My New Tool... Thoughts

Here is my new best friend for soldering… Thoughts?

i think i want one of those

available for purchase?

Where? When? How much?

blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } How elegant!

It can be found here…

Very cool. It’s so elegant looking too. However I almost never use any
kind of jig for soldering. They take too much time to get things lined up.
I’m a free hand kinda soldering gal. I learned how to accurately free hand
when working in mass manufacturing and repair shops where it was all about
speed as well as getting things perfectly straight.
Of course I never let much of anything get in the way of new tool lust.
Mmmm. tools:-)
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

Hello @rdtymko and fellow Orchidians.

That looks like a really neat tool!

Just for future reference, we have a “no advertising” policy on Orchid so that people selling stuff doesn’t drown out the Q & A purpose of Orchid. I’m sure everyone can understand how advertising-posts could get out of hand if it’s just allowed without any limitations.

In order for readers to find out about handy products like this, we’re currently working on a full spectrum of advertising plans for any size business. So stay tuned for that.

Nice. But I would add weight.

Please excuse any typos-- curse my clumsy digits…

So what would your reasoning be for adding weight? I did have one similar to this one and when the silver got too hot the heavier tool sank into the metal a bit marring it which then I had to file out the dent.

I am Interested in your view though.

Richard

So what is the trick to go tool free?

I use weights quite a bit when I solder. To hold things down if I need to push against something to, say, reflow solder and move an element. Or just to hold things.

Please excuse any typos-- curse my clumsy digits…

Making stunnishing jewelry as you do, you should be happy having does
clumsy digits Andy.

2 Likes

The usual overkill we are seeing more and more with new jigs which supposedly make it easier to do things a ‘real’ goldsmith would be able to do much faster with no special tools…:-)… See Jo Haemer’s reply.…

It would be fun if older goldsmiths would send in photos how they would do this soldering job without special, expensive equipment…:-)… I’m not set up for easy photographing at the moment and don’t have a cell phone camera, but I’ll see if I can get a picture taken to post. Curious to see how others would do this.

Janet in Jerusalem

2 Likes

Lots of practice and good hand control.
I learned to solder between the breaths and not drink too much coffee
before soldering free hand. I love free hand soldering. It’s like
meditation to me and it goes so much faster without jigs, weights and
clamps. I’ll never forget the first time I soldered an ear post on
perfectly straight on the first try. I was so schocked and pleased. That’s
when I learned the phrase “If at first you succeed, try to hide your
astonishment”.
I have some blunt tipped self locking tweezers that I cut an earring post
size notch in. The wire locks in and stays straight in the tweezers. I have
others with larger notches in for heavier wire or bar for prongs etc. I
also like to make the things I’m soldering together pre notched or fitted
together so they hold themselves together. I hate filing and finishing much
so I try to pre polish my parts and solder as cleanly as possible. I find
that using rubber wheels, files and or emery on solder seams leaves the
piece looking shop worn and not so crisp. Plus rubber wheels drag out pits
in the solder seams.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

Hmmm. Richard Tymko was not posting an advertisement for anything he was selling–he was asking for Orchidian’s thoughts regarding the usefulness of a particular tool—just the sort of thing Orchid is for…:-)…!

On the other hand, the five large photo adverts in no way related to the thread but inserted into the body of our posts were distracting and confusing–they looked like part of the posts they were partnered with due to the horizontal gray lines separating posts…

Janet in Jerusalem

@janetb, that is a good point that he was just asking for feedback. Though, the post that some users flagged was were @rdtymko pointed out where to buy it. Running a forum is hard. We want to make it welcoming and useful for everyone. Thanks for bearing with us as we figure it all out. :slight_smile:

And thank you also, @janetb, for the advertisement feedback. We’re still playing with the settings so I’ll keep your feedback in mind as we do that.

Those ads would fit perfectly to the right of the thread–even if it means removing the scroller, which does not add additional functionality over the regular browser scroller. Not clear why someone would want to know the order number of a post or its posting date…

Janet in Jerusalem