Was having trouble in my 1949's T/C unit, so thought an overhaul was in order. Opened up the unit and found some bad o-rings, but also an old, brittle, cracked fluid filter. After looking how it went together, I got the propane torch out and released the two steel rings at each end.
Then I cleaned up the rings and cut a piece of bronze wire mesh (same stuff I've used to make gasoline filters in my sediment bowls).
There's about a 1/4" to 3/8" overlap in the mesh. The steel rings were reapplied, holding the ends of the mesh, but I needed a wire loosely wrapped around the center portion to keep it in place while soldering.
I used a propane torch at first with acid flux core solder:
But then switched to a Weller soldering gun with a flat soldering tip. The propane torch was too hot making the solder blotchy. The Weller flat tip was a big help smoothing it out.
Then installed.
The filter was about 1/32" too long, so it bent up the mesh a little to get it in, but think that'll keep hydraulic fluid going through the mesh instead of around the end of the filter. :wink:
EDITED April 30, 2013: ADDED WIRE REINFORCING MESH:
Added some galvanized hardware cloth (1/4" squares). Wire wheeled it down to just slightly shorter than the filter's overall length (6-7/16").
Then, wrapped it, rolled it and soldered it in place.
Finished result.
Can you tell which part has been repaired? :lol:
Fired it up and it works just fine (forgot to paint my hydraulic lines and pump,oops).
Then I cleaned up the rings and cut a piece of bronze wire mesh (same stuff I've used to make gasoline filters in my sediment bowls).
There's about a 1/4" to 3/8" overlap in the mesh. The steel rings were reapplied, holding the ends of the mesh, but I needed a wire loosely wrapped around the center portion to keep it in place while soldering.
I used a propane torch at first with acid flux core solder:
But then switched to a Weller soldering gun with a flat soldering tip. The propane torch was too hot making the solder blotchy. The Weller flat tip was a big help smoothing it out.
Then installed.
The filter was about 1/32" too long, so it bent up the mesh a little to get it in, but think that'll keep hydraulic fluid going through the mesh instead of around the end of the filter. :wink:
EDITED April 30, 2013: ADDED WIRE REINFORCING MESH:
Added some galvanized hardware cloth (1/4" squares). Wire wheeled it down to just slightly shorter than the filter's overall length (6-7/16").
Then, wrapped it, rolled it and soldered it in place.
Finished result.
Can you tell which part has been repaired? :lol:
Fired it up and it works just fine (forgot to paint my hydraulic lines and pump,oops).