But still: What can be done or used to have prettier soft soldered joint?
-
Use as little as possible. TIX brand soft solder is a bit
harder/stronger than some of the others, and melts lower, so it may
let you use less. Plus, it tends to stay brighter than some others.
But it’s still a white soft solder. -
Do the job some other way. Laser welders and PUK welders, for
example, can often directly weld things that one used to have to use
soft solders for. Even if you don’t have the equipment, some pieces
are worth jobbing out so someone who does have the equipment, in
order to avoid the unfortunate use of soft solders. Other options may
include cold joints, like rivets or screws, or the like. A few cases
might even be appropriate for some glues, which aren’t much better
than soft solders for strength, but at least, can sometimes be less
visually obvious. -
And if you must use soft solder, it can often be gold plated
(brush platers are good for such spot plating. Not always a great
quality plate, but you usually only need a bit of coverage to mask
the obvious color difference. There used to be, and may still, be a
product specifically marketed to give a copper plate to soft solder
just by brushing on. You might even get the same thing just with
copper sulphate solution or well used (bluish color) pickle. Not
sure about that, but try it. The copper color isn’t a match for
yellow gold either, but is closer, and might be less obvious.
Hope that helps.
Peter Rowe