[Beginners' Corner] Soldering help

Curious, if you have your pieces laying on something . . . how do you
heat from “the bottom?” are you using a tri-pod?

If you’re asking me, tripod’d be okay. I use two firebricks on end, and
heavy-gauge 4-per-inch st/steel mesh loosely laid on top.

My propane burner is about 2" diameter and is a stand-alone type, ie it
sits there on its own flat steel stand and points upwards, and the flame
is wide and very short. No oxy assist.

Great for heating large pieces from underneath, and for annealing pieces
gently, softly, (with minimal firestain): I heat up and when ready to
quench, grab the mesh (which isn’t hot at all) and dump into the quench
water PSHshshshsh!

Brian
B r i a n � A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r �
@Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND

http://www.adam.co.nz/crit2.htm Recent Work

Curious, if you have your pieces laying on something . . . how do you
heat from “the bottom?” are you using a tri-pod?

Hi, no… I just use extra fire bricks allowing spaces underneath the
supported piece and make sure that you have them on another brick to catch
them! O geez, i forgot once about 2 months ago while torch enameling and
one jiggle against the brick turned a torch emaneled piece (at top temp)
into a “Carpet Comet”… ye gods, the next morning when my wife woke up!!
Also, heating the space underneath a piece like that, with the bricks on
either side, really does well in spreading the heat uniformly…sort like
a tiny 2-sided kiln :slight_smile:

Just a little to share,
Terry (Corydon, U.S.) Midwest where someone snuck humidity in without
asking!

Dear Anne,

        A number of Orchidists have asked about "cooling on steel"

as recommended by Steve Klepinger. Lots of jewellers use a steel block (we
call it our “steady” in Australia), usually an old, used, hardened steel
die, for hammering, rivetting, flattening metal etc…

I don’t always quench smaller pieces of hot work in water before pickling,
so I simply put it on my steel steady so that it can cool down without
burning anything before I slip it into the pickle. It avoids all that
nasty acid fuming from quenching hot work directly into the pickle. There
are some times when it is not wise to quench, but better to let the metal
cool slowly.

I think this is all Steve was referring to in his excellently detailed
advice. Regards, Rex from Oz.

Curious, if you have your pieces laying on something . . . how do you
heat from “the bottom?” are you using a tri-pod?

I usually have an “edge” of my piece I can pick up with tweezers, holding
the torch in the other hand. If this is not possible I prop the piece up
on pieces of silver scrap (thin lengths of silver) and aim the torch at
the edge so that the flame goes underneath the piece. This is fairly
effective if soldering on charcoal, but not nearly as good as holding the
piece up. Sometimes I prop the piece up on two pieces of soldering block.
I have some garnet blocks that are good for this - then I can point the
flame at the unerneath part of the piece. Hope this helps. Jan

As everyone has suggested, it is ususally helpful to heat assemblies from
below when soldering, especially if the bottom piece is larger and heavier
than the parts resting on it.

You can use a tripod, a pair of tweezers or two, a third hand, prop the
work on something, etc.

Here are two suggestions:

  1. Make a “wig” or nest of binding wire. Take a few feet, scrunch it up
    into an irregular ball, flatten it a bit and then use this under the work.
    It will lift the piece off of the soldering pad and enable you to direct
    the flame at the (non-charcoal) pad which will reflect and bounce it up
    under the work to heat from below.

  2. If working on charcoal, pre-heat a spot on the charcoal’s surface. When
    it is red and very hot, slide the assemby onto it. As the heat rises from
    the hot charcoal, you can also heat from above.

  3. Going one step further, you can use one of those little igloo-looking
    bench top kilns (available for about $100). They are used by low tech
    enamelists and some very experienced granulators. Place the work on the
    hot “bed” of the kiln and add more heat with a torch from above.

Good luck.
Alan Revere

A tripod with a firm mesh screen is effective for soldering from
underneath a piece. If the piece is not too large , you can support it
with a third hand or double third hand and play the torch underneath it.

Leta,

I hope you’ve had bettr luck recently. We’re all with you!

Is this soft solder what I think it is? A low temperature solder - praps
tin-based or horrors, lead-based?

Brian
B r i a n � A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r �
@Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
Where there are a disproportionate number of Mills & Boon writers

Leta:

A few more ideas–I do alot of soldering of tiny wires to large cast
sterling pieces. Here are some things that have worked for me: use a
large tip or the bigger piece will not heat adequately. If you can get
some bottom heat, like using a small ‘bead’ kiln, or working on a piece of
charcoal and heating the charcoal around the larger piece until it
retains the heat, it will help. I have also found that paste flux works
better than the liquid flux-- but don’t use too much – spread a thin
layer of paste flux on each piece as well as on the solder. Finally,
contrary to standard practice, I have also found that if there is a great
discrepancy in the size or thickness of the pieces, I put the solder on
the thicker piece and have the thin one ready in a cross-lock tweezers. I
heat the large piece until the solder just starts to run, and then quickly
place the small piece on it. The small piece will heat quickly and take
up the solder. Then remove the heat quickly so as not to burn up the
small piece. It also helps to have something to rest your arm on when you
are placing the small piece, so you can place it accurately and quickly.
To prevent the solder from running all over the large piece, you can
contain the area that the solder will cover by defining that area with
either a circle of ochre or a circle around the area made with a lead
pencil. The ochre or the pencil mark will contain the solder. I think you
can use almost any source of heat–I have done this with propane, plain
acetyline, and now acetyline and oxygen. It does take practice and lots
of patience.

Hope this helps!!
Sandra/ElegantBee

Thanks for the explaination. The reason I asked about the “Tri-pod” was
because the screening tends act as a heat sink, and draws off most of the
head and will not allow the solder to flow (in some cases.) Most of those
working with silver won’t use a tri-pod because of that.

You are right about the screen supplied with tripods being too heavy. They
do absorb a lot of heat, which kind of defeats the purpose. See if you can
replace it with something lighter weight. Or, use some heavy binding wire
to “weave” a new screen right onto the tripod. Alan Revere

My e-mail message seems to have gotten very garbled and part of it was
deleted.In reply to this statement by Alan Revere: 3. Going one step
further, you can use one of those little igloo-looking bench top kilns
(available for about $100). They are used by low tech enamelists and some
very experienced granulators. Place the work on the hot “bed” of the kiln
and add more heat with a torch from above. I was asking if anyone knew if
you used a pyrometer with a kiln like this for granulation or if it was a
matter of experience and metal color clues. Linda

Since these little kilns do not have a temperature control, there is little
Ause in a pyrometer, other than finding out how hot it gets. I made a
thorough Ainvestigation of this because I wanted to use the igloos for
PMC. I found that they reached about 800-850C rather quickly and went
no higher, even if I Aadded insulation. This temperature itself is not
enough to granulate, but add Aheat with a torch from above, and you are
really cooking.
AR

I was asking if anyone knew if you used a pyrometer with a kiln like
this for granulation or if it was a matter of experience and metal color clues.
and metal color clues. Linda

I have no experience in granulation but I assume it is the same as with
glass work. A pyrometer is something I would never do without but I never
rely on it. I use it to give me a ballpark temp and to give me a clue as
to how fast the kiln is heating and cooling but no pyrometer will replace
the eye in measuring temp.

Jim Loveland