Advice needed on blowtorch
Hi,
I am not a jeweller, but I am a musical instrument maker that uses silver soldering. For a little while now I have been having a problem with certain jobs with the silver not melting or fluxing, which can be very frustrating. I use a 'Bullfinch' propane torch. The funny fhing is that I don't recall having always had this problem. Does the torch give less heat as the bottle gets emptier ? Should I be using another make of torch ? I have had this torch for well over 30 years. I have one bigger nozzle that gives more heat but the flame is very big.
I need to solve this problem as the job can become very messy to clean when it has been under the torch for so long just to get the solder to melt and flow.
Thanks for any advice guys !
Silver solder will not melt ?
Hi,
I am really struggling here because I have been silver soldering for years without much of a problem and now suddenly what should be relatively easy jobs have been almost impossible, I'm tearimg my hair out as I cannot understand what the problem is ? Let me first of all explain that I am not a jeweller but I am a musical instrument maker and do a lot of silver soldering.
I am soldering brass in various thicknesses both flats and tubes. I am using materials I always have used i.e. easy flo flux powder and the lower temp' melting silver solder wire. However, suddenly the wire solder will not melt and flow no matter how much flux I use. This morning I have been trying to do a job which I have done many times but it just will not work ? I was thinking that the propane torch is suddenly not giving enough heat, but, the brass is glowing red and ready to start melting ! Surely at that temperature the silver solder should melt and flow ?
Any ideas ? THANKS !