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Any tips on fine-tuning my approach to removing larger solder joints (think tenon/bell/bows)?

I am trying not to burn lacquer, and it's not a big deal if I do as I'm working on mostly junk parts, but I am thinking that maybe I need to be a little more gung-ho with my heat.

Once the parts are het up enough, does it typically take a bit more force than you'd think to remove them?

Trying to unsolder a King 1240 bell tenon, for example: I saw some solder start to run, pulled, but no give. Maybe it wasn't unsoldered all the way around?

The lacquer was "pinkish" but not brown, and I was afraid to heat it up any more.

Thanks for any advice. Teaching myself and making lots of mistakes along the way!

For me, I have to use a propane torch (like for plumbing) to keep it hot enough all the way around to be able to remove bigger pieces. I've been able to get them apart with some wiggling and tugging. I usually enlist the help of my wife to hold one part while I work on the one I'm removing.

I always try and strip the lacquer before torching. I've burned it before, thinking I could disassemble it without stripping first, but to no avail. Good luck!

Thanks! I am using a propane torch. I have a couple of small tips that I have been using for smaller work, but sounds like I need to use a bigger tip for this. But eventually I'll probably need to get a butane something-or-other because I feel like I am heating up too much of my work when I am doing smaller stuff.

For the bigger joints, I might need to enlist my wife's help and a pair of oven mitts...

If anyone wants this King bell tenon when I have it pulled off, it will be for sale.

On the larger joints, say, bell stack to ferrule or large bow to ferrule, tech friend of mine, once the solder flows out of the joint, inserts business cards in the joint to keep the solder from re-joining the piece to the ferrule.

It’s always just me, but if you want to pull a bottom bow with the minimal amount of lacquer browning or burning, do you need four people with hot torches, and one guy with gloves and tennis shoes holding the edges of the bell down with tennis shoes and wiggling the bottom bow with their gloved hands.

bloke wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 1:49 pm It’s always just me, but if you want to pull a bottom bow with the minimal amount of lacquer browning or burning, do you need four people with hot torches, and one guy with gloves and tennis shoes holding the edges of the bell down with tennis shoes and wiggling the bottom bow with their gloved hands.

I took a piece of wood (2x.75 x12 long) and cut a dado on the long end just thick enough to go over the bell rim (height and width on bell rim). Then cross cut pieces into 2x.75x.75.

Put tuba bell down on wood surface. Put little wood pieces so dado is over bell rim and screw (pre drill) the pieces to said wood surface. Than holds tuba bell down in place while you heat and wiggle bottom bow.

Same set up allowed me to pull up on bottom bow of tuba that had seriously accordioned bell to get things straightened for the most part.

I'm pretty lazy, and - a large percentage of the time - try to devise ways to remove body dents without removing bottom bows.

They've taken away all paint strippers that actually work, so I can't do what I did in the past (which was to strip lacquer around those two solder joints prior to heating them - when I had no choice other than pulling a bottom bow.

It might actually come off faster (less lacquer-burning) by first removing the bell, which is easier on the bell-to-top-bow brace as well as easier the mouthpipe tube. This allows for heating one large joint at a time.

bloke "I don't like pulling Miraphone rotary tuba bottom bows. They fit tight, and feature extra braces. Y'all be more careful, ya hear?"

I may strip the lacquer. It's the infamous Eastlake Orange, so it may not go down without a fight.