Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Stained Glass Soldering - Beginner Tip

By Athan Kurt


Soldering stained glass can occasionally be frustrating for a beginner. Don't be discouraged; it may perhaps take a bit although to get genuinely beneficial, but with a small practice and patience, everyone might be an professional. This post describes the best practices for soldering when applying the copper foil approach.

When you have in no way soldered stained glass before, it truly is going to be properly worth the effort to practice on some scrap pieces of glass 1st. I advocate taking four square pieces, wrapping copper foil about the edges and assembling them into one significant square. This kind of arrangement has the two primary forms of joints, a single joint where two pieces of glass meet and an intersection joint, where multiple pieces of glass meet. The intersection joint is within the center of the large square exactly where all four pieces of glass meet. This type of joint can be the trickiest to get searching very good. Preserve reading, I will explain how to get that pesky joint looking fantastic just about every time.

Once your soldering iron is hot plus the glass assembled, the first step is to tack all of the pieces together. Apply soldering flux on all the joints. I've identified the easiest approach to tack together stained glass would be to hold the soldering iron using the flat part of the tip horizontal just above the glass, touch the solder to the iron tip until a modest bead forms and lightly touch the copper foil. It doesn't take a lot solder to tack the glass pieces together. Begin at the edges and perform in towards the center generating confident to tack each piece. You do not want them moving when performing the final soldering.

With all the glass tacked together, the second step is always to solder all of the joints. This is generally the hardest thing for a beginner to master. This really is primarily because two items must be done at the similar time, keeping the soldering iron moving and feeding the solder onto the iron. The key to an even solder line is always to feed a consistent amount of solder as the iron is moved across the joint. Feeding too much solder creates significant bulging solder joints and not feeding sufficient solder results in flat uneven joints. Apply flux to all of the joints. Start out at the edge of a joint; hold the iron so the flat portion of the tip is vertical to the function piece.

As you touch the solder towards the iron tip, location it on the joint and start dragging or pushing (whichever is much more comfy) though maintaining a continuous solder bead. Once you come to an intersection exactly where numerous joints meet, ensure that to apply solder about one half inch into each incoming joint. For those who do this properly, all of the solder in the intersection might be melted and cool at the same time. This makes that joint appear very smooth. Start at yet another joint and work your way toward the intersection once again. This time, once you reach the solder that's sticking out from the intersection, merely melt somewhat methods into it to join the new solder line with the old 1. It is best to not have to re-solder the intersection once more. Don't forget to wipe the tip of the iron regularly on a damp sponge to maintain it clean.




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