Posted by casebro on Saturday, July 10, 2004 at 12:06PM :
I did it as per the directions at the link below. Used a red butt connector- strip off the red plastic and you have a tinned sleeve for the splice. The 'Sunpro Retro' gauge is used ($20)has a thinner capillary tube, so I lightly crimped the sleeve to it. I also 'penciled' the ends of the tubes- the graphite will keep solder from creeping into tubes and plugging them. First attemp to solder gave me ether bubbles in the solder, I had to wait for the ether in the tube to boil off, the stuff in the bulb was ice cold, so I figure there is enough to function. Maybe dry ice would be an improved method? Needle nose and split ring pliers came in handy for the calibration, though I couldn't get it to go full stroke- cold reads 110, 212 is on the money. I wonder if the 'ether' is different in the new gauge? I leak checked my joint in a cup of hot water, saw no bubbles, time will tell if it's tight. Not a bad task, took longer to go get a sacrificial gauge and make a load of COLD ice than to do the work.
I'm sure havin fun doing my "Power Wagon" therapy- combination of yoga and pumpin iron, mental excercise too...
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