Soldering ribs and rr pipes--

[jerrywh]

 It seem to me that a lot of people go to extremes to find a more complicated way to do this. For some reason a lot of people have a excessive fear of soldering so I thought this might be of some interest.
 
    After proper cleaning the barrel, rib and pipes.
First solder the pipes to the rib. Then place aluminum rod through the pipes just as the ram rod would go through. Place paste solder on the joint area. Then place the assembly on the barrel and hold in place with  stainless hose clamps placed around the aluminum rod and the barrel assembly. Heat the barrel from the bottom side until the solder melts. While still hot wipe off any excess solder with a damp [cotton] rag and let cool naturally. Plane and simple. No drilling, no machinery required. Paste solder does not require any pre tinning. With the wire solder you have to tin beforehand and it takes a lot longer heating period.   
 Questions??
You can place the rod through the pipes when soldering them to the rib just to keep them in line.

[Lucky R A]

Jerry,
      Are you saying that you depend on solder wicking through the joint between the rib and the barrel to accomplish the joint?   It sounds like you would have to have an awful lot of heat on the whole barrel to accomplish this.  I have always tinned the barrel and the rib then aligned the two properly and secured them in place with spring clamps w/ the plastic pads removed.  I then re-het until the solder flows and the spring clamps draw the two pieces tightly together.  I like the aluminum rod as a clamping device---just an old dog trying to learn a new trick...

Ron

[jerrywh]

Jerry,
      Are you saying that you depend on solder wicking through the joint between the rib and the barrel to accomplish the joint?   It sounds like you would have to have an awful lot of heat on the whole barrel to accomplish this.  I have always tinned the barrel and the rib then aligned the two properly and secured them in place with spring clamps w/ the plastic pads removed.  I then re-het until the solder flows and the spring clamps draw the two pieces tightly together.  I like the aluminum rod as a clamping device---just an old dog trying to learn a new trick...

Ron

  No, I do not depend on wicking for the solder to fill the joint. When you use paste solder the paste is in between the rib and the barrel before you heat the barrel.  The whole assembly never gets any hotter than 550 ° if you do it correctly. any temp below 800° will not hurt a barrel. However the joint does attract the solder when it melts just as soldering a copper pipe joint.

[thimble rig]

Thanks Jerry that's a good idea you could even push the rod into the ramrod hole on the stck to keep everything lined up.I bought a syringe of the soft solder the other day and have been practicing on scrap I like it so far you don't have to worry about using flux .

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

When you solder a rib to a barrel, you are no where near the stock!

[Lucky R A]

     I misread your original post,  I thought you were using paste flux--not paste solder whatever that is.  In my world solder comes in wire form on a roll, and is used with paste flux.   
     Thanks for the hold down idea.   

Ron

[jerrywh]

 Yes --paste solder comes in a small jar and is a mix of powdered solder and paste flux.

[dbraw]

What kind of paste solder do you use and where do you get it?

[gunmaker]

ACE hardware sells Alpha brand solder paste in a tube, low temp. & pretty strong....

[jerrywh]

What kind of paste solder do you use and where do you get it?

I personally use Swiff 95 paste solder but It is hard to find and is no longer made. Thanks to EPA.
I have tried others and they all seem the same to me as long as they are low temp paste solders. Low temp is defined as having a melting point around  430° to 500° F. They are all stronger than lead solders and most if not all are lead free. Usually a alloy of tin, antimony, bismuth and silver.
 If you can find swiff95 it is marvelous stuff. Like the so called old masters I often use soldering studs for holding work and I use swiff 95 daily for somethings.  Brownell has this and I am sure it is as good as there is. The link below is brownell's replacement for swiff 95.
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/general-gunsmith-tools/solders-flux/f-a-s-t-95-5-solder-prod71249.aspx

[James Rogers]

Here is what I ended up replacing the Swif with per Jerry...
http://www.blackswanmfg.com/index.php/product-information/40-solders-fluxes-and-cleaning-compounds/79-95-5-solder-n-flux

[Jerry V Lape]

Jerrywh,
Just so I get it right - when you say heat from the bottom of the barrel is that heat applied to the side with the rib or is the barrel held upside down and heated from what will become the top of the barrel? 

[davec2]

I don't solder on many ribs, but I do solder a lot of long, thin parts together in my aerospace work.  This type of soldering often requires that the whole set up comes up to temperature evenly, so it is difficult to do with a torch or even several torches.  I use a heat tape that can get the parts anywhere up to 1400 degrees F......Go here and then click on "Extreme-Temperature Heat Cable"

http://www.mcmaster.com/#heat-cable/=11e8uqb

Obviously not for everyone, but to solder ribs or side by side barrels, this works great.  Use the solder paste Jerry is talking about.  Wire the parts in place and wrap with the heat tape.  Plug it in and watch until the solder flows.  Don't really need the heat controller unless you're a control fanatic.  Slow, but very controllable and even heating.

[jerrywh]

Jerrywh,
Just so I get it right - when you say heat from the bottom of the barrel is that heat applied to the side with the rib or is the barrel held upside down and heated from what will become the top of the barrel? 

With the rib facing up. Heat from the bottom, the side opposite of the rib side.
 Dave's idea is super but I don't think it is needed for a simple operation like this. You could put the heat strip inside the bore.
  Dave I wonder if this heat strip will heat even enough to do a heat blue job on a long barrel?? or Charcoal blue in a charcoal pack.

[Frank]

So glad I got Swif 95 when it was available. With what little soldering I do, (mostly underlugs and front sights on smoothbores) my jar should last me a lifetime.

[davec2]

Jerry,

When I get a chance, I will start another thread on heat bluing with one of these heat tapes.  After talking to you a while back, you told me that a good heat blue on steel took an even heating to about 550 degrees F in air.  I started to set up a rig made out of a heavy copper tube wrapped with the heat tape and controlled with an electronic thermostat.  The rig would be mounted horizontally on short legs.  The cleaned barrel would be held in the center of the tube with brackets on the inside of both end caps.  Because of the thermal conductivity of the copper tube wall, the heating is very even throughout the length of the tube.  And since the bluing is an oxidation process, I started to set up to bleed oxygen from a welding torch through the tube while the barrel is heating.  I am building a matched pair of silver mounted, rosewood stocked pistols with gold inlaid decoration on the barrels.  I intend to heat blue the barrels in this manner.

[jerrywh]

 Dave.
   That aint pc but is sure is cool.  I can't wait to see them. That's my kind of stuff. Rose wood is tricky to finish.