99Hawk

I''ll bet I'm not the only one who isn't happy with the awkward location of mixture screws or the cost of Honda's special tool. My homebrew option works fine and for less than $6 it's a nice addition to the ole toolbox.





I posted the 'step by step' for anyone wanting to make one themselves.

http://vtr-tool.atspace.com/ ....


John

99Hawk

Glad to hear you want to build one yourself. Silver soldering is something you can do with a normal propane or map gas torch. For small parts like this you can easily get it hot enough to melt the solder, which is about 1100 - 1200F. There are various mixes of silver solder, it is very handy to have around the shop since it is very strong ( not like lead based low temp solders) and it can be used on various metals (like steel in this case). You do need flux (made for silver soldering) and the real trick on small parts like this it to use a bare minimum of flux and only put the flux exactly where you want the solder to flow. Any good welding shop should have at least one in stock. Silver Solder is normally sold by the ounce, so for various guages of wire you'll end up with different lengths. I can't remember what guage wire mine is but it looks to be about 18 or 20ga, I think I ended up getting about 2 feet a couple of yrs ago and use it as needed...
The flux I have is Harris Stay-Silv but I just did a quick search and found a dude on Ebay selling various silver solders and some high temp flux. Looks like a very fair price too. Ebay store for rlm1147 ....

On that page you'll see a "4 ft 45% Silver Solder Kit w/1.5 Oz Flux CHEAP". That looks like a great deal, I paid about $30 from a welding shop some yrs ago for about the same thing.

basically:
1.Get the parts ready, dry fit them to make sure they fit together
2. Lightly sand the metal to be sure it's clean
3. Heat up the parts individually first to burn off any oils on the surface
4.after they cool back down, get them ready to fit together but apply a VERY small amount of flux to the joints where you want them to join ... the flux is a bit awkward since it is kind of a crumbly hard paste but as long as you get a small amount inside the joined areas you'll be OK (did I say a SMALL amount enough...???)
5. have the parts somehow suspended to where you will be able to apply the silver solder when heating, like clamped in a vice with about 2 or 3" of cable exposed. You need to get the joint HOT (red) and if you have the area being heat-sinked by the vice jaws it will prevent you from getting the work red hot.

You'll want to practice on somethng similar first just to get a feel for it but it is similar to using a standard low temp solder on copper pipe, only
more heat and more precision.

6. heat up the cable end and have your solder just at the edge flame to get it warm, when the work begins to get red you can lightly touch the area you want to apply the solder and it will melt into the joint area and flow where you placed flux. You will only have to solder one side since enough solder will flow and spread by itself. The solder is very strong (much stronger than you'll need in this application) and even if you don't get a full 360 degree flow around the joint it will still be 1000% stronger than you'll need.

Basically you're done, after it cools you may need to take a fine file and clean up the area to make a perfect fit and smooth rotation in the brake line but that's all there is to it.
Once you get the hang of using Silver solder you'll find many other uses I'm sure... I use it to make or fix bandsaw blades. A very small amount of solder can hold a bandsaw blade thats under some serious tension and forces.

CNI Dawg

What a great idea!

The link is broken. Do you have another?

Thanks
Bill K (newbie)

99Hawk

Yep, The original site ( http://vtr-tool.atspace.com/ ) is down for a few days but in the meantime you can go here:

http://www.3457.com/VTRmix/