Gridgway Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 I am fitting a new fuel sender and it's one of the generic types that you have to bend and cut the two parts of the arm to length. There are little clips to hold the metal arms together for you to solder the two bits. I'm not a super expert at soldering, but I have been doing it for many years. The solder sticks to one of the parts of the arm and the clips,, but not the other. I cleaned and degreased before starting. I have tested the offcuts and one piece is fine and the other is just no go. I'm using electrical solder. I even dug out my ancient pot of Bakers flux and it made no difference. You can see that the two halves are different metals. I wonder if one is coated/dipped in some way. I might abraid the errant piece more to get any coating off. All ideas welcome. Sorry the pic is not in focus very well, but it gives the idea. It's the arm attached to the sender which is proving intransigent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Richard Price Posted December 30, 2023 Area Representative Share Posted December 30, 2023 Graham, Does the solder actually melt on the offending part? Id not, it may be that you're not actually getting that part hot enough? What sort of power is your soldering iron? The iron needs to be able to heat the work piece, and then solder melt on the work piece rather than the iron. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benton Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 As above you’ll need sufficient heat. By all means try abrasive on the offending piece. As an alternative suggestion you could try stripping some electrical cable, wrap the bare wire tightly around the parts to be joined and apply solder to the wire etc. Used to do this when soldering piano wire together to make model aircraft undercarriages to reinforce the joint 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 Thanks both. I think it's hot enough, I'm using a blow torch to heat it. I definitely don't have a man enough soldering iron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 I persevered with lots of flux and eventually the solder stuck. Seems to be a strong enough joint now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 A bit late, but everything needs to be freshly cleaned and preferably with oxygen starvation to prevent the surface from oxidising. Also the flux is important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiddy7 Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 I do find that the new lead free solder is pretty poor, if you can find some old school lead based solder I find it works much better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 Gridgeway - I have a lot of old flux cored solder from when my father used to repair telephone exchanges (ex GPO!) I’m happy to post you some for next time though I might need you to sign a health and safety disclaimer! 🙂 Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gridgway Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 7 hours ago, Wrightpayne said: Gridgeway - I have a lot of old flux cored solder from when my father used to repair telephone exchanges (ex GPO!) I’m happy to post you some for next time though I might need you to sign a health and safety disclaimer! 🙂 Ian Ian that would be fantastic and very generous. Thanks. Shall I message you my address? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 (edited) Yes - send me a PM Edited December 31, 2023 by Wrightpayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now