March 18, 201115 yr Author How did you form the zinc? Your corners all look very nice The 16ga zinc sheet was water jet cut and rolled. Soldering the corners was a real bugger, they weren't a perfect fit which helps allot with soldering. I had to tack a number of places while cajoling the edges as close as I could. Then I soldered the heck out of the inside, then back to the outside to get the proper build up. I had a real tough time getting the zinc solder to flow, it turned into a black mess. Then I read the directions on the flux bottle.....duh, and bada bing.........:rolleyes:
March 18, 201115 yr The curved edge looks seamless, as if it were bent, beautiful! Do you have a shot of the underside? I would like to learn to solder, less intrusive than welding. How much does it weigh?
March 18, 201115 yr Author The curved edge looks seamless, as if it were bent, beautiful! Do you have a shot of the underside? I would like to learn to solder, less intrusive than welding. How much does it weigh?.............60lb +- When I said ''corner'' in the previous post that included the curve as well......No under shot.......It's possible to tig weld zinc but very tricky and I didn't want to take a chance on melting holes in the 16ga materiel ............$400 a sheet Soldering is an apple, welding is an orange........you can't compare one with the other..........mb
March 18, 201115 yr Can I assume that the zinc sheet, is just steel sheet that is zinc plated? or solid zinc?
March 18, 201115 yr Author Can I assume that the zinc sheet, is just steel sheet that is zinc plated? or solid zinc? Solid, .040.........The stuff is all the rage now for counter tops, back splashes and hoods.......Google ''zinc hoods'' and you'll see what I mean. rotometals.com of San Francisco was my supplier.........a good outfit......mb
March 22, 201115 yr Yea it is popular now. I recently started making tabletops out of it. Haven't tried soldering it yet tho, I just cut, wrap around a plywood base, and nail it down. You use a plumbers torch? What kind of solder and flux?
March 22, 201115 yr Author Yep, a plumbers torch, I tried an iron but it didn't cut it. It's not as easy as say lead to copper, but not too difficult. Roto metals has all the flux and solder. Don't do a bruce and forget to read the directions...:rolleyes:
March 22, 201115 yr Nice. The solder looks like a good match to the metal. That stuff must be soft, there's no warpage huh? I did a big hood this fall where the designer wanted the same type of corner, a nice curve that grows in two axis's. Lets just say it made me stronger.
March 22, 201115 yr Author The fit on this thing was anal. The the guy I made it for is an aerospace engineer at Lockeed Martin, talk about micro managment. He made a cardboard mock up of each piece and that got scaned to a disc, then cut out in 20ga sheet to see if it fit correctly. It was worth the effort cause it came together nice. There was a tiny bit of warpage at the seam, but I'm good with a da sander. He didn't see it... Mr over engineer also wanted a pre fabricated modular fan and filter unit mounted inside the hood. I tried to talk him out of that, cause a modular fan unit has the fan just above the stove, told him he wouldn't like the noise from the fan........He being WAY smarter than ME told me he checked out the decible levels in the specs and that was not an issue........I was right Fitting the modular fan unit to the hood was describable only in language that wouldn't be tolerated at nwba........... One nice thing .......when it was time to install he showed up at the shop??? He insisted on transporting and installing the thing all by himself ! Could'a knocked me over with a feather........Why can't all clients be so nice.........:wub:
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