Wappen repair questions

USMC-EOD

USMC-EOD

Active member
I'm sure more than one member here has had this problem in the past.

A perfectly good wappen with one or both of the loops broken off...

I posted this little ersatz tin Wurtemburg pickelhaube with an officer's wappen incorrectly attached. I obtained an enlisted wappen, but the previous owner attempted to do "something".

I am not sure what the previous owner was trying to do exactly, but if his goal was to put big, ugly globs of solder and flux on different parts of the rear of the wappen without actually attaching new loops, then I would say he was very successful. See attached photo.

My plan is to buy a soldering iron and heat up and remove the old solder that was gooped onto the back of this thing.

Then i plan to get a good measurement by centering the wappen over the holes, bend some wire to the proper loop size, and nicely resolder some new loops on. I was thinking about hammering the "feet" of the wire loops flat so they solder on a little easier.

Does anyone know off-hand the standard diameter of the wire used on most wappen?

Are there any problems with this plan? Let me know!

Does anyone have any advice to make this little job easier?

Bryan.
 

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Ah,..yes Bryan, I have dealt with some what similar problems with wappen loops and gobs of new solder. There is something called a solder sucker which can be purchased but in order to "suck", this device needs the solder to be heated to melting temp. This could discolour your wappen...NOT good. :(
Another method is to use a Dremel tool to carefully grind off the excess solder...preferred. Then we proceed to the problem of sourcing the proper gauge brass wire to make new loops....not possible in my experience but I have not spent a lot of time searching. What I chose to do was to buy scrapper Prussian wappen because they are the most common and harvest their loops/screw posts as needed. This is a valuable wappen and helmet so this is what I would do.
These, original bits will have old solder on them. However, if you clean/sand off the old oxidization and apply new flux, they will still solder/stick on. The old original solder had a high lead content to say the least so it puddled in lovely smooth gobs when heated with the old "irons". You can't achieve that with a typical electric soldering iron...at least I could not. So then we switch to a small "propane torch" which can be bought in any hardware store at least in North America....not certain if available in the USSR these days. Hopefully not....but that aside, this will is what you should use, not an electric soldering iron. There are examples of this procedure being used on You Tube so you can get the idea of what I am talking about. The "torch produces nice "puddles" not quite the same as originals but pretty close. We also have a wise solder guru member here on the forum..".The Mahatma of Solder", as I like to characterize him. All that I have learned of soldering has been sourced from him! I still have in my procession a stained parchment sent to me years ago titled: "SOLDERING FOR DUMMIES"!! :D Hopefully Tony S will correct any mistaken advice given above. (y)
 
Having spent over 25 years in the Circuit Card manufacturing business I know a bit about tin/lead soldering (which is now somewhat passe with the advent of ROHS legislation requiring all commercial manufacturing to adopt "lead free" solder). The only products using traditional tin/lead solder are the aerospace/defence and space sectors due to the higher reliability of tin/lead. So hold onto your tin/lead solder because it is rapidly becoming hard to find. Lead free solder uses tin combined with various other metals and has a higher melting point. This may explain why some people are struggling to form acceptable solder joints using soldering equipment that used to work just fine.

I seem to get good results removing solder from Wappens using a Weller soldering gun and "solder wick" which is basically a woven copper braid which "wicks" the molten solder away. Getting good soldering results requires appropriate application of flux to remove oxidization on the parts to be joined and the correct amount of heat. I'd be inclined to think that use of a propane torch would be more apt to result in discolouring the metal, but if you're comfortable with using that method fine.

My results may well be due to the fact that I still have a good supply of traditional tin/lead solder for reasons best left unsaid.

As for Wappen mounting loops, I make my own 14 gauge brass wire made by Grobet USA of Carlstadt, NJ. I sourced mine through a Canadian distributor. I use a common nail as a template to form the loop which is 9.5 mm high and leaving 7.0 mm of material on either side of the loop to form the legs. I then use a hammer to flatten the legs to facilitate mounting the finished loop to the Wappen.

To this point I haven't had the need to make M15 steel loops but the process would be the same only using steel instead of brass.
 
Steve Nick said:
Having spent over 25 years in the Circuit Card manufacturing business I know a bit about tin/lead soldering (which is now somewhat passe with the advent of ROHS legislation requiring all commercial manufacturing to adopt "lead free" solder). The only products using traditional tin/lead solder are the aerospace/defence and space sectors due to the higher reliability of tin/lead. So hold onto your tin/lead solder because it is rapidly becoming hard to find. Lead free solder uses tin combined with various other metals and has a higher melting point. This may explain why some people are struggling to form acceptable solder joints using soldering equipment that used to work just fine.

I seem to get good results removing solder from Wappens using a Weller soldering gun and "solder wick" which is basically a woven copper braid which "wicks" the molten solder away. Getting good soldering results requires appropriate application of flux to remove oxidization on the parts to be joined and the correct amount of heat. I'd be inclined to think that use of a propane torch would be more apt to result in discolouring the metal, but if you're comfortable with using that method fine.

My results may well be due to the fact that I still have a good supply of traditional tin/lead solder for reasons best left unsaid.

As for Wappen mounting loops, I make my own using 14 gauge brass wire made by Grobet USA of Carlstadt, NJ. I sourced mine through a Canadian distributor. I use a common nail as a template to form the loop which is 9.5 mm high and leaving 7.0 mm of material on either side of the loop to form the legs. I then use a hammer to flatten the legs to facilitate mounting the finished loop to the Wappen.

To this point I haven't had the need to make M15 steel loops but the process would be the same only using steel instead of brass.
Click to expand...
Minor edit in paragraph four.
 
Bryan, Steve,

Thank you both for the excellent information!

It sounds like I have materials to buy, and practicing to accomplish before I start repairing the wappen. I had to learn some basic electronic wiring at a couple of EOD courses years ago, and needed to learn how to use solder to connect wires. I never took on the larger jobs like soldering pipe joints or helmet wappen back together!

That is a good pro-tip, Brian, on acquiring a small torch to puddle the new solder some guy gobbed all over in clumps. I may try that first in order to get rid of the blobs of new solder and flux on the back. Kind of see if i can get those new clumps of solder to drip right off...

Also, salvaging old loops as well from common wappen might be a solution I had not considered..., I will give that some thought.

And Steve, great info as well! I appreciate the diameter measurements and size of loop info! I may see if some of the local hobby and craft stores stock the 14mm brass wire from Grobet before i order any. Flattening the "feet" with a hammer was something I had seen on a few original loops on these. I am glad to hear that someone else is doing this with replacements in order to increase the surface area for attachment.

I may need to hit some old garage sales and flea markets to see if I can locate some of the old lead based solder. I have an old building contractor buddy who i might hit up first to see if he has any of the old stuff. I will re-address this after December once I have everything gathered together, and take photos of the procedure for the site.

Thank you both for your quick response.

Bryan.
 
Another tip is to anneal the brass wire making it easier to bend and flatten.
Using the torch as mentioned earlier , heat up the brass wire until the color changes and quickly quench it in water.
This will make bending much easier.
 
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