Soldering A to Z, Part Three, 60 Slides

Soldering A to Z
Part Three
•Jigging Up
•Helpful Tools
•Binding Wire
•Solder Weights and Customized Tools
•Solder Flow Inhibitors
•Heat Sinks
•Thermal Conductivity
•Step Soldering
•Examples of Complex Fabrications
•Exercise 5: Butt Joint
•Exercise 6: Wire to Flat Sheet
•Exercise 7: Wire (Upright) to Sheet
It’s better to take an hour to
“jig-up” a soldering job than it is to
spend hours cleaning up a sloppy
outcome!!
Helpful Soldering Tools
You can spend a lot of money on fancy tools that probably work at least as well as they claim
to……..
Swanstrom Tungsten-Tip Soldering Pliers and Magnetic Base System
$125
However, the most mundane tool mght just be the best and most versatile!
•T pins (also called wig pins) can be pushed into the fire brick to hold
things snugly in place
•They can be modified by cutting and/or bending
•They should be coated with liquid paper if there is risk of soldering them
to your work
Illustration from Charles Lewton Brain’s “Soldering Hints and Tricks”
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/solder.htm
Thin iron
together.
binding wire is good for wiring pieces
It comes in different gauges -- avoid using heavy gauge
binding wire when possible.
Twist several thin pieces together to form a cable -- it’s less
likely to burn out during soldering and it can expand and
contract slightly to avoid indenting your work.
Never use galvanized or other coated wire for binding
Stainless steel binding wire does not rust like iron will, and
it also holds up longer under high heat.
Be Inventive!
Custom clips may be made from:
•cotter pins
•coat hanger wire
(burn the pant off first)
Remember – don’t use galvanized or
coated materials
Make a clamp from a cotter pin and a heavy nut
•The cotter pin is bent after the nut has been slid onto it
•When the nut is turned, it “bites” into the cotter pin and locks itself
Idea and diagram from Charles Lewton Brain
Other Tips From Charles Lewton Brain:
•Loop and twist your wire cable; make rows of tension loops like these when
possible (always twist in the same direction). They are easily tightened or
loosened to allow stress to be spread evenly throughout the binding system.
•Avoid wiring across open spaces as the metal may collapse inwards. Instead use
hooks and tension loops.
Note: All metals expand when heated
•When crossing a seam with binding wire, use thicker wire or sheet metal strips to
make a bridge that lifts the binding wire up off the seam.
•This prevents the binding wire from being soldered to your work.
• Bend all wire ends up/away from the surface of your work so they do not scratch
or leave marks on your metal.
Diagram by Charles Lewton Brain
Solder weights
You can also use large magnets to help hold steel tools in place
Modify self-locking tweezers for soldering
wire parts or prongs
Visit
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/solder.htm
to read more of Charles Lewton Brain’s “Soldering Hints
and Tricks”
From Emma Gerard: http://emmagerard.blogspot.com/2012/04/april.html
Commercially Available Soldering Aids
Solder Flow Inhibitors
Yellow Ochre (Mix
with water)
Correction Fluid
Graphite
Heat Sinks
nuisance
or
necessity?
Heat sinks are often an unintended consequence of
jigging with metal tools such as tweezers, pins, clips
or wire.
Heat sinks can also be used intentionally to protect
earlier seams or delicate parts.
Other things that can be utilized as heat sinks are
chunks of copper or steel, and un-galvanized
washers or nuts
How Heat Sinks Work
Thermal conductivity: A material's ability to conduct heat
•Thermal conduction is responsible for transporting heat
through a solid
•Heat (energy) travels more quickly through some materials
than others.
•High thermal conductivity occurs when heat transfers
across a material at a high rate
•Materials with high thermal conductivity (most metals)
absorb the heat coming from another object quickly; that
is why they are widely used in heat sink applications
•Silver and copper have very high thermal conductivity
The rate of conduction depends on three
factors:
•What the solid is made from
•The temperature gradient, which itself
depends on the difference in temperature
between the inside and outside surfaces
•The thickness of the material
•The area of the solid
On the other hand, materials with low thermal
conductivity (like soft firebrick) are insulating.
Proof of this is the fact that an ice cube will melt faster on
a sheet of metal (high conductivity) than on cardboard
(low conductivity).
Build a fire brick “oven” for times when
you need maximum heat
The firebrick will radiate heat back onto
your work
Video on Heat Transference
in Soldering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy1NeGiRi_I
Start video at 1:23 secs
Conduction Soldering:
•Applying the torch heat from below, with work
supported on a tripod and screen
•Heat is evenly diffused from the supporting object (the
screen) to the work being soldered
•Great method for soldering delicate parts that might
collapse or melt under direct heat (like fine wire work
being joined to sheet)
Step Soldering: Planning for
Sequential Soldering Operations
•Generally, when a fabrication requires
multiple soldering operations the normal
sequence is to use the highest-melting
solder first (hard) and work down to the
lower melting solders so that no previous
seam will re-melt and open up.
•Good planning, grouping of soldering
operations, and using a solder inhibitor
(Liquid Paper/Whiteout correction fluid)
will allow you to use each grade of solder
more than once without risk to the integrity
of your fabrication
•Always try to plan your solder sequences
so that you can use hard or medium
solders for joints that require more
strength and easy solders for parts that
are delicate or that might be at risk for
accidental melting.
Grouping Your Soldering Operations –
Try to consider all your options for joining parts
Can you join your parts in separate groups of two or
three units using hard and medium solder, then
assemble all the separate groups into one single unit
using easy solder?
Examples of Fabricated Jewelry with
Multiple Soldering Operations
Candi Leung
Angela Bubash
Sydney Lynch
Diane Falkenhagen
Diane Falkenhagen
Exercise 5: Butt Joint
•Use the long rectangular copper strip in your kit
•Cut both ends at a 90 degree angle to the long
sides; use the mini square to insure you have
perfectly “squared” ends
•Bend strip into an oval form so that the ends touch
completely and are light tight
•Solder ends together using medium solder – use the
solder ball method or flat pallions placed on the
outside of the ring form; solder on top of a soft
fire brick.
Note: Butt joints cut on an angle will have more
surface contact area and will result in a stronger
join, but are more dificult to do and often not
necessary.
Exercise 6: Soldering Wire to Flat
Sheet
•Bend 12 gauge wire into an interesting design
•Flatten with mallet
•Sand underside
Place flat wire
on flat metal
sheet.
Suspend on
tripod and heat
from below.
Choose the solder ball method: placing
tiny solder balls periodically along length
of wire (remember surface contact is
minimal so not much solder will be
required)
or
Choose the sweat solder method – premelt solder on the underside of the wire
Exercise 7: Soldering Wire Upright
Onto Sheet
Using the 2” rectangular sheet copper, drill 2 holes corresponding to the size of the
18 gauge copper wire (.040”), then cut your copper wire into several pieces and
practice soldering wire to sheet:
1. Bend one piece of wire into a “U”shape then Insert the
two ends into the drilled holes in the copper sheet and
solder simultaneously
1. Hold a single wire with third-arm/tweezers onto the
surface of the copper and solder
2. Hold a single wire with insulated tweezers, hold while
soldering
3. Repeat the last two steps several times to get the hang
of it!
Hold this
wire with
third arm
Wire ends
pass through
drilled holes
and into brick
Support
this wire
freehand
with
insulated
tweezers!
When setting up with the third-arm or when inserting
wire into drilled holes, prop the solder pallion up against
the wire so that gravity will pull it down when
it flows.
When hand-holding wire for soldering:
•Pick up solder ball on end of wire, melt it
onto the wire, then hold wire down
onto sheet and re-melt the solder.
•Pull the torch away and hold wire for
several seconds before letting go
End Part Three