I made a brass gnomon with hand tools using a small plate of 3/16" brass. I glued paper to the brass and transferred a sort of scrollwork pattern to it and then cut it with a combination of hacksaw, fretsaw, drilling and assorted files including needle files. It came out looking fine.
At that point I thought I might be able to braze or silver-solder a sort of foot-piece perpendicular to it. This would then be screwed to the dial with small screws. I had a small amount of experience silver-soldering small pieces, but was not able to do this both because of lack of technique and lack of a hot enough flame. I ended up taking it to a nearby welding shop and having it welded/brazed on. They did a reasonably good job, and it all worked out in the end but I was disappointed not be able to do it myself. What kind of torch does one need to braze a two pieces of 3/16 brass together using brazing rod for filler, and what kind of flux should be used? I tried using a boric acid solution and a torch with oxygen and mapp gas but was not successful. And how do you do this without burning up the brass? Jack
