Soldering

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whiskers

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Dec 31, 2015
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Location
Peterborough Ontario Canada
Hi guys
I couldn’t stand soldering in high school and I’m pretty sure my stance hasn’t changed.
I need to do some soldering on brass hinges.
I’ve been looking at irons on Amazon along with solder, flux, etc.
I’m looking for opinions on what iron to buy and what size solder (I assume the smallest in diameter). I’m in Canada so if the choices could be found on Amazon it would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
 
Most, if not all, trouble with soldering could be resolved with a. super clean surfaces, b. close contact with soldering parts
Soldering isn't hard, but you have to understand the process and follow simple rules
- Absolutely clean surfaces from grease and oxidation. As part of preparations, clean surfaces with sandpaper to remove oxidation.
- soldering parts shouldn't have any gaps between them. This is A must!
- small\thin surfaces\parts require less temperature to heat the surface, therefore an iron with low watts, large surfaces, and thick surfaces will require more heat and more watt iron.
- Tin solder will melt at 231.9°C until both of your parts reach this temperature, the solder will not melt.
- I use Forney soldering/tinning flux, I like it a lot!

Why not use a butane torch and silver soldering\paste?
 
Y.T. said:
This is exactly what I use. Thanks Jimsky. I recall the paste syringe cost me about $30 and the burner $15.
Click to expand...
Once you learn the butane torch it is hard to go back to soldering iron. However, not all jobs you can do with the torch. unless you are using a jeweler's torch, you will need oxygen as well as butane. Then you will need a regulated...kinda investment. The price for a silver paste is about right, and it is not the full syringe only a quarter of it. But it will last you for a very long time. You will need a small amount of it.

61yNPzyjpVS._AC_SL1000_.jpg
 
A soldering torch is nice, but soldering simple electrical connections like those below would turn my model into a fireship. Gotta use the right tool for the job... :D

632 Solder LED's With Resistors Between Wires.jpg


I used to struggle with hot iron soldering, until I changed the solder. The cheap solder that came with the iron was solid, and higher tin content, and didn't play well with paste flux either. It would not coat to the iron or stick to anything else no matter ho high the temperature. VERY frustrating! After buying some new flux core solder from another brand, soldering became SUPER easy to do! Good control of amount of deposit, great bonding, and you could even sculpt the solder with the iron if you wanted to. Night and day difference. For soldering small parts, where you just want to fill a seam and have zero extra solder to file away or remove, torch soldering with solder past seems the way to go, especially if you want micro-fillets on the joints that are even and bump/ripple-free. The two most common model parts that require soldering for strength are rudder gudgeons and posts, and chainwales. Can anyone suggest a good inexpensive torch to buy ?
 
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DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
Can anyone suggest a good inexpensive torch to buy ?
Click to expand...
What could be expensive for one, might inexpensive for another. Technically any butane torch will do the job. However, for my own taste, I would look for a few key components: a bigger tank for butane and a flow regulator. The bigger tank would assure enough capacity for longer soldering jobs. The less thing you would want empty tank while soldering... The flow regulator would give you the freedom to choose the length of the flame, very important for various jobs.

I use Bonjour torch, don't laugh, it is designed for Culinary / Crème Brûlée. I am extremely happy, It allows me to do all kinds of soldering tasks. BTW, I use it to solder Royal Charles emblems and trunion for all gun barrels in my cannon reviews.

1682902914182.jpeg

Here is exactly the one I have:

 
Jimsky said:
What could be expensive for one, might inexpensive for another. Technically any butane torch will do the job. However, for my own taste, I would look for a few key components: a bigger tank for butane and a flow regulator. The bigger tank would assure enough capacity for longer soldering jobs. The less thing you would want empty tank while soldering... The flow regulator would give you the freedom to choose the length of the flame, very important for various jobs.

I use Bonjour torch, don't laugh, it is designed for Culinary / Crème Brûlée. I am extremely happy, It allows me to do all kinds of soldering tasks. BTW, I use it to solder Royal Charles emblems and trunion for all gun barrels in my cannon reviews.

View attachment 372185

Here is exactly the one I have:

Click to expand...
Did you solder the King's emblems on the cannon barrels? Those look great!
 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
I can't even see any solder! Fine workmanship.
Click to expand...
no hiding secrets to the SOS family: good surface cleaning and alignment (no gaps) and a very, very small amount of the soldering paste. heat only base, not the emblem. When the base reaches a temperature of solder melt - it is all done. :)
 
whiskers said:
Hi guys
I couldn’t stand soldering in high school and I’m pretty sure my stance hasn’t changed.
I need to do some soldering on brass hinges.
I’ve been looking at irons on Amazon along with solder, flux, etc.
I’m looking for opinions on what iron to buy and what size solder (I assume the smallest in diameter). I’m in Canada so if the choices could be found on Amazon it would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
Click to expand...
If you are doing brass, and small parts, a soldering iron with a fine tip has served me well over the years. After cleaning the parts, coat each one with a thin layer of solder. Then put them in contact and heat one piece until the solder melts. That's all there is to it.
 
whiskers said:
Hi guys
I couldn’t stand soldering in high school and I’m pretty sure my stance hasn’t changed.
I need to do some soldering on brass hinges.
I’ve been looking at irons on Amazon along with solder, flux, etc.
I’m looking for opinions on what iron to buy and what size solder (I assume the smallest in diameter). I’m in Canada so if the choices could be found on Amazon it would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
Click to expand...
Hi Whiskers:
As mentioned by other folks on this forum, get yourself a small Butane torch along with Silver Solder and Silver Solder Flux. It'll cost you about $50.00 (U.S.) plus shipping. Take a look at the Micro-Mark tools website and you'll find these products in their online catalog. Make sure the parts you are soldering are absolutely clean and you'll find out that this is the way most modelers do their soldering. Good luck!

Bert Shoemaker, Aiken, SC
 
whiskers said:
Hi guys
I couldn’t stand soldering in high school and I’m pretty sure my stance hasn’t changed.
I need to do some soldering on brass hinges.
I’ve been looking at irons on Amazon along with solder, flux, etc.
I’m looking for opinions on what iron to buy and what size solder (I assume the smallest in diameter). I’m in Canada so if the choices could be found on Amazon it would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
Click to expand...
1. 20 to 40 watt iron, small rip (you can always file the tip down to a point is it helps. Tips are expendible).
2. Smallest diameter solder you can get. NO acid core flux. Buy a separate water based flux.
3. You also need needle files, sandpaper, rags, paint thinner/alcohol/lacquer thinner for cleanup. Just get what you need as you need them.
4. Soldering is very easy. You just need to practice.
 
I used to do electronic projects and wasn't too bad with an iron, but that didn't hold up trying to soldier chain plates and especially parrels for an 1850's ship.
I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on the subject and using a butane pen-torch, have gotten to where the result is functional and not too terrible looking. I since bought a bigger torch, but haven't used that for more than shrink tubing as yet
81GqzPC4+6L._SL1500_.jpg


con20180501a.jpg con20170523d.jpg con20180529b.jpgcon20180601a.jpgcon20180601d.jpg
 
I've found that soft solder is easy to do but I always got too much solder on the work. Silver solder(the paste type) is much more precise but a bit more difficult to do. Also silver solder blackens much, much easier than soft solder. Silver solder doesn't seem quite as sensitive to cleanliness as soft solder but still the key to soldering is clean, clean, clean. By clean I mean shiny metal. No oxidation. Cleaning with solvents has no effect. Cleaning with acid is good.
 
Here are my soldering buddies for making hooks, eyes, etc...For soldering wires I am using Weller solder station, 40W.

Solder3.jpg

Those small pieces are solder wire cut and then flattened by squeezing them to make flakes. Those flakes are put on the area where soldering has to be done, the easiest is to put a bit of a solder paste on the spot and then put a flake on that paste. Paste will grab the flake and keep it there.. Sometimes the flake just melt and run of the let say hook so I have to do it again.....

For jewelry paste solder no need for solder paste; just very small amount of paste is required on the solder spot..

Solder2.jpg

Solder.jpg

And, as mentioned before, the solder area must be clean of any residue (several cleaning solutions are available) and almost perfectly connected. For that I use wire cutter that leave flat cut so the two ends of lets say hook can touch itself. This way the solder is perfect..

Some of the work..

santamaria528-jpg.370688

Happy modelling..
 
My career has been electronics so I have done tons of soldering over the years. I mostly use a soldering pencil because that is what I am comfortable with, but for jobs with larger masses of metal (usually brass) I also use a small torch. I have a video on metalwork on a model I made recently and there are some tips and demonstrations in there. Basically, what was said earlier is true. Clean the metal well with fine sandpaper and flux it shortly after cleaning should solve many problems.

 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
A soldering torch is nice, but soldering simple electrical connections like those below would turn my model into a fireship. Gotta use the right tool for the job... :D

View attachment 372184


I used to struggle with hot iron soldering, until I changed the solder. The cheap solder that came with the iron was solid, and higher tin content, and didn't play well with paste flux either. It would not coat to the iron or stick to anything else no matter ho high the temperature. VERY frustrating! After buying some new flux core solder from another brand, soldering became SUPER easy to do! Good control of amount of deposit, great bonding, and you could even sculpt the solder with the iron if you wanted to. Night and day difference. For soldering small parts, where you just want to fill a seam and have zero extra solder to file away or remove, torch soldering with solder past seems the way to go, especially if you want micro-fillets on the joints that are even and bump/ripple-free. The two most common model parts that require soldering for strength are rudder gudgeons and posts, and chainwales. Can anyone suggest a good inexpensive torch to buy ?
Click to expand...
I use a Proxxon torch.
 
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