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Soldering Chainplate Burn?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RegW
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RegW

RegW

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Oct 23, 2023
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Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
Is there any personal experience with soldering copper wire close to a deadeye for a chainplate build? More specifically I plan to make my own scratch built chainplate for my current build (HMS Surprise) that is more correct than the Artesania provided parts and plan detail. I have the following concerns:

• Will soldering this close to a deadeye cause significant burning (or discolouration) of the deadeye itself? (photo attached below)

• I plan to have the soldering joint hidden behind the 3mm thick walnut chainwale support plate as the solder will not be affected by the blackening process

• If I immerse the finished unit in blackening fluid, will the boxwood deadeye be stained by the fluid? I intend to stain the deadeye AFTER blackening the copper wire.

Suggestions please Solder Burn.png
 
I did not solder at the place you point to with the wooded deadeye installed into the plate. Silver solder the loop out of copper wire. Then shape it and install the deadeye with no soldering.
 
So, if you are soldering with a torch, I would expect the deadeye to have issues. You should be able to use a low wattage soldering pencil to good effect. To help avoid any coloration of the deadeye, you can use a heat sink clamped onto the wire between the joint and the deadeye (I know that doesn't leave much room).

I agree that the blackening agent will not color the solder, but you should be able to hit is with a black magic marker which will help a lot.

I have never tried to stain after wood is immersed in blackening agent. Sorry, I can't help with this one. I would say to test it, or maybe you can slip the deadeye out to color it and then pop it back in. Testing is always recommended for a new process. :)

Best of luck
 
I have a very accurate and temperature selective soldering pen (usually used for work on computer ICU boards). I have used it with our hobby needs and it works well, I've never worked with deadeyes before, so I'm not familiar with how temperature sensitive they are. I'll do a test with one, and do the soak (blackening), clean-up and then stain to the mahogany tone that I'm hoping to achieve - and I'll post the results.
 
Perfect ! I look forward to seeing your successful results ! I used to have a nice Weller.
And if you work on electronics, you understand the usage of a heat sink and probably have some. :)
 
Roger Pellett said:
deadeye/ chainplate crimper- temporary wooden jaws glued to parallel jaw pliers.
Click to expand...
This is a GREAT idea Roger!!!


RegW said:
If I immerse the finished unit in blackening fluid, will the boxwood deadeye be stained by the fluid?
Click to expand...
Reg,
As you are using copper instead of brass wire you can blacken it with diluted (50/50 works well) liver of sulfur which will not stain the wood. I brush it on and it works instantly. Once done I rinse it with a little clean water on a brush and dry with a paper towel or hot air gun. Like any other blackening agent, the metal needs to be clean. If the soldering and blackening do not work out clean the tips of the wire after it is blackened and substitute epoxy for the soldering. As you mention, the joint will be covered by the cover board on the edge of the channel. The nice thing about the LoS is that you can assemble everything onto the model before blackening it then blacken it after it is fixed in place.

Allan
 
Reg,

You don’t say what material you are using for your deadeyes but if they are wood, soldering the two crimped wires together is possible. The trick is to do it quickly. Heat transfer by conduction is time dependent so the longer it takes the more heat gets transferred up the wires towards the deadeye. I suggest:

Ordinary soft solder is sufficient for this purpose. Silver solder requires too much heat.

Clean the wires. Make sure that all coatings such as lacquer are removed. Ordinary sandpaper will work for this. I also keep a jar of lacquer thinner on my workbench for dunking parts to be soldered.

Solder is available in different diameters. I use 1/32” (.5 mm?) dia for most ship model applications.

Use a HOT soldering iron, not a torch. A hot iron will transfer heat the area to be soldered quicker than a cooler one. When the solder and joint combination reaches the right temperature the solder will “flash” and form a thin film. If the solder beads up the joint is not hot enough.

Make sure that the two wires are crimped closely together. Solder will not bridge gaps.

I personally like the more aggressive liquid fluxes. One goes by the generic name of Bakers Fluid.

Protect the deadeye from heat. Since water boils at 212F (100C) it is very effective doing this. A tiny piece of water soaked paper towel wrapped around the deadeye will ensure that it’s temperature will not exceed 212F until all of the water has been evaporated.

Unfortunately the soldered joint will probably resist any available blackening solution. Touch up those areas with flat black enamel.

Soldering involves some witchcraft! The above is my personal Home Brew. Things like paste fluxes and soldering/flux pastes that work well for others do not work as well for me. Practice until you find a combination that works for you.

Roger
 
So I managed to make a bunch of these (52) successfully. Initially I used the wire that was included with the kit. It was 0.5mm diameter, but it did not look correct with the deadeye, as it was too small and was almost completely hidden in the deadeye grove. So I tried some other wire that I had and 0.8mm looked right. Had to wait to get a roll of sufficient length to do them all.

The procedure I used was to shape the wire around the deadeye (round pliers marked with deadeye centre diameter), fashion the chainplate attachment loop, then solder the area that would be hidden by the plate. After that I blackened the wire - and the blackening agent doesn't affect the deadeye wood. Yay! Minor issue with trying to polish the blackened copper after this, but not a significant problem.

The soldered area was "touched-up" with a black marker pen:

DeadeyeBlack-52.png
 
Yo te aconsejaria para soldar alambre de cobre una estación de soldadura de estaño. La soldadura es de precisión y no tiene que dañar la madera.

1725122235178.png
 
Do you have the use of a resistance solderer, it's like a spot welder?
Tin the wire away from the deadeye, use wet tissue as Roger says above.
Resistance soldering is extremely quick and accurate.
 
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