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Post by Noosh9057 on Oct 10, 2008 19:54:09 GMT -5
Just wanted to know how hard it is to solder sterling siver jump rings together. I would like to try this.
Roger
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Post by Tweetiepy on Oct 10, 2008 23:01:33 GMT -5
I never tried this but I heard something about blackening when soldering - something that I THINK argentinium doesn't do - don't quote me on this...
Did you mean soldering 2 rings together or soldering them closed?
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Post by johnjsgems on Oct 10, 2008 23:30:35 GMT -5
My wife beads and had a guy show her how to solder jump rings closed. He dipped the jump ring in his dip bottle thn clamped it in a third hand (cross lock tweezers in a holder base. The tweezer acts as a heat sink to protect the rest of the jewelry. He used silver solder with flux in a syringe. I don't remember if it was "extra easy" or "easy" but lower temp solder. He hit it lightly with a butane torch. He made it look easy. There is down side to soldering them closed. If you make jewelry and snag the jewelry (or have a customer pull too hard) the jump ring will pull open (if not soldered). Repair is to replace the jump ring. With the jump ring soldered something else may give, break, etc. that is more difficult to repair.
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Post by Noosh9057 on Oct 11, 2008 7:30:23 GMT -5
I never tried this but I heard something about blackening when soldering - something that I THINK argentinium doesn't do - don't quote me on this... Did you mean soldering 2 rings together or soldering them closed? I ment soldering them closed. Roger
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nansaidh
spending too much on rocks
Jewelry artist, graphic designer, dog lover, car nut (etc.)
Member since August 2008
Posts: 311
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Post by nansaidh on Oct 11, 2008 11:56:49 GMT -5
Extremely easy. But you need a bit of equipment. The basic technique (that I use) is to close the jumpring as perfectly as humanly possible (no gaps - solder doesn't fill big gaps), lay a small piece of sheet solder (a "pallion") down on a soldering brick, either dip the jump ring in a liquid flux or paint it with a paste flux, lay the joint on top of the pallion of solder, and gently heat the jump ring (the whole ring) with a jeweler's torch until the solder flows. You don't heat the solder, you heat the metal of the ring (or whatever you're soldering). It must be heated evenly and when the ring is up to the solder's flow temperature (easy solder melts at lower temps than hard solder), it will flow into the ring's crack and your ring should be sealed. At that point, with tweezers that have heat-proof handles, pick up the soldered ring and put it into a heated "pickle" which is a mild acid that will remove the discoloration that occurs during soldering.
Argentium silver needs to be soldered with argentium-specific solder. The benefit of argentium silver isn't necessarily that it doesn't get firescale when heated, but that it doesn't tarnish under normal wearing conditions because one of it's alloys is platinum or rhodium.
Soldering is easy, but you really should be taught how to do it properly in order to be safe. (IMHO)
If I can help more, let me know. Nancy
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ol3m3
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2006
Posts: 85
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Post by ol3m3 on Oct 13, 2008 11:51:08 GMT -5
Nancy gave a pretty good description of what you need to do, but it might be a little rough learning on your own. Are there any lapidary clubs in your area? They usually have someone who is available to teach silver smithing and chainmaking.
Two points where i differ with the advice given, is that I do pick soldering; the ring is either clamped in the third hand or laid out on the soldering block, the work is fluxed, and dried with the the torch. You then take your solder pick and with a pallion of solder laid out on the block gently heat the pick and solder, pressing the two together. after a short bit the solder will stick to the pick and can be transfereed to the joint of the jump ring where it is placed and the jump ring heated until the solder flows into the joint.
the other way to solder the jump ring is to use paste solder, which is a mixture of flux and solder. the paste solder is applied to the inside or the bottom of the jump ring directly on the joint, the heat is applied to the outside or top of the jump ring until the solder flows. With paste solder its very easy to solder the jump ring, but there are two things I do not like about paste solder; 1.The flux is only applied in a very small area and you get a lot more fire scale on the rest of the jump ring, and 2.there is a likely hood of more residue on the surface of the jump ring from the left over solder.
You might want to see if you can find some 16 or 18 ga copper electrical wire and make up a few jumprings and try soldering them shut before trying to go with sterling.
om
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Post by Noosh9057 on Oct 13, 2008 13:36:15 GMT -5
Thanks so much for all the help.
Roger
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Post by docone31 on Oct 13, 2008 15:18:37 GMT -5
This is what I use. I can even plasma weld on a knotted pearl neclace. www.lacywest.com/puk2.htmAs an aside, it is better to not solder them. They act as a weak link and rather than redoing the bracelet, just replace the jump ring. We do it all day long for our customers.
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Post by Noosh9057 on Oct 19, 2008 16:34:12 GMT -5
Thanks for all the help. I am soldering and they are coming out great.
Thanks
Roger
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