Ideal Home Life - online book

A valuable and well-organized system for home education(homeschooling) 3 to 12 years.

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HOME HANDICRAFT                         327
steel needle to the top and bottom of the can. You might get pointers on soldering from your nearest tinsmith, but with a little practice you will soon become quite expert. You can buy flux or soldering fluid from a tinner's shop or an electri­cian's supply store, or, you can make it yourself by obtaining some muriatic acid and adding it to water, about ten parts water to one of acid; then put in some scraps of zinc until it will not dissolve any more. A glass jar with an open top is best to mix this in. After the zinc is dissolved you can keep it in a corked bottle.
Apply this flux with a small brush to the parts you are about to solder. Get a good soldering iron and heat it almost red hot, then tin it,—that is done by rubbing it on a board sprinkled with a little sand. Apply a little flux to the iron, then melt some solder on it. When it holds solder on the four sides of the point, it is in good working condition. Now apply the flux on the tin in the place to be soldered; that is, put a small layer of solder so that it lays flat on, completely covering the parts to be soldered; then heat your iron again, get a drop of solder on the end and apply the iron to the place to be soldered. If you fail at first, try it again until you get a good tight joint. After soldering the steel needle to the top and bot­tom of the can, make a little tube about l/8 of an inch in diam­eter of tin by hammering it over a nail and soldering the joint. Also solder up one end tight. Make two of these, then punch a small hole near the soldered end of each one about as big as a pin head. Now punch two holes about .1/2 inch from the top of the can big enough to receive your small tin tubes. Place them in the holes and solder. Be sure and face the hole out of which the steam escapes, as shown in part of drawing marked A.
Fasten a small 1/4-inch block on the base with a small hole bored part way through to act as a bearing for the lower end of the rod when in position, as shown at B. Also bore a small hole to receive needle at C. A hole about 1/2 inch in diameter is cut in the top to put water in the can. This can be tightly corked when the engine is in operation. Get two old ink bottles of the same size; partly fill with wood alcohol; put in
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