Investigation: How to weld small pieces of metal in a prison (Escape From Alcatraz)
You see, it was a cool movie I saw on TV when I was a little kid (Escape From Alcatraz). It had a really interesting scene in it: Frank (Clint Eastwood) pinches a nailcutter from the warden, and takes out the pen knife in it to chisel through the concrete in his cell. However, it is without a grip and hence cannot be handled properly, so Frank does some improvised engineering (jugaad) and decides to weld it to the handle of a spoon he pinched from the mess.
So, he files a nickel on the nailcutter's filer, gathers the filings on a paper.... these are to be used as a filler for the weld. He puts the pen knife on the handle of the spoon, liberally sprinkles on the "filler" and lights a whole bunch of matchsticks under it, all matchsticks neatly clamped together. This is the heat source.
The welding (technically brazing) is apparently a success, because we see Frank using this "chisel" later in the film, to complete his chiseling out of the concrete.
I remember being stunned as a kid at the brilliance of the whole technique: no fancy stuff involved at all.
Anyway I saw the movie this weekend, and decided to try this for myself. If it worked, it would be a great technique to have for a hobbyist- simple and inexpensive.
So I filed an old brass door handle: the stuff would have a better chance of working than what a nickel is made of, it has a lower melting and recrystallization temperature. Then I found an old razor blade and a spoon, and wrung off the spoon handle. I did exactly what Frank did: I put the razor on the spoon handle (I was careful to clean both surfaces), sprinkled on the brass filings, and I was ready.
Then I clamped together a bunch of matchsticks, put the whole spoon+razor+filings thingy on top of it, and lit the pyre. After it had sputtered off, I found that it hadn't worked. So I tried it once more with fresh filings and cleaned surfaces, this time with soldering flux....I know, not the optimal flux for this kind of thing. And it didn't work, once again. So I got a little pissed, and used a men's perfume with a burning paper to blast the damn thing with fireballs. Guess what, didn't work either.
I am really let-down by that. Does anyone have any suggestions?
So, he files a nickel on the nailcutter's filer, gathers the filings on a paper.... these are to be used as a filler for the weld. He puts the pen knife on the handle of the spoon, liberally sprinkles on the "filler" and lights a whole bunch of matchsticks under it, all matchsticks neatly clamped together. This is the heat source.
The welding (technically brazing) is apparently a success, because we see Frank using this "chisel" later in the film, to complete his chiseling out of the concrete.
I remember being stunned as a kid at the brilliance of the whole technique: no fancy stuff involved at all.
Anyway I saw the movie this weekend, and decided to try this for myself. If it worked, it would be a great technique to have for a hobbyist- simple and inexpensive.
So I filed an old brass door handle: the stuff would have a better chance of working than what a nickel is made of, it has a lower melting and recrystallization temperature. Then I found an old razor blade and a spoon, and wrung off the spoon handle. I did exactly what Frank did: I put the razor on the spoon handle (I was careful to clean both surfaces), sprinkled on the brass filings, and I was ready.
Then I clamped together a bunch of matchsticks, put the whole spoon+razor+filings thingy on top of it, and lit the pyre. After it had sputtered off, I found that it hadn't worked. So I tried it once more with fresh filings and cleaned surfaces, this time with soldering flux....I know, not the optimal flux for this kind of thing. And it didn't work, once again. So I got a little pissed, and used a men's perfume with a burning paper to blast the damn thing with fireballs. Guess what, didn't work either.
I am really let-down by that. Does anyone have any suggestions?
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