The Hammers Industries iMiniForge system

[carlos marighela]

Well I would have said it sounds like Serge Gainsbourg but I've never tried feeding my computer two packets of cigarettes a day and I'm not sure Jane Birkin would agree. Now if my laptop sounded like Françoiz Breut my wife would be justified in suspecting I was having an affair.

[Hammers]

Will you fellows take offence if I leave the topic of linguistic fezes and bicorns and talk about soldering again? No? Well then...



This is the 'raw' shape of a pick axe. It is basically a piece of thickish brass sheet. Roughly cut to shape with metal shears. A hole was drilled in the middle (0,8 mm). A length of 1,20mm brass rod was selected and the end filed to fit the hole where after they were soldered together.



The head was carefully filed to shape with various needle files and Dremel attachments. The files were the more useful items in this case, the Dremel is better for grinding  away amounts of brass and/or polishing. A narrow beak in one end and a broadish, flat edge in the other. The handle was filed to a more oval cross cut shape with a knobbish bottom end, just the way a real pickaxe handle looks.



For the spade a rectangular piece of sheet metal was cut out. A 1.20 mm rod of brass rod was bent to a slight kink at the end and the end ground filed to an narrow angle where the handle was to be soldered to the blade. Solder was melted onto the blade and clamped together with  the handle. An extra hands anvil is essential in this job since you basically need four hands to hold solder, iron, blade and handle all together.



The blade of the spade was filed to shape and the edges thinned just enough to look convincing.



Here are the items in the calloused hands of a couple of convicts.

Why did I go through all this trouble when the miniatures comes provided with cast glue on tools? Well, those flimsy things don't last very long neither on the game table nor (even less so) in storage. There may of course  be other reasons for doing so...

[Bugsda]

Excellent! Last time I tried soldering stuff it was 20 odd years ago and I burnt a hole in my hand, time to try again I think 

[D@rth J@ymZ]

That's a really cool idea! The conversions look very convincing.  I should consider the same use for soldering; I've only ever used it to wire up LEDs inside of minis.

[Hammers]

Excellent! Last time I tried soldering stuff it was 20 odd years ago and I burnt a hole in my hand, time to try again I think  

Maybe you should ask your mom to help.  

[Silent Invader]

Clever stuff hammers. 

In times gone by weren't some mini masters made out of wire and solder?

[Hammers]

Clever stuff hammers. 

In times gone by weren't some mini masters made out of wire and solder?

It's quite common for 54mm figs. It makes sense if they are, they will survive  the moulding process better.

[Hammers]

Just another quick and dirth of some other stuff I have done with solder and and brass.



Left to right:

Tea trolly and Stokes mortar ( a bit simplistic), theodolite for Egyptian dig conversion, horn for a Phonograph, pickaxe, boat hook, Cricket wicket, oil can.

EDIT: I admit, they are a bit old hat since I have posted them on LAF before (the theodolite I think not). I have never posted all of them together before.

[Silent Invader]

Nice collection 

That wicket deserves a Plynkes!

[OSHIROmodels]

Great stuff Hammers 

So many applications as well 

Have you used soft soldering for filling unsightly gaps between joints in figures, say for a crap fit between cavalry and it's mount?

In times gone by weren't some mini masters made out of wire and solder?

If I remember rightly, Tumbling Dice does his 20mm samurai in that fashion, as well as some other figures that he does 

cheers

James

[carlos marighela]

The theodolite and gramphone are beautiful pieces. I was an abject failure at metalwork. Whilst other 14 year olds were making scale models of the Forth Bridge and constructing altimeters and what not I was still attempting to fashion a dustpan out of sheet tin and solder. The handle fell off about five minutes after I finished it. 

Thanks for another fine tutorial, you should make casts of those pieces and flog them to us lesser beings. Then again, you may have overcooked things in terms of what is strictly required for commercial application, quality wise . I've noticed that a number of companies seem to turn a profit by allowing random blobs of solder to hit the workshop floor, then they package them and despatch them to a credulous market.

[dijit]

Clever stuff hammers. 

In times gone by weren't some mini masters made out of wire and solder?

I'm maybe a little dumb whe. It comes to these matters, but how on earth does one do that?

Great tutorial btw Hammers, I'll be digging out my soldering iron again. Last time I tried soldering it was two halves of a GW eagle and ended up ruining it.
Duncan

[Hammers]

I'm maybe a little dumb whe. It comes to these matters, but how on earth does one do that?

That was probably back in the day when any old vaguely bipedal blob of lead with a curvy thing on an appendage went for a Conan miniature.

[dijit]

That was probably back in the day when any old vaguely bipedal blob of lead with a curvy thing on an appendage went for a Conan miniature.

[Connectamabob]

Cool tutorial. I like to replace weapons a lot because the molded in ones always look too chunky to my eye. I mean, I know they have to work with the limits of the soft metal and all, but I still cringe at spear shafts that look like they're as big around as a Fosters can, and sword blades that are half as thick as they are wide. Haven't done a lot of brass work though.

I've made sword blades by lathing brass rod with a Dremel 'till the cross section matches the blade profile, then grinding it flat, and beveling with a needle file. Works quite well, but isn't easy.

I'm very interested in learning more about different soldering methods & materials. I don't know much about soldering. I learned to solder in a jewelry making class waaay back in the day, and the method was very different from the one I see used at lot in tutorials. I've been curious about this since every time I try to solder the "normal" way, it doesn't work, but the apparently unusual way I learned way back when does. I'm also not clear on the different types of flux, and which to use for what application.