Making Tin Can Toys

by Edward Thatcher

Set the dash-board in place back of the hood and see that it fits snugly in place against the hood and also the frame and then solder it in place. If every joint is made to fit snugly before attempting to solder it, no trouble should be experienced, but sometimes a crack will develop owing to the expansion of the tin under heat of the soldering copper. These cracks may be filled in with solder by feeding a strip of solder against the point of the hot copper when soldering. This causes a lot of solder to run into the crack and fill it.

Solder the seat in position so that the front of the seat is about 1 inch from the ends of the dash-board.

Springs.—Holes may be punched through the sides of the frame and the axles run through them if a very simple truck is to be made, but imitation springs may be easily made from part of the sides and bottom of a can. These springs raise the frame of the truck above the axles and give it a more realistic appearance.

Cut two three-inch cans down to ⅜ inch in height. Turn these cans bottom up and place the ruler across the rim of each can bottom in turn in such a way as to measure 2½ inches from rim to rim. Then measure off another 2½ inches on each rim as shown in [Fig. 69]. File through the rims at A A and then cut straight down the sides of the can at A A A which should give you three springs from each can.

Solder two springs to the bottom and side of the frame ½ inch from the front end and the two rear springs should be soldered 1 inch in from the back end.

Use an ice pick to punch a hole in each spring to receive the axle and be sure that these holes are all the same distance from the top of the frame (use the dividers to determine this), and also that each hole is square across from the opposite axle hole (use the try square to determine this).

The axle holes should be punched through with an ice pick and be made somewhat larger than the axle wire so that the axle wire fits very loosely in the hole, but be sure to have all the holes the same size.

Soldering the Wheels on the Axles.—The wire axles should be cut long enough to go entirely through each wheel and across the frame and to allow a distance of ¼ inch between the frame of the truck and each wheel. The length of the axles may be easily determined by placing the frame of the truck flat on the bench and placing the two wheels in position, each wheel to stand out ¼ inch from the side of the truck. Measure the distance with a ruler from the outer edge of one wheel to the outer edge of the other and add ⅛ inch to this distance, see [Fig. 70]. Cut the two wire axles to this measurement and see that they are perfectly straight after cutting.