Cleaning Copper
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:08 pm
After years of a cannon-submission drought, I finally finished one which I have been working on. No details other than its copper. It took me a while, but I finally got everything aligned correctly, through resoldering and bending. In doing this, I got droplets and smears of solder everywhere. To most people, it would still appear to be a clean solder job; however, to us obsessive compulsive wackos, I might as well have dumped the cannon in grease, rolled it in dirt, and smacked it with a big rock.
I would like to improve the aesthetics of this cannon before I post it. The two options are cleaning the copper or painting it. Painting it would be easy, but it would also take away from the potentially good looking copper. So if possible, I would like to end up with a shiny copper cannon.
The way I see it, there are a few steps:
1) Removing any large solder droplets by using a dremel tool.
2) Sanding down the copper
3) Polishing the copper
4) Protecting the copper, so it doesn't turn an ugly dirty brown in a few days.
Can anyone help me with this? Step 1 is pretty straightforward, so I doubt that I will need too much assistance. Possible topics include what grit sandpaper(s) to use (I thought I might finish the polishing with some fine steel wool), how to protect it (varnish?), how to go about protecting it (using a certain chemical protectant), etc. Any information you have on the subject would be appreciated.[/list]
I would like to improve the aesthetics of this cannon before I post it. The two options are cleaning the copper or painting it. Painting it would be easy, but it would also take away from the potentially good looking copper. So if possible, I would like to end up with a shiny copper cannon.
The way I see it, there are a few steps:
1) Removing any large solder droplets by using a dremel tool.
2) Sanding down the copper
3) Polishing the copper
4) Protecting the copper, so it doesn't turn an ugly dirty brown in a few days.
Can anyone help me with this? Step 1 is pretty straightforward, so I doubt that I will need too much assistance. Possible topics include what grit sandpaper(s) to use (I thought I might finish the polishing with some fine steel wool), how to protect it (varnish?), how to go about protecting it (using a certain chemical protectant), etc. Any information you have on the subject would be appreciated.[/list]