tank soldering fixture

roddie Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:28 pm

Here's a simple little tool I made last night, as a "third hand" for helping to solder end-caps to a fuel tank body. Metal C-clamps or vise-jaws sink heat away from your work.. and make it difficult; if not impossible to get solder to flow. This fixture was made from a piece of maple; 1/4" thick x 1.5" wide x 6" long.. ripped down the center into 2 pcs. I took two 4" long 10-32 machine screws, two #10 flat washers, two 10-32 T-nuts and 5 minutes of time to make this. Drill one rail about 1/2" in from the ends on-center with clearance-holes for the T-nuts.. and the other rail with clearance-holes for the machine screws. This fixture will accommodate a tank up to over 3-3/4" long. Threaded rod and wing-nuts could be used if you need more clamping length.

tank soldering fixture Tank_s10

Making your own hard-tank can be fun and rewarding. Having the right tools on hand is everything.

**Cribbs74** Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:34 pm

I like it!

Good idea Roddie. I would probably use wing nuts though.

roddie Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:49 pm

Cribbs74 wrote:I like it!

Good idea Roddie. I would probably use wing nuts though.

Yes.. if you're using threaded-rod, you'd need to. Keep in mind though; that your parts only need to be "snugged" if they're fitted correctly beforehand. I used a screwdriver on the machine screws; only to initially "set" the T-nuts in the maple rails. Holding the tank, merely requires twisting the screws tight by hand... because the spread of the rails provides "spring" leverage when the tank is centered in the fixture.

sdjjadk Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:42 pm

That fixture is a neat idea! Thanks for sharing. Thumbs Up

I've made a few tanks in the past and a fixture like that would have definitely come in handy.

Shawn

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tank soldering fixture

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