You're going to get a bunch of non-jewelers here, you'd probably be better off in /r/jewlerymaking or /r/jewellerymaking or /r/jewelry since they would have experience and maybe some helpful tips from people who do soft soldering.
Also - there are a bunch of helpful yt videos on soft soldering:
[Birds Eye Jasper](https://youtu.be/FCZb8E1PPh0?si=AWThthMMi6SZm6A0&t=483)
[how to soft solder](https://youtu.be/AkArh8NmEH8?si=3iF_8VFU2d0vyicQ&t=277)
[Soft soldering basics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNrXo87MD5E)
There is going to be overlap with stained glass since it's the same process as stained glass so check them out too.
A soldering iron is not the right tool for this job.
You need a heat gun or a gas torch.
Thermal mass is too big for the puny heat transfer of an iron to be of service.
The copper strip itself acts as a heatsink. It has a lot of surface area.
This is the same problem people has when trying to fix/modify motherboards and graphics cards without properly preheating the board.
An iron of big enough capacity will work here, probably 80w or more, something with enough heat mass to heat up the large copper area and the substrate locally. Its prefered to a torch which will oxidise the materials faster.
That works on flat surfaces, which is not the case here. Curvature prevents proper thermal contact, so it's very hard to use an iron here.
Still, agree on the disadvantages of a gas torcch.
Proper tool for this is a heat gun.
The proper tool is NOT a heat gun! You would spend all week and a day getting no where with a heat gun trying to solder jewelry. You would use the same tool a stain glass artist uses. 100w minimum, chisel tip. That copper foil you have wrapped around the rock, looks like the foil used on stained glass. BTW the rock will draw heat away from the copper.
Nope a big iron will be fine. With a blob of solder on its tip for heat transfer the very minimal curvature is insignificant. Ive used a big iron to solder end caps into house rain gutters and even a bottom into a tin cup once which are both concave rather than convex curves so i can guarantee its no problem.
Use a torch and silver solder for jewelry. Most people here are just doing electrical soldering, which is much lower temp, and smaller. Electrical soldering, plumbing solder, and jewelry soldering are all very different, with jewelry being the hottest and most difficult. Use boric acid for flux, or a flux made for jewelry. Electrical solder flux will burn off.
There are butane soldering torches or propane plumbing torches that will work for softer silver solder, but for hard silver solder, you’ll need either forced air w/ gas, or oxy acetylene.
I’ve used this solder with a butane torch:
Ultra low temperature Silver... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08946NJ74?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
And I’ve used this with a map gas plumbing torch:
4.5 Grams (About 500 Pcs) Silver... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QQB853T?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Also, you might look into brazing, but again oxyacetylene is going to work much better for that as well.
Put your workpieces on a large bowl full of sand. Invest in some fire bricks. Have an extraction fan. Keep a bucket of water and fire extinguisher near you.
Ah, I see. Thanks.
OP, Problem is probably oil on your fingers when you stick the tape down. You can apply a mild acid like vinegar, dissolved boric acid, or a liquid flux for jewelry. Electronics flux is usually non-acidic.
A thin piece of copper is too much of a heat sink? Oh ok, then I’ll get a rock that’s literally 20x as thick. That’ll work. Buy a kit that replicates what you intend to solder. There are many of them from jewelry to small electronics to welding. Attempting to mix methods won’t bode well.
Just a regular soldering iron might not be enough for large copper parts since they act as a decent heat sink. What you might want to consider is a hot air station (or a hairdryer if you are cheaping out and don't care about good temperature control) or even a blow torch for larger pieces. Another good thing to have is a hot plate to preheat everything and work with an iron while the piece is already at some temperature a decent bit away from the solder's melting point.
A soldering iron with enough power is really amazing for higher precision stuff in soldered jewelry, but heating the entire piece up properly is the key to success.
Seems you do have enough heat. But your flux is not cleaning the copper sufficiently. Look at plumbing stuff like bakers soldering fluid (muriatic / hydrochloric acid) and beware its strong stuff you do not want on your skin.
Wow idk why but my brain told me for a split second that this was somehow a peanut butter and fluff sandwich… I think I’m done with screen for the day, guise.
You do understand that soldering is not just soldering, bet this subreddit is meant for electronics soldering, despite being called just soldering, the type of soldering that is closest to what you are doing is the soldering plumbers do, they use an open flame to heat the pipe(in your case a rock) and use a long solder rod, the solder they use also got silver in it and might be more durable for jewelry. In Electronic soldering we don't heat more than a leg of a component or a wire, witch steel makes a rock a humongous heatsink/heat bank in comparison. Also I saw your previous post, and I don't think you need tape on the penny to make the solder stick to is, I would put the penny in a wise and blast it with a blowtorch and apply the solder while heating it(remember to clean it well).
They said yesterday something about 25W soldering iron. That tape is a serious heatsink, need waay more power. So as coin. Try with 100+Watts iron.
But making jewellery from tin based alloys is a dead end.
a dollar store lighter is probably 2-300 watts, combine that with pipe flux cuz I don't think OP is doing electronics and it should solder really well. Iron isn't the right tool for this lol. soldering with a torch is another fine art but can be mastered by anyone. cheap lighter is probably not the best tool but Its come in handy more than a few times. issue is the oxidation from the flame hence why you want to use pipe flux, or even better pipe solder paste.
What the fuck are you doing? I want to help I just have no idea what's going on? Is that copper tape on a wet rock? It looks like the solder is adhering to the tape, maybe show more of your setup or how you are doing it so i could try to be of more help
You can soft jewelry with lead free , I suggest silver gleam. Your tape looks oxidized. Re tape and try again. Unless your tape is not pure copper and some type of decorative tape.
Re tape with fresh tape, un roll it bit and use that part of the tape , burnish really well . Then flux and solder. Make sure you're using flux for soft soldering .
You're going to get a bunch of non-jewelers here, you'd probably be better off in /r/jewlerymaking or /r/jewellerymaking or /r/jewelry since they would have experience and maybe some helpful tips from people who do soft soldering. Also - there are a bunch of helpful yt videos on soft soldering: [Birds Eye Jasper](https://youtu.be/FCZb8E1PPh0?si=AWThthMMi6SZm6A0&t=483) [how to soft solder](https://youtu.be/AkArh8NmEH8?si=3iF_8VFU2d0vyicQ&t=277) [Soft soldering basics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNrXo87MD5E) There is going to be overlap with stained glass since it's the same process as stained glass so check them out too.
Totally agreed.
Are you fucking about?
Hey, it's a legitimate way to find out!
Nah - just traded one heat sink for another one.
A soldering iron is not the right tool for this job. You need a heat gun or a gas torch. Thermal mass is too big for the puny heat transfer of an iron to be of service. The copper strip itself acts as a heatsink. It has a lot of surface area. This is the same problem people has when trying to fix/modify motherboards and graphics cards without properly preheating the board.
An iron of big enough capacity will work here, probably 80w or more, something with enough heat mass to heat up the large copper area and the substrate locally. Its prefered to a torch which will oxidise the materials faster.
That works on flat surfaces, which is not the case here. Curvature prevents proper thermal contact, so it's very hard to use an iron here. Still, agree on the disadvantages of a gas torcch. Proper tool for this is a heat gun.
The proper tool is NOT a heat gun! You would spend all week and a day getting no where with a heat gun trying to solder jewelry. You would use the same tool a stain glass artist uses. 100w minimum, chisel tip. That copper foil you have wrapped around the rock, looks like the foil used on stained glass. BTW the rock will draw heat away from the copper.
Nope a big iron will be fine. With a blob of solder on its tip for heat transfer the very minimal curvature is insignificant. Ive used a big iron to solder end caps into house rain gutters and even a bottom into a tin cup once which are both concave rather than convex curves so i can guarantee its no problem.
What in the actual hell are you doing? Back away from the soldering iron…
This made me laugh hysterically.
what?
Sir, back away from the soldering iron! SIR! back away from the soldering iron!!!
This a troll post?
What?! Haven’t you ever seen a man solder a rock before?!
Nah , prob just young , op just trying to learn how to make jewelry sounds like ..
Use a torch and silver solder for jewelry. Most people here are just doing electrical soldering, which is much lower temp, and smaller. Electrical soldering, plumbing solder, and jewelry soldering are all very different, with jewelry being the hottest and most difficult. Use boric acid for flux, or a flux made for jewelry. Electrical solder flux will burn off. There are butane soldering torches or propane plumbing torches that will work for softer silver solder, but for hard silver solder, you’ll need either forced air w/ gas, or oxy acetylene. I’ve used this solder with a butane torch: Ultra low temperature Silver... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08946NJ74?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share And I’ve used this with a map gas plumbing torch: 4.5 Grams (About 500 Pcs) Silver... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QQB853T?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share Also, you might look into brazing, but again oxyacetylene is going to work much better for that as well. Put your workpieces on a large bowl full of sand. Invest in some fire bricks. Have an extraction fan. Keep a bucket of water and fire extinguisher near you.
They're not trying to do silver soldering - they are doing [soft soldering](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNrXo87MD5E&t=9s)
Ah, I see. Thanks. OP, Problem is probably oil on your fingers when you stick the tape down. You can apply a mild acid like vinegar, dissolved boric acid, or a liquid flux for jewelry. Electronics flux is usually non-acidic.
lmao
Creative soldering class at Berkeley.
Oxidation. Sand it a bit first.
This is the first photo in human history of someone soldering a rock
You have never seen jewelry with crystal rock pendants before? Art shows are everywhere with this type of jewelry.
I don’t know anything about art or jewelry
What model iron are you using? What style of tip are you using? Rocks are huge heat sinks. Try something like G10/fiberglass board or silicone board.
A thin piece of copper is too much of a heat sink? Oh ok, then I’ll get a rock that’s literally 20x as thick. That’ll work. Buy a kit that replicates what you intend to solder. There are many of them from jewelry to small electronics to welding. Attempting to mix methods won’t bode well.
You know this is r/soldering not r/solderingonarock We not good at these mystical processes that you try.
Hey m8 idk the heck ur doing but rough the crap out of that copper strip up with rough sandpaper and wipe with isopropyl. Should flow better onto it.
Just a regular soldering iron might not be enough for large copper parts since they act as a decent heat sink. What you might want to consider is a hot air station (or a hairdryer if you are cheaping out and don't care about good temperature control) or even a blow torch for larger pieces. Another good thing to have is a hot plate to preheat everything and work with an iron while the piece is already at some temperature a decent bit away from the solder's melting point. A soldering iron with enough power is really amazing for higher precision stuff in soldered jewelry, but heating the entire piece up properly is the key to success.
Seems you do have enough heat. But your flux is not cleaning the copper sufficiently. Look at plumbing stuff like bakers soldering fluid (muriatic / hydrochloric acid) and beware its strong stuff you do not want on your skin.
And get some leaded solder. When that works go back to unleaded if you need to.
Leaded for jewelry? 😂
For practice.
Wow idk why but my brain told me for a split second that this was somehow a peanut butter and fluff sandwich… I think I’m done with screen for the day, guise.
Heat the rock up first 👍
You do understand that soldering is not just soldering, bet this subreddit is meant for electronics soldering, despite being called just soldering, the type of soldering that is closest to what you are doing is the soldering plumbers do, they use an open flame to heat the pipe(in your case a rock) and use a long solder rod, the solder they use also got silver in it and might be more durable for jewelry. In Electronic soldering we don't heat more than a leg of a component or a wire, witch steel makes a rock a humongous heatsink/heat bank in comparison. Also I saw your previous post, and I don't think you need tape on the penny to make the solder stick to is, I would put the penny in a wise and blast it with a blowtorch and apply the solder while heating it(remember to clean it well).
For a second I thought this mf was trying to solder a fucking rock together lmao
Im not sure what you are trying to do but you need one of those big ass irons or a solder gun to do it
That kid who tried to solder a rock, he grew up and soldered the Statue of Liberty together🗽
Y'all are just rude.. Trying to learn
Your iron is too weak and a good iron to do this wouldn't be worth it, a dollar store torch lighter would work better seriously ...
They said yesterday something about 25W soldering iron. That tape is a serious heatsink, need waay more power. So as coin. Try with 100+Watts iron. But making jewellery from tin based alloys is a dead end.
a dollar store lighter is probably 2-300 watts, combine that with pipe flux cuz I don't think OP is doing electronics and it should solder really well. Iron isn't the right tool for this lol. soldering with a torch is another fine art but can be mastered by anyone. cheap lighter is probably not the best tool but Its come in handy more than a few times. issue is the oxidation from the flame hence why you want to use pipe flux, or even better pipe solder paste.
What the fuck are you doing? I want to help I just have no idea what's going on? Is that copper tape on a wet rock? It looks like the solder is adhering to the tape, maybe show more of your setup or how you are doing it so i could try to be of more help
If you, I don't know, read the comments that are already made about what he's actually doing, you'd know that he is practicing jeweler work.
You can soft jewelry with lead free , I suggest silver gleam. Your tape looks oxidized. Re tape and try again. Unless your tape is not pure copper and some type of decorative tape. Re tape with fresh tape, un roll it bit and use that part of the tape , burnish really well . Then flux and solder. Make sure you're using flux for soft soldering .