On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:10:24 -0700 (PDT), Matty F
wrote:

On Oct 17, 7:47 pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:36:18 -0700 (PDT), Matty F wrote:
... solder the bottom on with silver solder. They need to be oil-tight!

2mm sounds a bit thick for some thing quite small. Think I would use
thinner plate and fold the sides up so that you have a mechanicaly
stable box with minimal gaps at the corners then just solder the
seams.

A loose base and sides I can envisage being a nightmare to solder
unless you can hold all the bits in place and do it almost in one
hit. Even with folded loop sides and loose base might be fun.

I've not soldered brass before. Any suggestions?

Just like soldering copper. Not a problem.

The original is cast brass and is 3 to 4 mm thick:
http://i37.tinypic.com/23lftd2.jpg
No it's not a toilet cistern!
It has to withstand quite a lot of vibration and being kicked by heavy
boots.

I thought I would have the base and back in one piece and the other
three sides as another piece.


Soldering small brass boxes can be problematic in that the joint
you're working on ideally needs to be horizontal. Sooner or later
it'll be sod's law that there'll be an adjacent vertical soldered
joint - and before you know it all your solder will run out of it
unless you have a very good gas gun that delivers an accurate flame
and you're very quick with your hands.
I'd use a paste flux, such as La-Co, as it offers some slight cooling
over previously soldered joints and won't contaminate the joint you're
working on if it runs down.

If the box has to withstand a hefty kick I'd be inclined to silver
solder it - 2mm brass isn't going to give you enough surface area to
ensure the joints won't give way if one of the sides cops a whack
straight on.
You'll need to get the brass up to red heat, but as silver solder
doesn't flow as freely as soft solder you won't have quite so many
problems with unsoldering joints.
If you're canny you can use a couple of sticks of solder with
different melt points ( use high/low with adjacent joints ).
A small tub of JM tenacity No6 powdered flux will last you almost a
lifetime.

Regards,




--
Steve ( out in the sticks )
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