Not So Much a Box as a Kettle

Having made two halves using the die I showed in the last post, the next job is to solder them together to make a box. I cut out a thin strip to go around the outside of the box plan shape to form the wall between top and bottom and then soldered the two halves to it.

In the photo above, you can see the bottom half of the box already soldered to the side wall. I hammered the central portion of this half flat to make a flat surface for the box to rest on. Once the strip was soldered in place, I trimmed off the excess of the copper plate (the part where the screws fixed the plate to the die) and started the process of soldering the bottom and the wall to the top of the box to make a completely sealed box.

After soldering I quench the box in water. This also lets me check to see if there are any gaps in the soldering. If there is water in the box after quenching, I've got a hole. Finding the hole (it's often very small) or holes, is a matter of heating the box up again with the water still inside. The effect is like an old style whistling kettle. As the water evaporates, steam comes whistling out of the hole.

This box is proving to be riddled with holes around the top edge of the wall. Third time trying to plug them, I hoping next time will get them all.

The following photograph is of the box end on so you can see the different profiles of top and bottom.