Solder Tips

[1dave]

I've seen some IMPORTANT solder tips on this forum, and I know there are more out there waiting to be shared.

How about WE gather them and post them in one place - like here?

Written by someone else? No problem. just find it, click on the Quote icon in the upper right corner, copy to your clip-board, then paste in a new Quick Reply space here.

[1dave]

Nov 17, 2013 15:35:35 GMT -5 1dave said:

A little Soldering Theory: As metals approach their melting point the crystal molecules move apart, providing microscopic space for other molecules to enter.

Hard soldering is the attempt to introduce an alloy that melts at that point and by moving into those spaces joins two pieces together.

Soft Soldering uses alloys that melt around 1/3 the melting point of the metal to be soldered.
It/s strength comes from it's ability to cling to CLEAN metal surfaces.

Available in your choice of sheet or wire, Silver Solder comes in at least three melting points:


German Silver, Nickel Silver, White Brass (Usually Cu 60%, Ni 20%, Zn 20%) has a melting point of up to 1450^oC or 2642 ^oF which can not normally be achieved with a propane torch.
(or 75% copper and 25% nickel used in the United States nickel.)

Silver 999.9 fine Melting point: 960.5^o, 1761^oF
Sterling 92.5, Cu 7.5 Melting point: 893^oC, 1640^oF
Coin Silver 90, Cu 10 Melting point: 879^oC, 1615^oF

From some suppliers,
Hard Grade Silver Solder melts at 741° C, 1365° F - good to start projects.
Medium Grade Silver Solder melts at 691° C, 1275° F - good in middle of projects.
Easy flow - Easy Grade Silver Solder melts at 671° C, 1240° F - best to finish with so you don't mess up what has gone before.

I always bought sheet, cut it into 1/8" strips (still attached at the end) then into 1/8" squares (pallions) and kept them in an old cold cream jar.

I never thought about purchasing the wire form and rolling or hammering it flat, then cutting it into pallions. That may have been easier.

Fluxes:
Borax: melts at 75^oC, 167^oF Possibly the most commonly used flux world wide, available in the laundry isle of your grocery store.
Mix with water into a paste and use as needed. It provides oxide protection and leaves a glassy skin that is easily washed off.
Sparex #1 for ferrous metals
Sparex #2 for all non ferrous metals
Handy Flux, Battern's Flux, Boric Acid & Alcohol, Prips Flux, Cupronil, Hydrogen peroxidemix two parts hp with the same amount of Sparex 2 and one part water. Pickle first in Sparex, then in this mixture to remove any pink skin from brass.

Heat the metal and let the metal melt the solder. It is best to move the flame in circles so you don't melt a part. Solder will follow heat so you can heat from underneath and draw the solder into and along a joint.

With small projects a soldering iron may be sufficient. For larger projects you may prefer propane canisters, natural gas/air, oxy/propane, oxy/acetylene, or air/acetylene.


As the solder heats up it will pull into a ball. If the melted ball is hotter than the metal, it may jump away.
If the metal is hotter than the solder, the solder will ball up, then flatten out, more and more until it no longer holds the two parts together, but instead has just become a coating.

Troubleshooting
1. Incomplete or unsoldered joints: Metal was dirty, no flux, not enough heat, too much heat.
2. Solder balls up: Flame applied directly to the solder instead of the metal, metal or solder may be dirty, heat is flowing away from the joint.
3. Solder jumps to one side: One side is hotter than the other. Reflux and try again.

Nov 17, 2013 15:04:24 GMT -5 1dave said:

After way too many moves, much of my equipment has gone the way of lost socks.
I just ordered a new tripod and mesh screen.



The best price I found was at:
www.limabeads.com/Tripod-Mesh-Screen-9-P20850?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=product_ads&utm_content=20850

$9.27 + $2.00 shipping!


You can build your own from horseshoes and the largest nails available at your hardware store.



Lots of smiths solder on chunks of 2X4 or Charcoal blocks. Don't forget to quench after use!
Fire brick or coiled asbestos rolls are also used. For annealing, a cake pan or pie plate filled with pumice works well.
I prefer the Garnet Soldering Blocks made by J.B. Bown, apparently no longer available.
I hope someone takes up that production.

[1dave]

Nov 21, 2013 10:46:00 GMT -5 connrock said:

I'm not a jeweler or an expert at silver soldering sterling silver bezel settings so take what I say with a grain of salt,,,,,,
First off I'm self taught and learned everything the hard way by making a LOT of mistakes.
My first attempt at silver soldering sterling silver with an oxy/acet Smith's Little Torch was pretty funny!I cleaned and Handy Paste fluxed 2 very small pieces of 22 guage wire about 1/8" long and laid them side by side on my soldering board.I took a VERY small piece of hard solder and laid it so it was touching both pieces of the wire and started heating everything.First thing that happened was the flux started bubbling and "dancing" around and the 2 pieces of wire were moving in all directions and,,,,the solder was gone,,,,somewhere but it was gone!During this whole fiasco I kept the flame on the silver and the next thing I know,,,the silver is gone too!POOF,,,Gone! LOL Like I said,,,I learned the hard way!
As time went on I managed to not have my solder and silver disappear on me and tried my hand at bezel settings!
Everything I read and all the videos I watched on Youtube led me trying to get a lot of very small pieces of solder to stay against the back plate of the setting and the bezel wire.Just putting all these pieces of solder in the setting and having them actually stay leaning against the 2 surfaces was VERY frustrating in itself but watching the pieces of solder jump out into nowhere-land faster then a cricket made my blood boil!

Eventually I figured things out but still got frustrated thinking there had to be a better way to do this.One day I was working on a setting and put WAY too much solder in.After hours of trying to grind and sand the solder out of the inside of the setting I ended up ruining the bezel wire and was thoroughly disgusted with the whole thing.
The next day as I sat looking at the mangled setting and the oval cab I thought to myself,,,"Why not just grind a little off of the edge of the bottom of the cab if there's too much solder in there?"
The way I do it now is to cut a very thin strip of hard solder,hold it with tweezers and "feed" the solder into the setting.I DO NOT "flood" the setting with solder and it's a little tricky to do but it's a lot better (for me) then trying to use all those small pieces of solder.
I'm pretty good at it now and VERY,VERY rarely have to grind the edge on the bottom of a cab.
What are your thoughts on this method?
connrock

[rockjunquie]

How about this safety tip?

Buy a fire extinguisher. A good one rated for what you need. Keep it handy, but in your escape path. It won't do you any good if it is near your fire or behind it.

I thought about posting this because I just got one this morning

[Pat]

I have that tripod, but found it was too easy to knock over. Soooooo, we got a board, drilled three holes in it for the legs, applied glue and now we have a steady tripod. Could do the same with your horseshoe item. The tripod is very good for bigger pieces.

[Pat]

@rockhunquie is right. We keep ours by the door. Use it once in a while, so you remember how to do it when you need it!

[rockjunquie]

I made a copper wire donut- isn't that a good substitute for the tripod and screen? I don't know- just going by what I saw in a video. If you need a picture, I'll post one.

[rockjunquie]

About the fire extinguisher-

I have this memorized:

PASS

PULL PIN
AIM at the bottom of fire
SQUEEZE the trigger
SWEEP use a sweeping motion at the base of the fire.

I also put the date the I bought it on mine. It is supposed to be good for 12 years, but you should check your gauges once in awhile, too. This one is dedicated to my work space. We have a separate one for the kitchen.

[steelandstone]

Here's a quick tip for soldering Tube settings or bezel cups to the ends of square or round wire without having a mass amount of extra solder around your joint when your done. I will apply the solder to the end of the wire first, pickle, clean and then place the tube setting or cup up against the end of the wire where the solder is, flux and then heat. The solder will "pull" the setting or cup snug to the wire when it reaches flow temp. Sometimes you may need to slightly reposition your cup or tube while the solder is still at flow temp.

I will try to do a picture / slideshow of the process in the next few days as pictures seem to work better than just words sometimes.

[steelandstone]

I do 95% of my soldering on these blocks
Magnesia Soldering Block

They are very reasonably priced and they are easy to shape, put pins in, or press pieces into to hold them.

** A tip to using these blocks**

After some use the surface will become uneven, I keep a flat sanding block handy, take them outside and sand the surface flat again; good as new .

This is personal preference thing for some folks. I know a lot of smiths use charcoal blocks, tripods or brazing boards but I have come back to these every time.