Hi All, OK, I tried the Krazy Glue trick to solder silver end pieces
on to a silver bracelet and the end piece came unglued before the
solder flowed. The pieces were flat and flush and clean and I waited
a minute for the glue to set, also I was using hard solder - what
went wrong?
Marta
P.S. thank you all so much for the microscope info. which I have
saved for reference. A fellow Orchidian was so kind to let me check
his Meiji out. It is so exciting to be able to see such detail! I’m
definitely saving my $$$ to get one.
Hi Marta. The April issue of Lapidary Journal has a guy using a
vegetable-based enamelling glue called Klyr-Fire. In a later issue,
it is applied with a sable brush in a clockwise manner from the bottom
to the center to get your design.
You must have gotten so excited about the prospect of using Krazy
glue to solder with that you missed the most important part of that
post…the glue is only used to hold things in position so you can
fixture them for soldering. This means that you must use Place-it, or
wire, or some other means of holding the parts together after the
glue burns. And, make sure that you have adequate ventilation when
you use this technique…not that you wouldn’t have good ventilation
in your soldering area already.
The glue becomes carbon after it is burned, and helps to keep the
joint oxide free. Use the glue sparingly…don’t slop glue all over
the joint hoping to make it solder better.
If you’re having trouble holding parts together while you’re trying
to bind them with wire for soldering, glue them first, then bind
them. If you have to line up several heads on the top of a ring, glue
them first, then fixture them. Put the ends on your bracelet, exactly
where you want them, then glue them in place so they won’t move while
you tie them down or hold them with Place-it.
You must have read my mind, that was exactly what I was thinking. It
sounded like a dream come true! But it will still be helpful for the
setting up process. Thanks!
Marta (A past student in your bench tricks class in S.F.)
you need the 'tack 1 fusion welding device. with it you can
confidently position parts - however many and at any angle - and then
hard solder. it’s really effective. you can find them used w/o
problem. contact joel mallet at ABI fusion welding.
While the tack welder (I have a Tack II) seems to work well for
things like findings onto a piece I have not found it to work well
for larger assemblies like domes onto sheet etc. And it is next to
useless for silver. I do use super glue to set up complex assemblies
before soldering and it works quite well. The super glue is only used
to position the items to be joined you must provide some form of
support for the work so that it will be held together by something
other than the super glue. I will use binding wire or soldering clay
so that once the super glue burns away at 300-400 degrees F the work
pieces cannot move apart.