Soldering weeny things...?
Hello :)
So last night something odd happened. I was trying to solder a little piece of sterling tube (2.5 x 3.5mm) to a little piece of sheet (maybe a quarter inch square and 0.5mm thick). And the solder wouldn't flow. Now normally I'm fine soldering a bezel to a base plate, but normally, I'd be using medium solder and it'd be bigger. For this one I was using hard solder (why not it was the first join), and it was a smaller piece of sheet than I'd ever used before. First time round I probably didn't use enough flux, but I pickled cleaned and tried again and still no. It got to glowy melty hot both times, but the solder sat there in a stubborn lump. On the third attempt it got so hot it pitted - so i'll be starting again.
All I can think is maybe I heated it too fast? the little pieces seemed to get hot very quickly and I guess had a small surface area to cool down. Is it possible to heat something so fast it 'misses' solder flowing temp?
Either that or its some weirdery about using tube?
I'd be greatful for any ideas :)
Thanks,
Faith