7mm An exercise in bodging from Lincolnshire

[Simon]

Looking good so far, those LNER vans are nice looking prototypes

I'm with Jonathan on generally using fine grit paper, I have wet and dry in a range of grit sizes and find it very useful, I use the glassfibre brush as a last resort as just looking at it makes me itch

Simon

I've just seen Mickoo's post which looks like a top tip to me, I'm definitely going to give it a go - thanks Mick

 

[SteadyRed]

OK

Looking good so far, those LNER vans are nice looking prototypes

I'm with Jonathan on generally using fine grit paper, I have wet and dry in a range of grit sizes and find it very useful, I use the glassfibre brush as a last resort as just looking at it makes me itch

Simon

I've just seen Mickoo's post which looks like a top tip to me, I'm definitely going to give it a go - thanks Mick

I work in IT and very occasionally I have to trackdown fibre or copper data cables in roof voids & the like.. The rock wool insulation gets into my hands & fingers & despite washing ASAP in cold water, it is a devil to get out.

Hence my dislike of the fibreglass brush, but I know that it is the best tool for the job.

Dave

 

[SteadyRed]

Dave,

Ok fibre brushes, there a re a few tricks to help you on your way, one is to dip the refill in diluted wood glue, though that's a bit hit and miss to the firmness you end up with, it's either not enough or so hard it digs the metal!

However I also have what we call a comm stick, this is used to dress motor commutators to reduce arcing, it's still glass fibre inside but has a hard plastic coat, the idea is that you trim off a few mm of the skin to expose the glass, the less you cut off the firmer it is. Anyway, I got to thinking about refill fibre pencils and messy glue etc and thought about adding a skin to those, to which I now skin my refills with heat shrink tubing, like above you just trim back the skin to reveal the amount of brush to give the required firmness and thus finish.

The last thing I have is a polishing stick, this is very soft and burnishes more than scratches, I've no idea where the comm stick or burnishing brush came from, I acquired them at work over the years and when they're gone I'm gong to be pretty stuck, shortly I'm going to hit the web and try and find some spares for the future.

View attachment 38843
The picture, top left is a heat shrink refill fibre brush and below a ready treated refill, just trim back the amount skin to give the softness you require.

Top right a standard refill which has been glued, it's starting to soften now and use breaks down the glue bonding and it goes fluffy.

Bottom left is the large burnishing brush I use, again it has a thin plastic skin but that tends to break and rip off on it's own accord.

Bottom right is the much firmer comm stick or comm brush, that's the main one I use to get solder off and then polish.

Of course the best way to avoid using a fibre brush is to use less solder, it really is amazing how little solder you actually need to make a join, and, try to add lots of solder in hidden places. Flux helps too, I now use the safety flux and that lets solder run really well, thus you don't tend to get large blobs that need cleaning off.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the explanation of the various types of fibreglass brushes, and how you have modified them. The heat shrink is a good idea.

I know I will end up using these, despite my dislike of the material.

Dave

 

[mickoo]

OK


I work in IT and very occasionally I have to trackdown fibre or copper data cables in roof voids & the like.. The rock wool insulation gets into my hands & fingers & despite washing ASAP in cold water, it is a devil to get out.

Hence my dislike of the fibreglass brush, but I know that it is the best tool for the job.

Dave

Try washing in warm water with hand soap, I've done a lot of roof installation work over the years and one old hand said use warm water, reason being, warm water opens the pores and allows the fibres to wash 'out' Another old trick is to rub your hands with worn sandpaper, it abrades the skin which breaks the glass and takes a the top layers of skin off, I think we have seven? and the top two or three come off really easily when rubbed vigerously.

Personally I use hot water, lots of soap and a scrubbing brush for anything that itches, but for ones that sting I.E those that have dug a little deeper I just rub the area with sand paper.

 

[mickoo]

Looking good so far, those LNER vans are nice looking prototypes

I'm with Jonathan on generally using fine grit paper, I have wet and dry in a range of grit sizes and find it very useful, I use the glassfibre brush as a last resort as just looking at it makes me itch

Simon

I've just seen Mickoo's post which looks like a top tip to me, I'm definitely going to give it a go - thanks Mick

Well I was just trying to replicate the commercially skinned ones and heat shrink was near and handy, they're not as good as the commercial ones where the skin is more plasticised, heat shrink is more rubberised, but the heat shrunk ones are more manageable and controllable than glued ones, cleaner too

 

[mickoo]

Thanks for the explanation of the various types of fibreglass brushes, and how you have modified them. The heat shrink is a good idea.

I know I will end up using these, despite my dislike of the material.

Dave

No problems

For large flat areas with no detail then wet n dry or emery paper is better, I keep most of my old bits of emery paper as it softens with use, some old bits are more cloth than emery and they give a really nice shine and thus do not sand off rivet detail etc.

 

[Scale7JB]

On top of all these abrasives, another very handy tool is a nice sharp Swann Morton 10A blade.

Great at getting large lumps of solder off, and out of crevices.. I also use a SM blade to get rid of etching cusps too, especially in brass, just don't slip into your fingers..

What Mick says is very true though, you'd be amazed how little solder you really need. Plenty of flux and tiny solder goes a long way...

JB.

 

[adrian]

Hence my dislike of the fibreglass brush, but I know that it is the best tool for the job.

I don't use any fibreglass brushes at all - can't stand them. I use a mixture of triangular scrapers, scalpels, old hacksaw blades and old needle files with the ends ground down, garryflex blocks, fine wire-wool, fine wet and dry and I also use a similar to fibre-glass brush but with steel wire inserts rather than fibreglass. i.e. IMHO you don't need a fibreglass brush.

 

[mickoo]

IMHO you don't need a fibreglass brush.

Yes, but you use that invisible solder that Richard uses as well

To be honest I use scrapers etc as well and really only use fibre brushes where there's raised detail to protect.

I have a brass wire refill but it never seems to shift solder that well, will dig it out and have another go shortly.

 

[SteadyRed]

My Bill Bedford sprung W irons turned up today so I am now on with building these, before I continue with the van.

Unfortunately the Slaters top hat bearings are 2.54 mm diameter, the W irons only 2.2mm, or if I remove the inner space much too wide for the Slaters bearing, so I have some careful opening up to do on each W iron.

Something else turned up from Eileens today, will grab photos of both todays work & this new toy a little later.

Now on with the filing

Dave

 

[SteadyRed]

I have not been idle, I have continued with the LNER fish van, but today I ran into a problem. The solebars together with overlays are are a tight fit once offered onto the underside of the van.

Unfortunately I applied a bit too much heat & pressure whilst trying to get the one solebar to fit, result I popped the bottom of one end of the van off.

This is all a new challenge to me, so I will sleep on it tonight & revisit tomorrow. I may have to remove offending slobber, repair the end of the van, remove a little metal before refitting solebars.

Its all part of the fun.

Anyways a picture is worth a thousand words...


I have also been looking at sprung W irons for this van, I've got three different options on the bench, more on that later.

Hope everyone had a good day at Reading.

Dave

 

[Dog Star]

I have not been idle, I have continued with the LNER fish van, but today I ran into a problem... I have been looking at sprung W irons for this van, I've got three different options...

Fitting three options at the same time is going to produce an interesting result and, possibly, suggestions of a Zeberdee influence .