Super extra totally easy solder

Jewelry Discussion
1

But not lead solder or ‘staybrite’. I have been making RT/pancake
blanking dies for a long time and the last few years I’ve taken to
soldrering things to them. Low profile sculptural embossing elements,
decorative wire embossing elements , and stop jigs for locating metal
stock/strips in them . Problem is that the heat needed for easy solder
and cadmium bearing GF solder can distort the dies, causing real
alignment problems. The other problem is that staybrite and lead
soders are not strong enough to hold up to the torture of hydraulc
forming environments.

I monkey melted easy silver solder and staybrite together and came up
with a relatively functional hybrid solder . It melts higher and
performs better than staybrite; it melts lower and distorts less than
easy. Roughly half and half , and I’m guessng it melts around 700 F.
and works with staybrite flux.

But surely this is not the pinnacle of brazing technology in the 21st
century. Isn’t there some solder that is like what I Frankensteinishly
created, only …I don’t know…already made?. Dar

2 
    Problem is that the heat needed for easy solder and cadmium
bearing GF solder can distort the dies, causing real alignment
problems.

Opticians use a silver solder that operates at 610 C (1130 F). Great
for making specs, getting those solder-on hinges positioned and
aligned just right. I’d say it’s a type of brazing stick like Easy-Flo
45 (45%sil 1125�F/605�C solidus 1145�F/620�C liquidus) or H&H
Braze450, Engelhard Silvaloy A-45 or A-56.

Brian
B r i a n � A d a m
w o r k s h o p s 2 0 0 1

3

Dar, Precious Metals West just introduced an “extra easy” gold solder
that might be worth discussing with them. I don’t remember the exact
melting point, but it relies on the same element that made the plumb
platinum solders possible: I think it’s gallium. Anyway, you can
check them out at http://www.preciousmetalswest.com or give them a
call at 800-999-7528 for more info.

Suzanne