Soldering on textured surface

[Sandra]

Hello everyone, I'm busy trying to design my next project. Do you think it would be a problem to sweat solder on top of silver sheet which has been textured with a course mop texture wheel? (The kind with the metal spikes all around). I don't really have enough scrap to practice this on first. If so I need to make a few adjustments to my plans!

[Dennis]

No problem as such Sandra, but you will no doubt worry that some solder will run out over your texture and spoil it.

A precaution is to make a small bevel along the under edge of the part to be sweated on. This creates a tiny gap which will help to prevent solder from creeping out when it becomes liquid. Dennis.

[Sandra]

So you mean to file the edges at an angle, and the side that touches the textured piece is the smaller side of the bezel?

[Keia]

The way I work around not having the solder flow into textured parts is, I make a small mixture of jewellers rouge and methylated spirits into a thick paste (an old pestle & mortar will come in handy for this) then paint this paste onto any parts I don't want the solder to go. Be really careful though to not go any where near the parts you do want soldered

[Goldsmith]

If I was soldering bezels for setting stones onto a textured surface, I would clean the textured surface area where the bezel is going first, probably with a fibre glass pen, then flux the lower rim of the setting bezel with liquid borax and position it and then warm it with the torch to dry the flux, then add small pieces of fluxed solder inside the bezel and gently heat from the outside until the solder runs around the inner and through to the outer edge of the bezel. This should avoid solder flooding the textured surface. If there is any areas of solder visible on textured areas, a small textured punch and a hammer could be used to blend in any excess solder smoothness.

James

[Sandra]

Thank you for all the advice! I think I may use all of these tips. Is there a product on the market like the rouge mixture that exists?

[Dennis]

Hi Sandra, you have had lots of advice, but to answer your last question first, you can buy an antiflux called Contex from Fischer in Germany but on the whole it would not be worth the expense. I only use it occasionally when getting nervous about clogging up hinges.

I have made a rough sketch of a section showing the bevel when sweat soldering. A brief explanation is that a film of liquid between two sheets (in this case molten solder) has a concave edge, the meniscus. This stops the liquid flowing further unless overwhelmed by too much liquid. Making the bevel increases the size of the meniscus and its properties.

So you can use antiflux as described by Sian, or make a bevel, or both. there is of curse a third option, which is to use just the right amount of older for the job, neither too little nor too much... some hope.

As you might have already discovered, it can be worse to use too little solder, when sweat soldering, because it is difficult to add some later. Regards, Dennis.

[Goldsmith]

Thank you for all the advice! I think I may use all of these tips. Is there a product on the market like the rouge mixture that exists?

I use powdered rouge mixed to a paste with water, painted on with an old water colour paint brush. This is stored in an old 35mm. film cannister on my bench. But keep it away from the solder area as it stops solder flow.
http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery...prcode-998-193

James

[Wallace]

You can purchase powdered rouge to make up a solution. However, I find tippex works brilliantly -just make sure your fume extractor is on!

[medusa]

would the texture not result in a good connection? I ask because I've always textured after soldering because of worries around this.