Soldering smoothly
by Linda Seto
(Highland,In 46322)
I have been doing stained glass for a little over a year. My soldering is lacking in smoothness. I use 50/50 as my first pass and 60/40 after that. I took a 6 week class to learn how to... I know with practice and time I should improve but somehow I still can't make beautiful smooth lines.
Can you suggest anything to help me out.
Also, why does the solder sometimes bleed through when I am soldering? Is it to much heat in one area?
Thank you
Linda
Answer
Hi Linda,
You will find a tutorial for soldering copper foil at Soldering Copper Foil. That should help you learn how to get smooth seams.
The solder runs through if there is a gap, or if you hold the iron in one place for too long. In the soldering tutorial, you will learn how to avoid run through. It really doesn't have anything to do with too much heat. I don't use a temp controller and I use a 100 watt iron for all of my soldering. You basically have to learn how to keep it from happening.
If you have a big gap, my first recommendation would be to replace the piece of glass that is causing the gap. If that is impossible, hold a wet cloth on the underside of the gap as you solder over it. The wet cloth will prevent the solder from running through and at the same time will cause the solder to set quickly. When you solder on the reverse side, do a series of quick touches with your soldering iron, letting the solder set and cool between each touch. As long as you don't hold the iron there too long, the solder shouldn't run back through to the first side.
