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Old 08-11-2020, 08:08 AM
ojh ojh is offline
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Default 'Terne' metal for gas tanks.

Welp, sometimes it is best to attempt something while in a cloud of total ignorance of what you're doing. Such is the case here.
I have sticks of 50/50 and I know the tin content is high for terne, a gallon of Johnsons' Liquid Flux, propane torch and 20ga steel cut to size.
Each tank takes about 20 square feet of material, do I need terne both sides?
Any words of wisdom or considerations before I 'have at it'?
Thanks, Oj
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Old 08-11-2020, 12:55 PM
Rick Mullin Rick Mullin is offline
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I tin the entire interior (baffles included) along with any external surfaces that will need soldering (return flanges and rivet areas). After tinning, I Metal Prep the interior surface and rinse with water prior to assembly. I gently red Scotch Brite the solder joints as I assemble. Once completed, I slosh the inside with a low concentrate solution of Metal Prep then water followed by a thorough air dry and heat lamp. The exterior is to be painted so a good sanding, metal prep, secondary sanding followed with an etch primer prior to color is my approach.
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Old 08-11-2020, 01:23 PM
ojh ojh is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Mullin View Post
I tin the entire interior (baffles included) along with any external surfaces that will need soldering (return flanges and rivet areas). After tinning, I Metal Prep the interior surface and rinse with water prior to assembly. I gently red Scotch Brite the solder joints as I assemble. Once completed, I slosh the inside with a low concentrate solution of Metal Prep then water followed by a thorough air dry and heat lamp. The exterior is to be painted so a good sanding, metal prep, secondary sanding followed with an etch primer prior to color is my approach.
No welding at all?
At times I am getting the sheetmetal too hot, did you wheel your blank after tinning it to get it back flat or did you not have this problem?
I couldn't use the lead sticks, I'm having to use solder and its surprising how much area you can do with just a small amount of it.
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Old 08-11-2020, 03:46 PM
ojh ojh is offline
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Well, 1 tank is done.
I made a few mistakes, the worst was when I fluxed the entire surface, it reacted to the adjacent heat and formed a barrier that had to be scrubbed off, luckily a new application of flux cleaned it up. I learned to prep and do small areas.
I couldn't get the stick lead to work so I used regular solder - you'd be amazed how much area a little solder will do.
Heat control is the trickiest part, it is easy to overcook it, you can see a few areas in my last picture where I'll have to go back and retouch it.
My technique was to scrub an area with flux while it was very warm, with metal shiney clean I'd apply heat to the leading edge of the tin, moving the torch all the time until it melded the solder, I'd melt solder all along the leading edge and once I had some to work with I'd heat where I wanted it to go and wipe it over there with a rag, do that all along the leading edge until I couldn't spread it anymore and then cean with the flux etc etc. You can see the areas I did at a time from the pictures.
Heres the start with my wiping rag:
156.jpg
Nearly done, you can see that dark area? That is the flux I put on it when I did the whole sheet. It had to be removed, you can see the fresh area where I have new flux:
159.jpg
And here's the full sheet, I have to touch up a few areas but this is what it looks like:
157.jpg
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