At what temperature does solder melt?

[Buck]

I polished my holding tank on my Avanti and it is brass and I'm thinking about powder coating it but I am worried about all the solder joints melting. The oven gets to 600 degrees. Does anyone know for sure when solder will melt?

[Son O Lark]

[PackardV8]

I'm thinking about powder coating it but I am worried about all the solder joints melting. The oven gets to 600 degrees.

Did your shop give you the 600-degree figure? I've never seen anyone use more than 400 degrees and most are more like 300 degrees.

FWIW, most shops have several sizes of ovens. You might ask for your tank to be done at lower temp in a smaller oven.

jack vines

[studegary]

I wouldn't powder coat it, but if you are set on this, ask them to not heat the tank over 350 F.

[jnormanh]

If your brass tank was soldered a number of years ago, it was almost certainly done with the eutectic (63% tin, 37% lead) alloy which is what was universally used for plumbing, radiators and the like. That alloy melts @ 361F, and by 300F has lost much of it's strength.

If done in the past few years, it may well have been done with one of the lead free solders, most of which melt around 430F, and don't have much strength @350F.

Most of the common powder coats will see curing temperatures approaching 360F.

Bottom line: It'll likely come apart if you have it powder coated.

Paint it with a good urethane catalyzed car paint.

[3rdGenStude]

That makes me curious. I just rebuilt the wire that goes from the coil to the distributor. I used electronics solder to connect a plug-on connector to the wire which connects to the points. How hot does it get inside a distributor? Hot enough to melt really mild solder?

Paul

[starliner62]

I've done a lot of powdercoating over the last couple of years and unless you are getting the tank coated with high temp powder, you probably won't like it. In all of my experimentation, i have learned that powdercoat doed not like surfaced that stay hot for extended lengths of time, nor does it like having hot antifreeze sprayed on it . I did a bunch of engine brackets in the Chrome/Clear powder and the coolant made it look nasty. How was I to know that the car had a radiator leak that sprayed hot stuff all over my pretty work?????

I do most of my powdercoating at 350-400 degrees

[kmac530]

Yeah I agree with most of the input here...it is a bit TOO close in temps to the melt points of most solders. Just clearcoat it and leave the brass look. The powder clears are not impressive to me. In SC you may be able to get an Imron paint that is almost as tuff as powdercoat. Imron is what painted boats and Jet Skis with back in the 80s and 90s but they banned it in CA. Last I heard it was still available in many states....just not mine. We are fortunate to be able to get pool chlorine here or nail polish remover {which even that is going greener here in CA}

[jnormanh]

That makes me curious. I just rebuilt the wire that goes from the coil to the distributor. I used electronics solder to connect a plug-on connector to the wire which connects to the points. How hot does it get inside a distributor? Hot enough to melt really mild solder?

Paul

Your distributor contains PVC insulated wire, a plastic cap, plastic bodied points, all of which will melt long before the solder melts. Do not worry.

[tbirdtbird]

do they still allow water in CA ?

[kmac530]

Only in bottles tbird, filtered and purified. Probably filtered in another state so we don't get any waste products here....

[clonelark]

I don't know how you Californians can afford to live there, with so many regulations and high fuel cost. Guess we're just cheap Okies. My cousin up by Lake Isabella keeps telling me how much it cost to build his new house and all the stuff he is regulated by.