I’m driving myself insane trying to make my bezel completely flush with no light shining through before soldering to backplate.
I’ve tried sanding it in circles, figure eight, one direction, sandpaper, files. any way I try it there’s always some sort of space between part of the bezel and the backplate. And I do all these sort of gymnastics trying to hold it down while soldering to make sure the whole thing is soldered. Theres gotta be something I’m doing wrong but I can’t figure it out to save my life
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Please keep me on Ganoskin
I solder a ton of bezels to back plates and here’s my advice:
Make your bezel to fit your cab and then prepare the back plate. Anneal both the bezel and the back plate. This might be a step that you are missing- when the metal anneals while you are soldering, it moves. After anealing, refit and sand both pieces. It’s great to get a light tight connection, but sometimes there can be very very small gaps and it will work out. Just not gaps that you could fit a paper through. Flux it and solder it and pull the solder with the flame.
Good luck! Feel free to DM me if you would like any help.
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Thank you very much. I may end up messaging you too😅
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Good advice regarding annealing both the bezel and back plate before soldering. Metal moves as it is heated as a result of expansion and contraction. Annealing reduces this movement. When soldering, move the torch around the entire assembly so that it all gets up to soldering temperature at the same rate, then focus heat such that you are pulling the solder through the joint. I place pallions on the inside and the pull solder to the outside. Since I am a lapidary with lots of lapidary tools, I can adjust the stone as needed if it is a little tight. I also use my 600 grit diamond disc to finish filing the bottom surface of the bezel so that it is as flat as I can get it. Good luck…Rob
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Hi,
…curious…how big is the bezel/ cab?
do you put the stone in the bezel while sanding?
julie
Ok. Here is my soldering a bezel Tips and Tricks from soldering workshops I teach. Please do not publicly re-publish as I do rely on teaching for incomeI and I can’t afford to pay lawyers. They already make too much money.
bezel soldering. .pdf (18.5 KB)
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Jo…thanks for sharing what is obviously a result of much experience soldering bezels to back plates. I have thought of using super glue near a solder joint, but have not done it for fear that it will contaminate the solder. I will give it a try next time. When I am soldering a bigger than usual bezel to a back plate, once the bezel is shaped to the stone, I leave the stone in the bezel and then tack the bezel in place with my pulse arc welder. Lacking a pulse arc welder, your suggestions about using a graver to raise anchors is a great idea. As always, thanks for the benefit of your experience…Rob
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Super tips. Thank you
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