Porting Tool

 

Porting Tool

A porting tool helps to determine what material thickness is needed when porting a piston instrument. This is made by silver soldering a small portion of drill rod onto a larger steel rod. 

The steel rod is faced in a bench motor then given a notch. This notch is made with a jewelers file and needs to be dead-center. 

This notch is where the drill rod will sit. It needs to be able to nestle in the slot with some room for silver solder. 

 

 

This is how I jigged up the rods for soldering.
I apply borax flux to where the solder joints will be and heat the area until it glows red. To evenly distribute the heat, I direct the flame towards the part with the most mass. Once glowing, I feed the silver solder.
 

 

 

This my results after silver-soldering for the first time. The top might have needed a little more solder to completely fill the void, but it is more of a cosmetic issue than functional.

After it was soldered, it was pickled in phosphoric acid for about 10 min to neutralize the flux and remove heat varnish. Then, it was scrubbed with Scotch-Brite.

 

 

Using a metal sander, the drill rod is shortened to a specified length.
Afterwards the soldered end is buffed with yellow compound to a mirror finish. This is done to reduce any scratching that may occur when using the tool on an instrument.

 

Lastly, vinyl tubing cut to length and fir to the rod. It will be used to measure the material thickness needed.