Solder paste problems again!!!

[emroyjewels]

Hi - I really hope someone can help. I purchased a brand new tube of easy solder paste from cookies on Friday, but for some reason can't get it to work.

I'm new to soldering, so I don't know if it is me being silly, or if there is a problem with the paste itself.

I've followed all the advice here on various threads - cleaned the silver, made sure it is properly butted together, heated around the solder but not actually on it, and nothing is making it flow! I've been putting it on the inside of the jump ring joint, in the hope I can watch it flow through (using both the syringe, a pin, and cocktail sticks to no avail. All I keep getting is a powdery mess and no joint whatsoever. Tried heating the ring first, then adding solder and no joy.

I read on one thread you should melt the solder first, and pick it up when it is a molten ball. So following on from that I also tried putting a lump (technical term!) of solder on my block, and burning that to see if anything happened i.e. liquid, and again it just turned into a powdery mess.

I'm trying to solder jump rings, and am aware it won't work perfect first time but having messed up around 100 sterling silver rings I'm beginning to feel frustrated. I'm fairly patient, but running out rapidly.

Can one of you lovely people please tell me what I might be doing wrong/ how to fix it? Is there a possibility the paste is the problem, or am I just being useless?

Thank you! Em.

[daisychain]

The only time I've ever had solder paste (or any other form of solder) ball up into a crumbly mess is when the silver hasn't been hot enough. Remember that it's the heat of the silver that causes the solder to melt and flow, not the heat from the flame, and sometimes it can take longer than you think to heat the silver up.

I obviously can't actually see what you're doing, so sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs! When soldering jumprings (or bangles and rings for that matter) I do the following:

• I put the solder on the inside and heat from the outside so that the solder will flow through the join to the hottest part of the silver. So, when I see the solder on the outside I know that it's passed all the way through the join.
• I heat all the way round the jumpring/bangle/ring until the metal starts to go slightly redder in colour - this is seen best in dimmer light. The solder paste will also change slightly in appearance too, it might shrink slightly as some of the flux burns off.
• At this point I 'brush' across the join and the solder with the flame, and if eveything's the right temperature the solder will melt and flow. If the solder doesn't go almost immediately, go back to heating up the silver again. Do not focus the flame on the solder itself for more than a couple of seconds - if you do it will ball up and go crumbly.

The important thing to remember when you're soldering is to take your time, it's not something you can rush. And if you're holding your silver with anything like tweezers then they will draw heat away from the metal, so they need heating a bit too. And remember too, that everyone has trouble with soldering sometimes, no matter how long they've been doing this! typically I have problems with soldering when I'm demonstrating to a class, probably because I'm not giving it my full attention!

[mizgeorge]

What sort of torch are you using Em? And what sort of flame. It's possible that you're just not getting the silver hot enough, but burning the solder before the metal is hot enough to flow.

The melt solder first and pick techniques are both for use with paillons rather than paste.

For a single jump ring, try putting the ring flat on your soldering surface with the joint at the top. Put a bit of solder about the size of two pinheads (no more) on the outside of the ring - and at the top (if you imagine you're looking at the ring like an O it would be right at the top and almost touching the block. Heat from the bottom of the O, so the heat will work round to the top. The silver will get pretty red just before the solder flows.

I always recommend trying to actually melt a few jump rings before trying to solder them, just to get a feel for how how you can actually get the metal before it will melt. Once you have more confidence about this, you may feel more comfortable about getting the silver a lot hotter before focusing on the joint.

Good luck - it will suddenly all drop into place!

[Dennis]

Dear Em, I was sorry to hear of your problems with paste solder, so here are some ideas from me. First make sure

that your jumprings are closed as perfectly as possible, usig two flat pliers, one in each hand.Secondly use a

small flame from a hand held mini torch,with the air hole partially closed.The flame need only to be about 12mm

long.Play The flame around the ring first to warm the block and then heat the metal without playing the flame on

the solder.Soldering one jumprig could take around 7-8seconds so don't try to be too fast.Also Pick up new jump rings

with tweezers to keep them pristine.Hope this helps,Kind regards,Dennis.

[emroyjewels]

Thankyou thankyou!

Although I had read loads of different sets of instructions it wasn't sinking in - but I finally realised after reading the last 3 posts what I was doing wrong. I put the paste on the inside of the ring joint - and then had the joint facing away from me.

That's what I was doing wrong - obviously the solder was being drawn towards the heat i.e. me, and not towards the ring joint i.e. away from me. As soon as I read Daisy's comment on this, I realised exactly what I had been doing wrong - and it has now worked perfectly 5 times in a row. So now I have 100 ruined jump rings, and 5 nicely soldered ones!

Woohoo - thank you so much, you guys are the best.

[daisychain]

Thankyou thankyou!

Although I had read loads of different sets of instructions it wasn't sinking in - but I finally realised after reading the last 3 posts what I was doing wrong. I put the paste on the inside of the ring joint - and then had the joint facing away from me.

That's what I was doing wrong - obviously the solder was being drawn towards the heat i.e. me, and not towards the ring joint i.e. away from me. As soon as I read Daisy's comment on this, I realised exactly what I had been doing wrong - and it has now worked perfectly 5 times in a row. So now I have 100 ruined jump rings, and 5 nicely soldered ones!

Woohoo - thank you so much, you guys are the best.

Hurray!! Soldering can be so frustrating when it doesn't flow properly that sometimes all it takes is another pair of (in this case, virtual!) eyes!
Glad you've got it worked out now - have fun!