zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Jul 10, 2014 1:53:44 GMT -5
Let's say I'm soldering a bezel closed & have to stop because it shifts & is not lined up anymore. After lining it back up with tweezers, do I:
A) Put it back on the block & solder. B) Re-flux it & then put it back on the block & solder. C) Pickle, re-flux, & solder.
Soldering is my stumbling block. I want to know how you deal with similar situations. Lynn
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Post by radio on Jul 10, 2014 5:35:31 GMT -5
I reflux just to be safe because I have melted one or three bezels trying to save time. Many times, what happens is the ends of the bezel will melt just enough that it creates a gap and you have to form a whole new bezel. This is made worse if you have a small flame and have it a tad too hot
Make sure you have well mated flat ends on the bezel and don't have a lot of tension on the bezel in the way of spring action holding the ends together. They need to line up and stay put without much pressure. The better the ends mate up, the less trouble you will have with them slipping. Also, make sure you play the flame on both sides of the join to keep the heat distribution even. Sometimes a temp difference from one side to the other can cause them to become misaligned. Use a good flux like Batterns or pripps. As it heats, it bubbles and hardens which helps hold things in place until the piece is well heated and less likely to slip. I use a needle tipped flux bottle and apply one drop rather than try to brush it on
How are you applying the solder? Are you using a solder pick and pallions, or using a stick of wire solder?
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on Jul 10, 2014 17:23:51 GMT -5
I snip a bit of solder off the wire & place it on my charcoal block. I then set the bezel with the join just on top of the solder. When the bezel gets hot enough to melt the solder it drops down flat on the block. Lynn
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Post by radio on Jul 10, 2014 17:35:04 GMT -5
I snip a bit of solder off the wire & place it on my charcoal block. I then set the bezel with the join just on top of the solder. When the bezel gets hot enough to melt the solder< it drops down flat on the block> Lynn That will work, but get yourself a titanium solder pick. Just place the solder snippet or pallion on the solder board and play the flame over the solder and the tip of the pick while touching the solder with it. The solder will stick to the pick and when the bezel is at soldering temp, just touch the solder to the join and you have a neat soldering job. an alternate method would be to flux the join and place your solder on it with tweezers before heating, but this can be frustrating at times. A solder pick is the way to go when you only need a small amount of solder to do the job(cheers)
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bentiron
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since September 2011
Posts: 85
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Post by bentiron on Jul 13, 2014 19:22:13 GMT -5
When using wire solder I run it through the rolling mill to flatten it so the pallions don't roll away but are now flat. If you don't have a rolling mill just tap the wire solder with a hammer to make it flat. Solder picks are nice to have, I got some titanium bicycle spokes from the bike shop near my home, for free, and made my own picks, notice I said "picks" since they are always getting misplaced. A length of dowel from the home center, a drill bit smaller than the spoke and I made four from one spoke, I also flattened one side of the dowel so the don't roll of the soldering station. I use Handy Flux paste flux and brush it on then apply the pallion of solder using my pick after the flux is liquid. I use #75 "hard" solder for bezels and just follow the instructions that "radio" has posted.
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