Soldering

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 09:09:53 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "News Admin"
wrote:

I think I'll experiment with some steel wire I have around - looks like I
need my plumbers type blow lamp as well as the mini torch has difficulties
and the first one relaxed and spread a little as I ended up using a gas hob
for plenty of heat.!!!!


Steel wire might not be good practice. Steel behaves very differently from
silver. Practice instead with some copper wire if you like. You'll need a more
active flux, perhaps, but the thermal characteristics are fairly close.

Peter

Test This! wrote:
Hello, I am trying to solder some silver wire, D shaped 8mm x 2mm (into a
bangle) and I am having problems.

Firstly the solder runs away from the top of the join leaving a gap,
secondly the heat is starting to damage the edge.

I have a few to do and the first is a reject (no real problem I will have
it) but I want to do a decent job.



Good to see someone is doing something!!. Its been quiet, guess its
summer!!.
So as to soldering bangles. Ill start right at the beginning in this
production process
As some of you might know, bangles were probably my best product over
the years and I made more of these than any other jewellery.
Soldering the joint is one of the trickiest jobs especially if you make
bangles of multi strand different wires in differennt metals.
Getting the metal to the soldering stage is another skill alltogether.
so what enabled me to make fast, accurate and strong butt joints?.

I always made several bangles at once , coiling the metal on a tapered
wooden triblet. Ie,differnt sizes to suit differnt hands .Consequently
no problems with the ends not being truly circular.
then I cut them off using a minature circular metal cutting saw.
this had a high speed steel blade lubricated with bees wax.
then Id line up the bangle so it was round not like a part of a coil.
then Id use a linishing belt set up vertically in front of me.

This had a belt some 2in wide with a grit of 320.
Id place the 2 ends of the bangle on each side of the running belt and
press together. the belt will then grind the butt end true to the other
side. However I then turned the bangle over and grind the other side
pressing the bangle together.
that way it vould take only 20 sec a side to get the buts absolutely
true to each other.
when all say 10 bangles were done this way. Id next join them.
Id over spring the ends so that they were in compression. I placed a
piece of say 1mm round easyflo solder no longer than the width between
the butt ends. this was held in place by the aforemnentioned sprinyness
of the bangle.
I propped the bangle up against a piece of carbon block so I would see
the bangle in the round, not edge on.
Id flux well using easyflo stainless steel grade, a reactive flux. heat
with an oxy propane flame the joint area only.Depending on the
thickness, this woud take no longer than 30 secs.
As the heat built up youd see the bangle close up and the solder flow
throught the joint and overflow a little.
I pick up the bangle( yes!! with tongs) when the solder had set and drop
in very dilute sulfuric acid.Old battery acid 50/50 with tap water.

Then when all say 10 were done like this Id pick out of the acid and
boil up in water with some wash up liquid to act as a neutraliser.
then to proceed. When dry....
Id also true up on a steel triblet to make it truely round and also from
the sides so the bangle was flat.

then I move on to the finishing.
thats another ball game on its own.
Needless to say the above 10 would not take more than a hour to process.
Hope this helps.

Steel wire might not be good practice. Steel behaves very differently
from
silver. Practice instead with some copper wire if you like. You'll need
a more
active flux, perhaps, but the thermal characteristics are fairly close.

Not to solder but to hold it together!

Are you using silver solder and the correct flux? If not you can get silver
solder in several melting temperatures at a local hardware store or by
ordering it from a jewelry supply company like Santa Fe Jewelers Supply.

"Test This!" wrote in message
...
Hello, I am trying to solder some silver wire, D shaped 8mm x 2mm (into a
bangle) and I am having problems.

Firstly the solder runs away from the top of the join leaving a gap,
secondly the heat is starting to damage the edge.

I have a few to do and the first is a reject (no real problem I will have
it) but I want to do a decent job.