Soldering question

[Kathryn Harrison]

Hey there all.

I'm having a lot of trouble with melting wires in a design. It is a multipole soldering job (maybe 8 solder joins) and so far I have only used hard solder, to be honest I can't remember the last time I used easy solder and I'm not experienced with it at all but I'm having trouble with the last two or three joins adding decorative elements rather than structural. Can you use easy a couple of times in a job? If it helps they are two different parts although one wire might touch two parts I could use tweezers inbetween to try and draw away heart.

Thanks!

[Didi]

Hi Kathryn, Multiple soldering is always a bit tricky. Ive done a couple of wire cuffs with about 30-40 joins and used hard throughout. The spots where I had trouble were always spots I hadn't cleaned properly. Towards the end of one I used extra easy on the last few joints and it seemed to hold up ok with a couple of solderings. I think it worked best whenI was really careful bout where I targeted the flame.
Check out the Tallulah cuff on my blog.
Hope this is helpful and good luck.
Didi

[Tabby66]

Your Tallulah cuff is gorgeous Didi.

I start with hard solder and (this is going to sound very vague I think, sorry) depending on how many joins I have, I use that for a number of joins. Then, I will work down the solders from hard to extra easy (but rarely using medium......doesn't flow so well). It also depends on the comparative weights of the parts being joined as to when I move from one to the other. Bear in mind too that if you have a number of joins, you may join a number of them together with hard solder to make component parts which are then joined together with a different solder, e.g. easy solder.........if this doesn't make sense, just say and I'll try to explain what I mean again!!

[Didi]

Hi Jill, joining components together and then soldering sounds like a really good plan but I can see how it would create one bigger piece that needed more heat to get the solder flowing. I tried using medium solder once - never again! Extra easy solder is so incredibly fast that I have to look at it twice to check it's run and not just evaporated. Haven't used easy as I ordered exam easy by mistake and am using it up - slowly.
Does anyone know if easy and/or extra easy create a less solid joint that hard?
Jill, would love to see what you're making.
Didi

[Tabby66]

It does make the 'component parts' larger, but they are also more robust for being so and more manageable than many 'mini parts' joined at the same time......soldered joints when heated again, will hold to slightly higher temperatures than the original soldered joint, so you can solder a neighbouring part on without 'melting' the original join........whichever solder you use..

I have a number of pieces I am working on.....I'll try and take some pics, at the moment though, many of them are at final and setting stage....may wait and do a few start to finish.....

[Dennis]

Easy solder is what it says: easy in all respects. You begin to use it when you feel scared of overheating your piece by continuing with hard. Again it can be used sequentially two or three times.

Very easy solder flows at marginally lower temperatures, but the greyer colour can begin to show. I have never found the strength of these solders to be a problem when a piece is in use.

As mentioned above it is preferable not to build up a piece stage by stage so that it grows bigger and needs more heat. It is better to complete smaller components with hard solder and then join them with easy.

I have also found that if you have a larger torch where the flame can be adjusted to bushy (no fierce blue cone), then by careful heating to below soldering temperature in a darkened room (hardly glowing at all), the solder can be made to flow locally with a second hand held mini torch directed where needed.
This allows very convenient multi-soldering with the same grade of solder and less overall heat.

For examples see my album in the link below. Dennis.

[Goldsmith]

Kathryn, soldering multiple joints can be made easier by using a protection layer on early solder joints. I use a paste made up of rouge powder and water as a solder protection, I mix the paste up in a small plastic lidded container and paint the rouge paste on previous solder joints and heat gently to dry it out, and this prevents the earlier solder joints flowing when the job is re heated. This is an old trade way of preventing older solder joints from re flowing when attempting new solder joints nearby. After soldering wash the rouge powder off the piece before pickling otherwise you will get red pickle. Using a solder protection means you can do multiple soldering with the same grade of solder.

James

[Kathryn Harrison]

Hi Kathryn, Multiple soldering is always a bit tricky. Ive done a couple of wire cuffs with about 30-40 joins and used hard throughout. The spots where I had trouble were always spots I hadn't cleaned properly. Towards the end of one I used extra easy on the last few joints and it seemed to hold up ok with a couple of solderings. I think it worked best whenI was really careful bout where I targeted the flame.
Check out the Tallulah cuff on my blog.
Hope this is helpful and good luck.
Didi

I just wanted to say that Tallulah cuff is brilliant. I do feel a little silly not managing my 7-8 joins now. I've done similar things before with more joins so I'm not sure why I'm failing on this one.

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[Didi]

Hi Kathryn,
I think soldering is a bit of a dark art. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You probably know the rules as well as I do. My most oft' visited mistake is being too hasty and not cleaning everything properly.
Would love to see what you're making.
Didi

[Kathryn Harrison]

Hi Kathryn,
I think soldering is a bit of a dark art. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You probably know the rules as well as I do. My most oft' visited mistake is being too hasty and not cleaning everything properly.
Would love to see what you're making.
Didi

I'd love to go back to it not working right at the moment I didn't think I'd miss that but I think I'm having an over-agressive patch silly as is it is quicker to clean up and try again than to start over! Oddly I did just post something in show and tell. Thanks for the reassurance.





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