Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

None of the Empire engines are silver soldered.

I think you need to remove as much of the old solder as possible.

Here is a good video on removing excess solder:

Good Morning from Brooklyn...

  Charles, Thanks for the video.  It was as I expected, melt off
the globs, wipe off as much as you can, and then remove the
rest with careful use of the dremel.  I especially liked the
hi-speed video...or are you secretly Barry Allen?

  My friend, a 35year studio tech mentioned a trick for removing
excess solder.  He takes some of the woven shielding 'matting'
from a shielded cable and uses that to 'wick' up the melted
solder.  One method among several.

  I liked how you ended with soldering the bushing back in place.
Not so scary as I thought.  I was concerned that the burner, like
the one I have, might burn thru the thin copper or brass.  It
seems a light touch (and good prep) is enough to do it.

  So, my friend is coming over next week and I'll watch and learn.
The trickiest part might be to get the bushing to sit still as
the hole is not 'depressed' and the bushing rocks from side-to-side.
Low production value.

  Finally, there may be a problem at the other end.  There appears
to be a small blob of solder hanging from the bottom of the cap rim.
Might be more to fix.

  Today, I need to run an engine that will cooperate 100%. Not an
electric.  Perhaps the...Hmmm, we'll see.

Wayne

  Hmmm.  Steel wool.  Good idea.  Does burn pretty well, though.
We tie it on a rope, light it up, and then swing it around for
kicks and giggles on July 4th.     

  So, I did a steamup of a Weeden #38 and put it on You Tube
titled...   Weeden #38 Steam Engine

  This might get you there, too...

  A good steamup helps to put your steaming problems in the
rear-view mirror. 

Wayne

The Weeden is a fine runner Wayne, looking forward to your repairs on your other project.

Nice job fixing the bushing Wayne.

When I install a new bushing, I flux and then wrap thin jewelry solder around the bush.  Then I press it in the hole and apply indirect heat (I also put wet rags over the rest of the boiler).  Once the solder starts to bubble, I give a quick direct flame on the bush and that usually does the trick.