Borax dish

[susieq]

This is kept in a test tube with Borax which I grind to a milky (and very runny) consistency.

Thanks metalsmith

That sounds very interesting - never knew soldering grain existed, although I tend to try and use hard solder and avoid easy. What ratio of borax to solder do you use? And do you mix up a fresh batch for each soldering session?

Susie

[Dennis]

The mix is applied from the brush to the join and runs into it from the start although the coarse-ground remains on the join as the join is too fine for the powder to enter. However, it doesn't have to sit - as the pallions do - on top of the jump ring and 'find' the joint to seal. Hope this helps

It looks as if you could try this out for a small job, by filing solder onto a folded sheet of paper and tipping the filings into the borax mix. Something I have seen recommended for filigree too.

You would avoid all the smoke and uncertainties of the dreaded solder paste. Dennis.

[metalsmith]

Thanks metalsmith

That sounds very interesting - never knew soldering grain existed, although I tend to try and use hard solder and avoid easy. What ratio of borax to solder do you use? And do you mix up a fresh batch for each soldering session?

Susie

I'll maybe post a photo on here tomorrow. The tube sits with <10mm of grain and about double that of dilute borax over and above that. The grain is essentially borax-wetted grain rather than paste. I get most of the liquid off the brush before applying. I mix a batch and it will last me for a few sessions or a few weeks if I don't do much. Longevity doesn't seem to be a problem.

Yes, I think Dennis' idea is good, but tbh I tried with a few £ of solder grain and have never looked back...

[Moon Willow]

Soldering with me is still somewhat hit and miss although getting better with advice given on the forum - I generally use borax but recently for a chain with lots of jump rings I have used auflux.

The advantage of auflux was that my pallions of solder didn't dance like demented fleas as I heated the piece - the pallions stayed where they were placed before flowing; the downside was that as I am not very experienced in soldering and it was hard to tell when the rings were the correct temperature for the solder to flow as there was no change in colour of the auflux.

With borax, I can see the various changes in colour of the flux and have a much better understanding of when piece is heated enough for the solder to flow; the downside is that I need to heat slowly to stop the solder jumping off the join first and even then no matter how careful I am they often still jump off. I have tried pick soldering, but have had little success at this as once balled up the solder seems to stick to everything but the join I am trying to attach it to.

My biggest problem, other than crappy solder joins, is fire scale. I tend to just use borax on the metal to protect it, but sometimes it seems to flake off when heating. I'm assuming this is because the metal isn't completely grease free, but I pickle and rinse first which I would have thought would clean it enough, but doesn't. I do use the green scourers/emery paper to clean up joints first, but find it hard not to end up rounding up the edges I'm wanting to solder.

I guess the answer is practice practice and then practice some more.

Borax by its very nature always bubbles up when heated and i have soldered thousands of rings in my lifetime, the knack to soldering.

Starts with your tweezers, I always file them into a point (enables me to pick up my little pieces of solder)

It's strange but unlike everyone (almost) I've never cut up my solder and put it into wet flux (borax) this is because when you grab the solder
you'll have flux on your tweezers.

I'm already on record as saying that the flux in syringe solder is hard to control and runs everywhere too quickly with the solder close behind,
the acuflux (or similar) is basically water so when heated doesn't bubble up like borax (covering the solder ) and this is why the bottom piece
of solder runs and the top bit remains lumpy.

The trick of soldering your jump ring is to mix your borax to a paste, flash a little heat onto your piece (not too much that your brush sticks)
dab a little onto the join ....... next bit is important..... you need to heat the borax till it rises and settles down to become STICKY brown, and
as soon as this happens you need to place the solder onto the join, (the flame moves away as the solder goes on) wait too long and the
borax will set (hard)

The technique to covering your work completely with borax is to keep heating it gently and keep painting the borax on until it doesn't peel back.

Sorry this reply took so long I haven't been able to get onto the site since Friday.

Carlton