amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
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Post by amyk on Jan 3, 2014 23:29:33 GMT -5
I bought some wire solder,copper from rio grande. Thinking it was solder for joining copper together. Apparently it is not solder. it is very hard to cut and doesn't melt easily like solder should at all. My question is---- what is it? what is it for? Is there such a thing as solder made for copper?
Amy
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 3, 2014 23:59:00 GMT -5
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amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
|
Post by amyk on Jan 4, 2014 0:17:03 GMT -5
Yes thats what I bought. It is hard to cut even with tin snips. Do I need to use flux with it? Because i tried with flux and the flux burned off and the solder never melted. I am using a micro torch. Maybe it isn't hot enough. Or this solder is just too hard. The copper got hot.
I will try the one you recommend.
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Post by Pat on Jan 4, 2014 0:28:30 GMT -5
Call rio. They are very helpful,
If your piece is bigger than an American quarter, the microtorch would be too small to handle it.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 4, 2014 0:40:57 GMT -5
It looks like your solder needs flux. The other link I sent has flux in the wire, so you don't need any to solder. Some people flux everything, anyway. With copper, I don't flux. The micro torch can't handle big copper jobs. If you look at the chain I posted today, it was done in copper with the copper solder I talked about.
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amyk
fully equipped rock polisher
I'm a slabber, I'm a cabber, I'm a midnight wrapper.
Member since January 2010
Posts: 1,331
|
Post by amyk on Jan 4, 2014 1:01:20 GMT -5
Thank you for the info,I thought that copper would be cheaper to practice with. I did not know it needed to be hotter than silver. I also bought some argentium silver. I have done one silver piece before in a class. i guess I should just work with the silver for now. Keep my scraps and mistakes for credit.
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Post by radio on Jan 4, 2014 9:42:45 GMT -5
Thank you for the info,I thought that copper would be cheaper to practice with. I did not know it needed to be hotter than silver. I also bought some argentium silver. I have done one silver piece before in a class. i guess I should just work with the silver for now. Keep my scraps and mistakes for credit. I would not start out with Argentium silver as it is much less forgiving than Sterling. Pat is correct on the micro torch info, larger pieces of metal just suck the heat and will never get hot enough to solder. One method you can use if you don't already, is to move your torch in a circular motion spreading the heat evenly over the entire piece. When I first started I also bought a micro torch, but ditched it in short order as it just wasn't sufficient. My recommendation would be a Smith Little Torch that uses disposable propane canisters and oxygen. That is a fairly expensive setup, but you will likely never need to upgrade. Another option would be a torch kit that uses disposable propane canisters and room air. They will get hot enough, but the downfall is they tend to blow around smaller pieces on the soldering brick. www.ebay.com/itm/ORCA-SOLDERING-TORCH-COMPLETE-KIT-DISPOSABLE-PROPANE-TANKS-WELDING-JEWELRY-TOOLS-/151158810768I graduated to one of those, but abandoned it in favor of the Little Torch, so would have saved money by biting the bullet to start with
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Tom
fully equipped rock polisher
My dad Tom suddenly passed away yesterday, Just wanted his "rock" family to know.
Member since January 2013
Posts: 1,557
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Post by Tom on Jan 4, 2014 19:32:29 GMT -5
Hi Guys, I am almost positive the rio solder does NOT need flux, the phosphorous in the alloy is the flux. I use my high quality electrician diagonal cutters (side cutters) to cut this solder, its very hard. I flux anyway:). I use the smith air/acetylene torch, one tank and uses room air. Not quite as hot as Oxygen/Acet but still hot enough to melt copper to a puddle. There are lots of different tips available for every task.
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