Pin back soldering help, please!

Jewelry Discussion
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Hi,

i haven’t soldered on a pin back in…forever…!

I am curious…what solder should I use?…medium?…or easy…

i have one solder join on the piece…a bezel…used hard solder…

the findings are so teeny tiny and thin…i am thinking “easy…?…

or would medium be better/ stronger join?

i normally use primarily hard…sometimes medium if there are +3-5/ many joins…i rarely use easy…so not too familiar with it…

any advice?

julie

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I would go with medium…Rob

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You’re talking about the 3 part pin back with a hinge, clasp and a pin right?

Those are deceptively tricky, especially the clasp component. It’s very easy to over heat the clasp, so it’s annealed and falls apart easily. It’s also very easy to have the solder creep up and solder the clasp closed.

Because of those issues I use easy solder, but medium is fine too. People have strong opinions about hard, medium and easy solder, but I think easy solder is plenty strong enough for this application.

Here’s my tips.

  1. Pre-melt a little bit of solder on the underside of the clasp and the hinge.
  2. Open the clasp so it’s neither fully open or fully closed (you can put a bit of solder resist, on the clasp if you want)
  3. Line up the hinge and clasp, then draw a line with a sharpie between the parts. The line will burn off, but will last long enough to help you solder them correctly. If the hinge and the clasp are not lined up well, the mechanism won’t function correctly.
  4. If possible heat from below from the underside of your object.
  5. Remember don’t over heat the clasp.

I think you said that you have a pulse arc welder Julie. Tacking the parts in line with a small weld can make the soldering process go easier.

Two other things.

The pin mechanism should be in the upper third of the object. If it’s at the halfway point or lower, the object will fall forward.

Remember that the clasp should sit kind of like a question mark so the pin is locked in by gravity in case it accidentally opens. (not an upside down question mark) I hope that makes sense!

Hope this helps! Good luck!!

Jeff

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