solder copper onto chrome pliers

Grind the chrome plate off before you solder.

I'd tin the pliers and the plug separately with silver solder then flux, position and solder the plug in place.

And use plain old lead-tin solder, or silver solder. Fancy-schmancy aluminum solder is overkill, if it works on steel at all. Copper is probably the easiest stuff in the world to solder to, and clean steel isn't too far behind. Just make sure everything is clean enough, use acid flux, and get everything hot enough (but not too hot) and you'll be fine.

What size holes?and what thickness? balsa sheet? As simple punch and die work should be the way to go. The leather punch with variable size punches in a rotating head is one possibility, tho I gess you want to make your own. Normally the action of a punch and die are parrel to each other, whereas a plier mod is rotating the punch and die around an arc. Not suitable for anything thicker than a 1/16th in firm materials. Also copper is too soft for a punch. Usually, the punch is half hard nd the die is hard. for this kind of work. So can you use say a broken off drill shank as the punch and some 1/4in thick gauge plate as the die. you dont need to solder if you have access to a lathe where you can turn up a shoulder on both parts and interference fit them into the plier jaws. Als it depends on how deep in from the edge of the balsa you need the holes, Roper whitney make some super hand punch tools with variable interchangable punch and die tips. Ive a couple of the mhere. there used in sheet ali aircraft work. One possibility is to modify a clamp . this has the parrel action between the threaded bit and the fixed part of the "C" shape. How many holes? anyway a few or hundreds? A last possibility is to use a simple wad pnch, this is used to cut holes in leather and has a sharp edge with a hole up the middle. You use it on a piece of end grain wood and tap it with a hammer. you could make this out of a piece of rod with ahole drilled up the middle.

The chrome would need to be filed off the jaws (Chrome's pretty hard ) off the pliers first I would imagine. Which would probably help anyway because you'll need some offset so that they close squarely when the copper die is in place. Can you dismantle the pliers and drill a socket for the copper fitting to sit in before soldering? (Cheap Chinese Channel lock pliers might be the best type to use for this job.)

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

OK. I thought about this some more. (Doesn't mean I thought any better however) Buy Channel Lock pliers from the $2 shop ( also known as waterpump pliers in some parts of the world) Dismantle them, put 1 half in a vice. Drill all the way through the jaw with a bit slightly smaller than the OD of the tube (Maybe use steel brake tube instead it'll stand up better) Press in the tube,. solder, reassemble.Yada Yada Yada

Now when you punch the balsa the plug will travel up the tube and eventually works it's way out the top so you won't have to keep cleaning the punch between holes

I know, I know. I shouldn't drink and post.

Are you also coming to the realization that you shouldn't use google to post to post to post to post to post to post?

Friends don't let friends google-post and drink?

One problem I see with this plan is that channel lock pliers pivot so it is going to be difficult to get the arc correct on your Punch aligns with your die and the die would have to be curved also.

An other idea would be to get several bars of steel and bolt them together la my poor attempt at usenet art suggests below:

___________________________ |_________| |________________| (A) _________ ____________|____| (B) |_________| |________________| (C) ^ ^ (hole) (bolt here)

Now you could slip your sheet of balsa in the slot between bar (A) and bar (C), and align it so the desired hole is centered under the hole then insert your punch into the hole and give it a tap so the punch penetrates the balsa.

This would be easy and if you make it rigid enough you should not have much trouble with the punch hitting the die.

It might be advisable to drill and ream a couple of holes where you can insert dowel pins to keep the holes properly aligned. The thickness of (B) can change depending on how thick the sheet of balsa is.

Friends don't let friends use Google-Groups!

I know, sorry. A glitch, I kept getting the message that the the post had errored and please try again. I almost died when I saw it had posted 12 times. I attempted to delete the post from here but I guess people would still have it turn up in their feeds. Sorry again. Just not my week it seems

You should not m*******te while posting.