Would like to ask some advice, please, about soldering a bezel
from the inside edge. Does this commonly cause problems? Have
done so many of them, soldering along the outside perimeter,
without any bad results, but I’m now busy with one that’s giving
me endless grief:
A round silver disk, fine silver and brass wires surrounding a
central bezel. As a final step I want to solder the bezel on,
but it needs doing from the inside (stone side) or the fine
wires surrounding it would melt. Does this generally pose a
problem?
Otherwise, it could just perhaps be that I need to get used to
my new Little Torch. (Thanks to all of you for your postings
about torches and gasses - I read them avidly and put them to
good use).
The way I used to do these elaborate decorative things around a
bezel, is exactly opposite of how you are trying. I would solder
the bezel in place, then place the decorative items around and
solder. Sometimes this would take several sequences but seemed
to work for me. Good Luck
It may be that you need practice with the torch. It takes a
little while to get used to the size flame to use for different
applications. You didn’t say exactly what type(s) of problem you
are having. I would suggest placing your solder chips along the
outer edge of the bezel/base joint and preheat the entire piece,
followed by heating the base metal inside of the bezel until the
solder flows. I seem to remember having a problem with my torch
sort of blowing itself out when I first started soldering from
inside a bezel. (I’m sure there’s a term for what happens, but
this is the best way I can describe it.) I had to reduce the
size of the flame and/or back off a little until I got it right.
Keep experimenting. You WILL get it to work. Trust me.(haha)
Elizabeth you’re so right! I realised with the wisdom of
hindsight that I should have done the bezel first. I like
constructing fairly elaborate pieces with different metals and
coloured Titanium, but sometimes I have a bit of trouble
figuring out the order in which I should go about doing things.
The excitement of getting going with a new idea carries me along
before I’ve done adequate planning, I confess. I pay the price
afterwards.
Bill, you’ve got me intrigued! Welding is a new concept for me,
but I want to try it. Ran off to look it up in my books, but
didn’t find much about it. Do you melt two metals together by
concentrating the point of a small, hot flame at one spot
(possibly introducing a third metal?), and then move on about
1mm with your flame, until its all done? I’ll definitely give
this a try.
Thank you for your advice about the flame. I think it was
possibly too hot, since the bezel itself melted in a few
attempts. I am accustomed to natural gas which was not as hot
as my new oxy-acet set, and an awful old welding torch, which I
achieved a lot with, but feel very spoiled with my new Little
Torch. I had a tiny blue flame, which I tried to point at the
place where bezel and base meet, and next thing the bezel itself
curled into a ball and died. Tried a larger, softer flame, then
it kept going out, since it didn’t seem to like the confined
space inside the bezel. (Maybe I was holding it too close).
I aquired a little torch here recently and my first project was
soldering rings for a loop in loop chain. In the first batch I
had two of twenty- five that did not end up as little balls of
metal. I found that if I lowered the pressure at the tank I had
a lot more control of my flame at the torch. I had mine set at
3 psi on the aceteline and 5 psi on the oxygen and obtained a
nice little feather of a flame with a No. 4 tip that soldered
without melting.
Vira: I do mostly silver work and it seems like you’re doing
your bezels all wrong. The way I usually do them is hard solder
the bezel together first, then flatten so it will sit right on
your base. The bezel is place on the base and then set on a
tripod with wire mesh screen. Flux the bezel then put small
solder chips INSIDE touching the bezel and base. Heat with a
larger bushy flame FROM THE BOTTOM, warming up the whole piece.
When it hits melt point the solder flows nicely around the bezel.
Some people will then move to the top and heat around in a circle
making sure the solder flows completely . I always do the bezels
first then add on the other components. Sometimes I even use hard
solder to join the bezel to base also then move to medium for the
rest of the job. I don’t think it would be much different for
gold work but then I’ve done little of that yet…Dave
Hi!
I’ve always soldered my bezels from the inside as our
instructor taughts us. Prevents solder from showing if it runs
too much. I use pallions of solder along the inside edge and
bottom of bezel and the solder flow along the opening. Works
very well!
Thank you All, so much, for you kind replies and help. I am
struck at how many different approaches there are to getting the
same thing done. It says a lot about the creativity and
individuality involved in making jewellery, as every person
finds the way that best suits them. Your replies have helped me
a great deal, and although I felt pretty dumb at asking what I
know was a very basic question, you didn’t laugh me off the
forum either.
Lary Hammons seems to have hit the nail on the head, and I hope
my problem is now solved. Being a newcomer to oxy-acet, I
didn’t realise that the pressure was set way too high! Turned
it all down after receiving his posting last night, and what a
pleasure!!! The flame was soft, instead of fierce and hard.
Also, our gauges are set in kPa instead of psi, so it hadn’t
been set up correctly for the Little Torch at all.
Thank you Lary, and Everyone. You are Stars.
Best Regards,
Vira.