Such a thing as flexible soldering board/medium?

[callirrhoejewellery]

I don't know if what I am looking for exists. I want to start creating cluster settings but as I am a contemporary jeweller they aren't going to be traditional settings.

I have a soft soldering board which enables me to stick wires and such into it but this only holds pieces steady vertically, if you understand.

I'm looking for something with the texture of plasticine or clay, something that I can stick my settings into so they won't budge so I can solder the bottom. The closest I've come to finding anything that will work is laying out a cluster setting in plasticine, using casting investment to pour around the setting layout and pulling away the clay after it's set. Then you are free to solder the bottom of the piece. This seems like quite a palaver to me.

Any ideas on what could be used? Would Delft sand work do you think?

[mizgeorge]

Would it work to hack up a bit of soldering brick, which is soft enough to carve easily, or use soldering grain in a pan (like an annealing pan)?

[CJ57]

I'm not quite nderstanding what you mean by soldering the bottom piece so forgive me if I've got it completely wrong. Questions have been asked before about soldering settings or granulation to curved surfaces for example a ring, and I'm sure someone said superglue

[Dennis]

One thing I have done from time to time is squeezed out Technoflux, which comes in a tube and is intended to protect items from heat.

Once you have a little mound of this you can support small items in it for soldering and it is ready straight away.

However if you already have investment, then the parts to be soldered can be connected with hard wax run onto joints with the tip of a heated spatula or carver, then partially embedded and the wax removed again with boiling water from a kettle.

Also it might be possible to use a few drops of superglue, which can be burned off with a flame after investing.

Dennis.

[callirrhoejewellery]

Thanks for your answers guys! I'm looking for something with the texture of plasticine. Sounds like Dennis' suggestion might be what I am looking for.

Basically I am looking to solder many prong settings together to create a cluster-type setting so I need some sort of heat resistant medium to stick them in and hold them in place. I will have a look at the Technoflux.

[callirrhoejewellery]

I think I've found something similar that will work!

A soldering clay, just what I need!

http://www.ottofrei.com/Store/Fluxes-Soldering-Aids/Thermo-Fix-Soldering-Clay.html

EDIT: Even better - this stuff looks perfect (and cheaper!) from Riogrande https://www.riogrande.com/Product/Extra-Hands-Positioning-and-Insulating-Compound/502032

[Aurarius]

Basically I am looking to solder many prong settings together to create a cluster-type setting so I need some sort of heat resistant medium to stick them in and hold them in place. I will have a look at the Technoflux.
I'm not sure why you need to hold the separate settings in place before soldering them together.

If I were making a cluster setting I'd start by soldering short sections of tube together. When heat is applied, the flux will bubble up and force the tubes apart slightly but, as soldering progresses, the tubes will draw together again (helped, if necessary, by a nudge from your soldering pick), and once the solder flows the tubes will all zip together as if by magic.

Once you've got solder to flow between all the tubes by heating from above you can flip the setting over and pull the solder through from the back with more heat. Then you can drill down through the gaps between the tubes, and elsewhere as necessary, and solder in the prongs, again applying heat from above and below in turn to make sure the solder flows right through.

Are you making cluster settings that are radically different from this that simply can't be done without some kind of supporting structure?

If, as you say, what you are wanting to solder together is several existing prong settings, then your job should be even easier than starting out from tube.

If you're really worried about the separate components drifting apart during soldering, couldn't you use one of those small round ceramic soldering blocks with tiny holes all over through which you can insert the pins that come with the block to keep your components together at all times during soldering?

[saskiagav]

Or try fire cement-it's used for fixing chimneys I think, youlll get it at a hardware place. Maybe it's what you've got.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[china]

Fire cement will set hard like " cement " and would need to be chipped off

[callirrhoejewellery]

Thank you! This sounds exactly what I am trying to do, I am worried that the different components will drift apart during soldering. I am self taught and trying to find good information on cluster settings has proven challenging. I am creating cluster settings that combine rough and faceted stones so the individual settings are not uniform and I am probably attempting something way, way beyond what I can do haha. I will certainly buy some tubing and try what you've suggested.

[Dennis]

Looking back at your original post, you already have a method to hand that would serve you well. You say it's a bit of a palaver, but the other methods or variants are a palaver too. Palaver is the name of the game.

The alternative is to buy ready mades but they only work well with standard sized stones. Dennis.