Lead body filler?

[Leadfoot281]

I'm working on my 3 wheeler restoration and finally have it down to the frame. One of the things that surprised me the most was the horrible factory welds. Also there are also a number of seams that allow water access into the frame tubes itself.

Before I send the frame out for media blasting/ powder coat, I would like to clean these welds up and fill in some of these gaps. Would using lead be good for this?

I am actually pretty good with a torch and have done a lot of brazing in my time. Is lead body filler very difficult to use? Normally I'd just weld this thing up but the tubes are pretty thin and I'd probably destroy it. I don't want to use bondo either.

Eastwood has a Lead body kit for $200. http://www.eastwood.com/autobody/leading-body-solder/ew-body-solder-kit-deluxe-with-dvd.html Any opinions on this?

[Rocknthehawk]

Lead is VERY difficult to work with.....I wouldn't recommend it. With the advancements of body fillers over the past decade or two, I would have no concerns using it.

There are a few different fillers called "all metal" or "metal 2 metal" that may work for your application. Talk to your powdercoater about what will/will not take the coating.

[fastblackmerc]

Lead is VERY difficult to work with.....I wouldn't recommend it. With the advancements of body fillers over the past decade or two, I would have no concerns using it.

There are a few different fillers called "all metal" or "metal 2 metal" that may work for your application. Talk to your powdercoater about what will/will not take the coating.

+1..

Lead is very hard to do also need some specialized tools, etc.

[Leadfoot281]

Interesting. What exactly makes this stuff so difficult to use? I know it can't be sanded like bondo but beyond that it just looks like glorified brazing/soldering.

This kit is $200 and that's not much more than having a good welder clean this frame up. As a bonus I'd actually learn something in the process. That's why I'm still really leaning towards giving it a try.

[TAKEDOWN]

I say... Go for the oL'sKo0L ways!

[ImpalaSlayer]

how is the project coming other wise? progress pics?

[Rocknthehawk]

if you're worried about the thickness of the tubes and welding, using lead isn't going to help much either. It requres a lot of torch work. It is very similar to brazing, just more difficult to work with.

I wouldn't do it, but it's your call. If you're comfortable giving it a try on you frame, go for it.

[Leadfoot281]

how is the project coming other wise? progress pics?

Well, I'd say good and bad.

I'm still having trouble seperating the rear drum from the axle. I mixed up some home made rust dissolver tonight and I'll see if that helps. If that doesn't work I'll have to get the "big red wrench" out. :flamer:

Beyond that, it's completely stripped down to frame. Everything nut, bolt, screw and washer has been bagged and tagged. Everything is ready for blasting and powder coat. I'd normally do the blasting myself but my air compressor won't run my sand blaster at full pressure.

The cylinder looks good and should only require a small over bore to clean up. The front drive sprocket is supposed to have 11 teeth. Mine has 8.341 teeth. Lol! Not good. Also not good is the fact I have to split the case to remove the f'n thing. :mad:

I'm still looking for front forks, seat foam, and decal set. Some guy in Wales (yeah, Wales!) has NOS forks but don't know what he needs for them yet. I'm a member of every three wheel forum in existance and no one has one. Go figure...:confused: I've stopped looking on the 'net and have begun crawling through boneyards in my search. There are a lot of old timers that just don't do the whole e-bay thing.

The fuel tank was sent to a company in Pennsylvanis to re-pop the decals. They couldn't do it with "the best machines in the industry"... whatever... Honda did it 28 years ago and these guys can't?!

Time is an issue too. Turkey season is in full swing right now and I need to baby sit the farm to handle everything. To top it all off I have to keep the morel mushroom hunters (treaspassers) out of here to so I have to really patrol the place.

Here's a couple pics of the progress and a couple shots of some of my braze welded copper work. The "Copper chopper" as I call it, was made from bits and peices of copper tubes, elbows and hardware. I'm pretty sure I can handle a torch. Lol!

[thathotrodlincn]

Regarding your question concerning why lead is diffucult to work; first it is toxic, you need to use protection if you are exposed to lead, lead has an extremely narrow "plastic" range, that is it goes from solid to liquid quite fast and will run like water; special tooling and techniques are needed, lead pot, lead paddles for shaping, bees wax for the paddles, rosebud tourch tip, etc. Lead was the standard filler into the early '60s. It can be done, but it takes practice. lots of practice. Best of luck on your endeavor.

[LeoVampire]

if you want to use metal instead of fillers just do the oxy-act work and braise metal on the joints then grind it and shape it all till you get the smooth look you want.

a lot less hasle than the lead work and less toxic as well. Plus lead is soft where as the braise will be a much harder metal to work with and take more punishment.

[ImpalaSlayer]

if you want to use metal instead of fillers just do the oxy-atc work and braise metal on the joints then grind it and shape it all till you get the smooth look you want.

a lot less hasle than the lead work and less toxic as well. Plus lead is soft where as the braise will be a much harder metal to work with and take more punishment.

or use the oxy/act to weld it up

[Bobmiddle]

Talk to the powdercoater I am pretty sure lead will melt away when they bake it in the oven.

[thathotrodlincn]

Pure lead melts @ 621.5 deg F. I think powder coating is heated to a much lower temperature than that. Lead body filler is much closer to pure lead than 50:50 lead solder that has a melting temperature of 361 to 376 deg F.

[Leadfoot281]

Pure lead melts @ 621.5 deg F. I think powder coating is heated to a much lower temperature than that. Lead body filler is much closer to pure lead than 50:50 lead solder that has a melting temperature of 361 to 376 deg F.


Problem solved....sort of. The powder coaters use 400 degrees and the 30/70 (30 tin/70 lead) body solder melts at 361. I guess I can rule that out although I'd still like to give it a shot one day.

Thanks for the info guys. :beer: