Leading loading questions and any tips?

[rcx132]

Was just going to use solder for some pin holes but now as I've bought the paste and solder I'm thinking, bah, lets have a go at doing the whole car.

Some questions and if you have any tips please share:

- I haven't got a paddle yet, is there any particular type or shape I need? It's to do a few dings around the car (one example in photo), the rust pitted sills and next to my tail door hinges.
- Someone on here said they recycle the solder. How do you catch it?
- Which torch should I use? I have a generic plumbers propane torch and a small oxy-MAP torch as shown, would either be suitable?
- The photo shows my sills + arch, when I removed the steel bracket that holds the plastic trim and extended mud guards I found a load of rust but it hasn't gone through, just deeply pitted. I'm guessing I need clean white metal to solder, so media blast first?
- And how to I get to a smooth paintable finish without using poly filler? Maybe several layers of epoxy primer and then sand back? Or is the lead just for deep dings and poly filler the rest?
- And talking of sanding, is a regular P3 dust mask enough, or is it filing only (no sanding of the solder)?
- How are you finding the imperfections in the metal to fill them, will that black powder (forget what it's called) work on bare metal? I'm used to priming, applying black powder then using a long block to find where to poly fill.
- One of the photos shows the hinge mounts for the rear door. The cable that stopped the door opening too far broke causing it to open too far and bent the re-enforcement inside the cavity. I've bent it all back as far as I can but it's left a recess. Is it safe to use lead this close to a stressed hinge where things might flex?

I appreciate that's a lot of questions, thank you in advance for helping!

 

[frank horton]

lot of work to lead up....apart from the fumes......
best thing is a small hand held sand blaster to get everything clean and just use normal bog and a decent primer.....

 

[gaz1]

you can lead ok with a normal mask as your only melting it to solder it to the surface

yes you can do it with a normal propane blow lamp and also a vortex blowlamp object of the warming is to get it heated enough so the solder sticks to it or lead solder

its an art in its own right

i will point you to these

 

[500e]

Solder is better used for letting in a joint think the stand up side lights on a 2.4 Jag & such like, quarter pillars screen pillars where they join bulkhead & to blend in or fill lap joints.
Rust will be held back slightly longer BUT.
The dents want removing if you are going to try & bodge with lead use a simpler cheaper material, if you want to learn how to lead load get an old wing & have a practice.
You can get into all sorts of grief & with the tinning can come distortion distortion.
Have not done any for 10 years we made our own blocks to push lead about, it is very satisfying after tinning to glue bits of solder on then spread them with heat & block, don't forget the tallow for the blocks.
Don't sand the lead the paper will leave grit embedded in the lead use a "body file", when lead was extensively used coach paint (oil based) or cellulose was the norm.
It is not to hard but you want practice especially on vertical panels, best of luck
Modern filler cheaper by a big factor & faster

 

[piman]

Hello RCX132,

even after lead filling, you may need a small skim of plastic filler, to get a perfect finish, a small skim being the oprative word
To me the best thing of lead filing is that as it needs a completely clean base then there is no chance of any dormant rust re appearing which there can be if filling just with plastic filler.

Alec

 

[rcx132]

Thanks. That first video is done by an amateur that looks like he's only done it a few times before and he's got a decent result, just makes it look easy.

That Eastwood video is the only one that raises an important point about flux needing to be neutralised. A chemist friend once warned me about this but this is the first time I've seen mention of it, chloride ions have some sort of affinity to metal that cause a continious rust reaction, if you've ever rerusted with Hydrochloric you see this happening, the rust just doesn't stop.

 

[8ob]

I had a guy restore the bodywork on a pickup(UTE) , he lead loaded all the repairs. he also took the time to show me the very basics. Obviously the area needs tinning before you start but the lead loading in position was a balance of applied heat and wiping of the lead. Too hot and its on the floor, too cold and you are wiping hot lead over a cold panel. All he used was thick cardboard which he shaped the repair with. I would suggest for practice playing about on a dented piece of scrap held vertically in a vice.

Bob

 

[500e]

That's how I learnt @8ob scraped up a fair bit before I got that balance, interesting the cardboard, our Wallace had some wood tools that were donkeys old
The neutralizing of the flux is a good point, tallow is another point to remember.
As 8ob says "Too hot and its on the floor, too cold and you are wiping hot lead over a cold panel"
Its a bit like lead burning / alloy welding now its their now its gone + the distortion.
As you have the kit practice on something you don't want to be a thing of beauty & a joy forever, it is a skill you will feel proud of mastering

 

[graffian]

I tried it 40 years ago and got nowhere really fast, well I put half a bar of body lead[Brown Brothers body solder] on the floor.

I saw a bit of an american hotrod programme, the bloke was lead loading.
So I had seen it and could now do it, yes I can.
I didn't know about tinning first, when I had tried to do it.

I had no problem tinning a mudguard, 75:25 solder, laco plumbers flux and a bit of old T shirt.
I was filling the hammer marks on welded repairs and filling some very deep rust pitting. The
guard had been acid cleaned prior to lead filling.

I put some lead on and pushed it about with a paddle made from oak.
Oak was no good the grain swelled and shrunk, I couldn't get a smooth surface on the lead with it.
I made another paddle from a bit of an old armchair[I am told it's beech] it's good.

The tallow was suet boiled and poured though a coffee filter. I asked in a local butchers and they gave me the suet.

I looked up body solder and saw various mixtures, I tried 70:30, 75:25 & 80:20, I can't remember what I found best.
I was adding lead to 60:40 plumbers solder.
I did go to the trouble of panning the sweepings off the floor before I recast a lead stick, that's after filing the first repair down.
The next time I had to cast more lead I swept the dirt into the heating pot thing and melted the lead, the stones, earth, leaves
and bits of wood all floated on the lead, so I just scraped them off.

I finished the lead with a coarse body file. The body file leave a smooth surface, so I went over it lightly with a bit of
production paper to give the paint something to get a grip on.

I think it's a try it and see how you get on thing. The hard bit is keeping the lead buttery and not silvery stuff heading for the floor.

Oh yes the heat. I only had a blow lamp, so that's what I used.