Mike G wrote:fiveeyes wrote:Temporary glass you say...will you replace with stained glass then?
Leaded lights, but not stained. I'm going to buy a powerful soldering iron and do the leadwork myself. How hard can it be?
Hi Mike,
House looks great. I don't often contribute but use your posts as inspiration to crack on with my own house.
I've worked with leaded lights for many years. I have a weller 101d soldering iron that I use which is spot on. You can buy all you need from pearsons or creative
https://www.pearsons-glass.co.uk/http://www.creativeglassguild.co.ukPearsons are my personal choice and they deliver every two weeks by van if your buying a few hundred quids worth. You'll want 1/2 flat came for the edges and maybe 1/4 inch H sections for joints. You can buy its in rounded or flat depending on how you want it to look. Rounded looks a little more dressy but flat is traditional for much older properties.
Draw out your window on lining paper in pencil. Go over the drawing with a new sharpie as the nib is the ideal size to leave a gap which measures the same as the core of the H section.
Cut out your glass up to the black lines you've made. set your glass aside.
Make a board up by using chipboard and attached some timber strips on the bottom and left hand edge of the board (also useful as a cutting board for glass). Cut the bottom and left hand side of the drawing and pin it square to the board tight to the corner you've made. Remember the 1/2 flat on the edges when cutting the drawing.
Use horse shoes nails to pin the drawing.
Set you 1/2 flat out on the bottom and left hand side then start inserting your glass. Work tight to the lines and keep it pinned in using horse shoe nails.
Run your lead across the edges of the glass keeping it all tight and square to the drawing.
Cap off the edges with 1/2inch flat and keep it tight with horse shoe nails.
Scrub the lead came with a small wire brush then solder it up. I'd highly recommend traditional flux which comes in candle size sticks. Rub the flux over each joint. Get your iron up to temperature and get it all soldered up. Don't mess about rubbing the solder around just dab it on, get it flat and leave it.
Once soldered let it go off for 5 minutes then flip the panel and repeat the process.
Once done you've need to cement the panel. Dpon't be shy with the leaded light cement, smear it in all joints using a srcubbing brush. Put whiting on the panel (cures the cement) and rub it around the joints. Go easy with whiting just enough to make the cement a little solid. Scrub it into all the joints and vigorously go over the whole panel. The whiting cures the cement and also cleans up the glass and lead.
Flip the panel and repeat.
Leave it to go off over night then use a plastic fid tool to go over all edges and clean the cement back. Don't leave the panel more than overnight or the cement will go rock hard and be a pig to get off and clean up.
once you've removed the thick of it scrub the panel with a brush then repeat with the fid until you're happy its clean.
To finish off and make it shine use black grate polish across the came and polish alot to bring up a nice shine, it will dull over time.
Cleanliness in the final cleaning stage is important, keep the dust down and get it as clean as you can.
Give me a short if you need any help. For those size windows I wouldn't both with any rebar across the panels, they'll need replacing before they sag in 50-100 years.
Keep up the good work!