ELTO Ruddertwin Restoration

[chris-p]

Brook,

If I take a solder gun around the plates, can I get them off, and better yet, get them back on later!?

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

Might be able to with a torch….propane of course, with light, ever so gentle lifting from a spatula

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[brook-n]

quote Chris_P:

Brook,

If I take a solder gun around the plates, can I get them off, and better yet, get them back on later!?

Chris,
Admittedly soldering has never been a strong point for me. A good friend of mine has been soldiering for a living his entire life. He soldiers my tanks & tags back in place for me when needed. He seems to like the old school soldiering irons.

Respectfully

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

From what little I know, removal is a delicate thing, mostly to avoid bending the tag.
You then prep your tank and tag to be ready to put back on. Not knowing how much solder is actually used on those dern things makes it fun..lol
Getting it back on is done by getting a large chunk of metal, basically about the size of the tag…
Heat the chunk of metal to about 400 degrees, ( 370 degrees is the melting point of solder), prepping the tag so that you have solder there so that when the big "iron" is placed on the tag, it melts the solder even across the plate. Here is one thing that I think about…
You gotta get the tag hot enough so that when the solder melts, you can remove the iron and have enough time to maybe relocate the tag just a fuzz should it move when the iron is placed. This is got to be the tricky part…too hot you got possibility of ruining the tag, not hot enough, the solder wont melt…yada yada yada. Hopefully this helps.

This is how I placed the ID tag on my RBM, fortunately for me, it was not as big 🙂

Regards

Richard

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[Tubs]

With todays epoxies one might want to consider that option.
Would seem to make positioning the plates easier and greatly
reduce the chance for damage. Its my plan for reinstalling the
tag on a RBM tank.

A "Boat House Repair" is one that done without having tools or the skills to do it properly.

[wbeaton]

quote Tubs:

With todays epoxies one might want to consider that option.
Would seem to make positioning the plates easier and greatly
reduce the chance for damage. Its my plan for reinstalling a
tag on a RBM tank.

That’s what I would do. Heating a large spot on a newly nickel plated gas tank to the temperature required to melt solder may turn into a lesson in heartbreak. If you still want to solder then I’d suggest melting the solder on the tank first and then apply the tag and heat again. The old solder on the tag will quickly bond to the new tank solder. This way there is less risk of damage to the tag because it won’t have to get as hot.

Wayne
Upper Canada Chapter

uccaomci.com

[brook-n]

Yeah… I would most likely use epoxy if I were to do it myself. I have seen folks destroy tags not being able to control the heat.

Respectfully

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

Makes one wonder how they did it 100 years ago, without epoxy… 🙂

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[chris-p]

I got the blue ID tag off easy enough with my solder gun. The 2 TOP Instruction panels are a whole other story! Seems like the solder they used back then is vastly superior to what we use today. I have a pretty hot gun, and it takes quite a bit to even get the seam solder from around the edge. OF course, the whole thing is soldered down solid. Ill try with the propane gun next.

[wbeaton]

It will be tough to do it with a soldering gun. I would think you’d have better success if you heat The entire tag with a torch to get the entire area hot. You can then work the edges with a soldering gun or iron. You could also try cutting a piece of plate steel the size of the tag. Direct the torch heat to the steel instead of directly on the tag. Then work the edges with a thin steel wedge or flat head screw driver. All that heat may warp the tank or desolder the seams so be careful. It will be even harder to solder the tag on once you’ve had the tank nickel plated.

On a side note, I took the serial plate off my Model C yesterday. It was held on with tiny nails. There didn’t appear to be any solder at all.

PS. It turns out that each nail had a tiny bit of solder, but they were mostly loose. That’s probably why they came out so easily.

Wayne
Upper Canada Chapter

uccaomci.com

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