Carrs' Solder Stripper

[Paul Willis]

Does anyone know what happened to this?

It featured in MRJ 11, doing nasty things to steel gears and axles, but also quite effectively removing solder from brass parts. It was apparently a strong liquid like Carr's Acidip but even more so - up on the scale of things with cheap calvados and any alcohol produced in a former Soviet state.

Looking on the Carrs (C&L) website now, it seems unavailable.

I have a friend's etched brass kit, or the parts thereof, which is somewhat the worse for wear having been exposed to Powerflow flux and some dodgy soldering. Whilst the worst of the crud has come off with Acidip and several runs in the ultrasonic tank, the solder is in a thin film over much of it.

I could burnish it off with a fibreglass brush, but it will be difficult in some crevices. Also I don't want to apply heat to melt it all off as many parts of the model are correctly soldered together.

So does anyone have a suggestion for this, or a similar product?

Cheers
Flymo

[John McAleely]

I have a friend's etched brass kit, or the parts thereof, which is somewhat the worse for wear having been exposed to Powerflow flux and some dodgy soldering.

I have a suspicion that is this: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1295 (or rather the dismantled remains thereof). If I'm right, thanks Flymo!

I'm looking forward to re-exposing it to my dodgy soldering

[Paul Willis]

I have a friend's etched brass kit, or the parts thereof, which is somewhat the worse for wear having been exposed to Powerflow flux and some dodgy soldering.

I have a suspicion that is this: http://scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1295 (or rather the dismantled remains thereof). If I'm right, thanks Flymo!

I'm looking forward to re-exposing it to my dodgy soldering

Hi John,

Yes, you're correct - I was trying to keep your name out of the newspapers

It's already come up very nicely, and I'd just like to get some of the solder out of the more inaccessible places...

As for your soldering, it's come on in leaps and bounds since you first did this - you should be very pleased with it! It just shows what jumping in at the deep end can do, with a bit of advice and a lot of practice.

Flymo

[Jol Wilkinson]

Paul,

I once found that the Solder Stripper would not only remove excess solder, it could also dismantle soldered joints. It wasn't very selective in its action.

As solder takes paint better than brass, why not use a liquid flux and spread the excess into a thin film where possible. It can then be more easily removed with a fibreglass brush or simply left.

Jol

[Paul Willis]

I have a friend's etched brass kit, or the parts thereof, which is somewhat the worse for wear having been exposed to Powerflow flux and some dodgy soldering.

I have a suspicion that is this: http://scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1295 (or rather the dismantled remains thereof). If I'm right, thanks Flymo!

I'm looking forward to re-exposing it to my dodgy soldering

Here you are then John...

No Solder Stripper involved, just some Acidip to remove the last traces of flux, several turns in the ultrasonic bath, a bit of filing and burnishing, further trips through the bath and it's ready for a rebuild

Clean 001.jpg

I'm afraid that the ultrasonic bath also did a good job at vibrating off the more weakly soldered bits, but I think that I have captured all the loose bits!

I'll bring it along to the next CHEAG meeting...
Cheers
Flymo

[John McAleely]

No Solder Stripper involved, just some Acidip to remove the last traces of flux, several turns in the ultrasonic bath, a bit of filing and burnishing, further trips through the bath and it's ready for a rebuild

That looks great - thank you. This time I should be able to get the sole bars the correct distance apart, and the whole thing rectangular

[Paul Willis]

No Solder Stripper involved, just some Acidip to remove the last traces of flux, several turns in the ultrasonic bath, a bit of filing and burnishing, further trips through the bath and it's ready for a rebuild

That looks great - thank you. This time I should be able to get the sole bars the correct distance apart, and the whole thing rectangular

And to return to this thread, yesterday John brought his rebuilt wagon along to the CHEAG workshop. The photos show that he has made a pretty impressive job from the collection of salvaged parts that I gave back to him...

CHEAG Workshop Jan 12 002.jpg

CHEAG Workshop Jan 12 003.jpg

It's fantastic to see what change can happen in someone's modelling skills in twelve months

Flymo

[John McAleely]

Thank you Paul! I've made more progress today, and the wagon now rolls

[decauville1126]

I too have been wondering just what it was based on.

I even asked Hubert Carr about this a year or so ago but he explained he didn't know what it was formulated from as he simply acquired it from a manufacturer and rebottled it for modellers in smaller quantities.

The best info I managed to find was that it was possibly nitric acid based but no idea of percentages.

I've found it very useful but am now coming to the end of my last bottle. Not only will it eat solder but a brass assembly virtually disappeared after prolonged immersion. And anything steel causes much fizzing and eating!

[Albert Hall]

I do not recall ever selling this product in the four years I have been at C&L. We have safety data sheets for all the chemicals we currently use but I can find no reference as to the composition of solder stripper.

As the Company moved on from being a one man band to one with an employee base we had to take Health and Safety at Work on board and in particular the requirements of COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health). It is fair to say that a few of the substances which may have been sold in the past had such onerous levels of control requirements during the manufacturing process that we stopped producing them. Plastic Weld was one in particular which has not been available for several years. While it was 'safe' to use if the instructions on the bottle were followed (e.g. adequate ventilation) there was considerable risk involved in the bulk storage, handling and bottling process.

Roy