Soldering gaps

It's been a slightly frustrating spell of soldering. What would you do with gaps appearing in your bezels? I think the rectangular one I made the inner step too small. With the round one it opened up when soldering.

Attachment 12952
Attachment 12953

Yes it can be jolly annoying, and happens if you heat it too hot or for too long.

It cant be filled just with solder, because it will keep running out. So fit in some tiny snips of silver scrap that have been beaten very thin.
No matter if they stick out. They can be filed flush later.

I also keep a little tube of swarf, the curly bits you get when drilling, because they can be snipped and packed for the purpose. Dennis.

Thanks Dennis, your help is invaluable :) Do you use the same temperature solder to solder in the scrap as you did for the original join?
As you probably know by now, I'm a little bit of an anxious person. I tend to worry about constantly reheating my piece and perhaps the solder deteriating/ eating into the silver. Maybe it's an unnecessary worry.

Another question, how do you know how much solder to use to solder a step into a bezel? And how do you tell it's gone right round without overheating your bezel? Are these just things that come with experience?

Which solder to use depends a bit on how many more soldering steps are needed, but generally the same as I used before. it will match better too.

As mentioned before, if a slightly darker colour is not a problem (i.e.for an out of sight joint) X easy solder is a good way to increase your scope.

Fixing the inner step, is done by adding an unsoldered ring, or tube within a tube. If there is no back plate you only need to tack it in two places, so it can't move when setting. I never worry about having a perfect join. If a line shows on the reverse and you don't like it, you can burnish it and/or add more solder with it upside down. Dennis.