SOLDERING
Carol Conti: Now on to soldering...something I used to love to do! A friend of mine has been working on the CATHEDRAL lamp for over 2 years now, but her arm and shoulder finally gave out while she was soldering. This is a 22" Tiffany designed lamp, but we have to use Worden's styrofoam system in order to build it...6 repeats with over 1000 pieces that are all gridwork. We had purchased six sections, glued them together and then covered the whole thing with tape for protection. We then wrapped it tightly with Saran Wrap so that the glass pieces could be attached to the wrap with wax. Thinking it wouldn't take me more than a couple of days to complete, I offered to finish the lamp for her. WELLLLLL...it's been seven days since I started and I'm still at it. (Even though the lamp was wrapped, it seems my friend had begun soldering MANY months ago and now the foil was oxidized.) First of all, I added the bottom rim and beaded the outside, which wasn't too time-consuming, since most of the lamp was already tinned and just needed a good going-over with fine steel wool to clean it up before beading. I couldn't add the upper ring since, even though they sell the pattern, Worden doesn't make the 6" ring for it! I am temporarily using 12 gauge wire to reinforce the aperture and willdeal with that problem later.) Then Don and I tediously removed one of the styrofoam sections and soaked the thing in hot water (laundry tub) until the wax melted enough to remove the lamp.(After we removed the waxy Saran Wrap, the styrofoam mold looks O.K.) At this point I thought I was home free, until I started tinning the inside. Oh brother, what a mess. Since liquid flux was used, it easily ran between the glass pieces so that each line had to be prepared to accept the solder.(This is one of the reasons I use paste flux.) A hint: while trying different methods to remove the corrosion, we discovered that the Dremel buffing attachment helped some. I'm adding the six vertical horizontal wires now. This lamp weighs a ton!
ON WHICH IRON TO USE:
Joan Bengston: We had a fairly indepth discussion recently on the types of solder and their suitability for foiling or for lead. As for irons, I use a 100W iron with a 3/8" tip on a rheostat for general use. I have a variety of tip shapes but for beading on foil I prefer either a pyramid tip or a chisel tip rolled over on it's side edge. I can melt the solder on the vertical flat surface of the chisel and it flows nicely into the bead. It's frustrating having to stop periodically to wait for the iron to heat up again so for heavy duty work like tinning the cast brass lamp rings and rims, etc. and also for soldering foiled flat panel windows I use a 250W with a 1/2" chisel tip. It's kind of heavy but it holds the heat steadier than a smaller iron. I can work a lot faster with it. I keep it on the rheostat but I usually find myself setting it as hot as it will go.
Carol Conti: I'm on a HAKKO kick. I've always depended on my Weller in the past, but it burned out halfway through this lovely project, so I hauled out a new Hakko 100 iron and the Hakko 601 iron holder and tip cleaner. The Hakko 493 smoke absorber has surely been put to the test with the fumes from this experience. All good products.
ON PROPERTIES OF SOLDER:
Mike Barnes: In case anyone is still interested a Material Safety Data Sheet on Canfield lead free solder 95% tin, 5% antimony can be found at: http://www.stainedglassbiz.com/msds_sheets/1004.txt
ON TINNING TECHNIQUES:
Walt Boepple: There was a post on the newsgroup today of someone asking how to tin the very heavey brass vase caps. My memory is kind of short but it seems like I was only partially successful in doing one once. The iron will not do it as it is just too thick. I know I brushed it rather hard with steel wool to take the shine off and then fluxed heavily, then used the torch and solder. It cools way too fast and at best was a marginal finish but from across the room you can't tell a thing.
Carol Conti: I feel I need to respond to the comments about tinning BRASS caps and other hardware. Odyssey's caps are brass and are not to be tinned...brass will take whatever patina you apply. Using a torch to tin the ring is fine, but remember that the outside edge of the ring is the ONLY part that should be tinned since that is the only area that will be soldered to your lamp's aperture. The torch could also be used to speed up the tinning of the bottom rim. (Don sometimes gets good color by using a torch to heat the PATINA - not the solder!- that he has applied to the cap.) Odyssey hardware and bases are exact replicas of Tiffany components. All cast parts are made from high-copper brass, just as Tiffany employed. Odyssey crowns are raw cast brass. The branches are cast in pure lead to allow for bending to fit the contour of the mold, so that's why they warped/melted! If you apply solder only where it is necessary to the (copper) Spider Crown, the untainted (unsoldered) portion of the crown will take a lovely patina. These cast parts are only tinned at the spots where they are to connect with your lamp's solder lines. The less you mess around with solder on these parts, the more likely you will be able to achieve that beautiful green/brown patina that will match your lampbase.
Joan Bengston: A propane torch is indispensible for tinning brass or bronze that is too heavy to heat easily with an iron. It gets extremely hot and you'll have to hold the hardware with a pliers. The torch and gas cannister are relatively inexpensive and well worth adding to your shop tools. Once you try it and see how beautifully the solder flows and coats the casting, you will be hooked.
Bill Worrall: ...about tinning large brass castings. This was something that gave me fits also, not only is it tough to do, but the tinning didn't take Antique Brass Patina very even, lots of very dark spots. I tried using a torch, which seemed to work quite well but was a pain having to fool with a torch besides my experience was that the open flame burned the flux, which I think was most of my problem when using Antique Brass Patina. I tried using 63/37 solder with an old heavy 100 watt soldering iron and as far as I am concerned this is the answer. The 63/37 solder melts at a lower temp and the heavy soldering iron has enough heat reserve so it doesn't cool as soon as you touch the tip to the large casting. For the record I use Canfield solder, but I'm sure other brands will work just as well.
ON SOLDER LINES:
Joan Bengston: I do have a comment on the width of solder lines. I went through a stage where I was doing solder lines as thin as I possibly could. I was making 2"x 4" doll house windows where fine lines look great and strength isn't a question. On a lamp I think there comes a point where strength is compromised with very fine solder lines. I now take the middle ground and aim for lines that are thin enough to look nice but wide enough to be confident in its strength.