stick soldering

[Truffle & Podge]

Ok so in my soldering class I learnt a new technique, soldering directly from the soldering strip. I kinda enjoy the really clean seam you get & the fact that it eliminates any chance of the pallions pooling a little at the site where they are placed. Was just wondering who uses this technique & if you use it frequently?

[mizgeorge]

I use it a lot for long joins (boxes and large clasps for example) and also if I'm using copper solder, which is tiresome to cut!

[CJ57]

I use it if I have a big piece to do too or if I haven't cut enough pallions and I take it along the seam

[Patstone]

I may give this a try as when I place pallions, quite often they will jump off and seem to be almost repelled by the main item almost like magnetic in reverse. Then I have to spend time placing either new pallions or finding the old ones so everything cools down again. Do you have to hammer the solder first or cut it in thin strips or use just as it comes.

[enigma]

Pat, that will be the flux bubbling up, if you apply the heat more slowly to start with you should be able to avoid it

[CJ57]

I may give this a try as when I place pallions, quite often they will jump off and seem to be almost repelled by the main item almost like magnetic in reverse. Then I have to spend time placing either new pallions or finding the old ones so everything cools down again. Do you have to hammer the solder first or cut it in thin strips or use just as it comes.

Also flux your pallions, warm the piece slowly, they may move but it's possible to keep the heat going gently and just use the tweezers to push them back in line. If they are jumping off completely the it's as sarah says and it's too hot too quickly. I'm going back to using a borax cone instead of auflux, I think everything was more stable with borax as it wasn't so liquid
With the hard solder, I always cut down the width of it maybe 5 or 6 times, I do this to cut pallions anyway, fold the rest back which will give you a hand hold on the solder strip and leave one for soldering with. Rub it down with the file, flux and off you go. It will take a bit of practise to get rhythm going on big pieces and to judge when it's hot enough to put the solder to the work. I don't really use it on small soldering jobs.

[Patstone]

Dont you hammer the solder to tissue paper thin first, so the first puff of breath and it almost floats away, let alone heat.

[Patstone]

Tried and found it perfect ... thank you for sharing

Just read your post again about soldering, you mention bushy flame, I can't alter the flame as its either lit or not. No way of adjusting. Perhaps try holding it further away.

[Dennis]

Pat, I have been brooding about your description of hammering out solder to be paper thin. Actually I think it needs to be at least say 0.4mm thick, so that when you cut up pallions, the sides can be gripped with fine tweezers.

Also for most situations, I would struggle to fill a joint with solder, using paper thin pallions. Dennis.

[CJ57]

Pat, I have been brooding about your description of hammering out solder to be paper thin. Actually I think it needs to be at least say 0.4mm thick, so that when you cut up pallions, the sides can be gripped with fine tweezers.

Also for most situations, I would struggle to fill a joint with solder, using paper thin pallions. Dennis.

You would definitely need to place them alongside each other rather than at intervals to provide you with enough solder on a seam. They need to be thick enough to pick up and place tight into the seam, much easier to manoeuvre and control if there is any movement