
Congratulations - it's looking good, there's a lot to be said for just getting on with it and it's great to see the progress. Was the bonnet preformed or have you done that, it looks cleanly done and spot on so well done.

Thanks Adrian,

The bonnet is not preformed, but it does have half etch fold lines. It folds quite easily with just finger pressure (as recommend in the instructions), takes a while a to get the right shape but it does look good when you get it there.

It still needs to be soldered on, one very nice feature is that it is removable, the bonnet solders onto a plate that is screwed into the footplate by 14ba srews, it will make painting much easier.
 
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