Type of Soldering Iron to use with Stay-Brite?

[Polly]

You've probably seen the info at
http://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin....topic=5 here on our forum.

StayBrite and Tix both come with the flux you need. For costume jewelry "soft soldering" these are all the solders you will need.

Hard soldering with silver solder and a torch is a whole 'nother thing. I won't even try to describe that in an e-mail. We can suggest some books or classes at art schools.

The best soldering tool is probably a good pen type soldering iron from an electronics supply house. Radio Shack has an OK one. Fry's Electronics, Radar Electric, etc all have them. Expect to spend ฽ to 100 for this tool and occasionally replace the tip from corrosion. If
you want to use it for both electronics and jewelry, keep separate tips for each.

These have either different tips for different  temperatures or variable temperature. Most have a small sponge tray that you wet and wipe excess solder onto to keep your tip clean.

You can use a soldering gun but the constant temperature pen type are much better.

The 5% silver / 95% tin solders like StayBrite and Tix are both bright silver color and may not look good with yellow items. If you can use a very small amount and keep it in the back you may be all right. When costume jewelry is made, the soldering is done before the goods are
plated the final color. Depending on your work you might consider a pen plater. We don't have them but Rio Grande, SWest and the like do.

Start out with some unwanted pieces so you can get a feel for how the equipment and the solder work.  
 
One warning however. Pewter is tin. 5% silver solders like StayBrite and Tix are 95% tin. Pewter and the solders melt at the SAME temperatures. You can melt a pewter item into a blob all too easily.
I've done plenty of repairs on pewter. Sometimes even building up a missing part on a pewter figurine. But I do it very carefully.

Let me know if I can give any more advice. I'll be glad to.

Russ

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[posted by Polly]

[Russ Nobbs]

In my oh so humble opinion, the best soldering pencils for jewelry soft solder work (Tix or StaBrite solders) are the  temperature controlled ones made for the electronics industry. Our current one is a Weller EC1002 set to 550 degrees F.  The older one at work is a cheaper model that controls the temperature by the choice of tips. I think the tip in that is a 550 or 600 degree tip.  It's a Weller WTCP series. They work GREAT for putting a tiny amount of soft solder on a jump ring.

One of our afternoon workers works weekends at Radio Shack. He said most of the ones they carry are just a simple one temperature pencil. You can see them all at www.radioshack.com. Search for solder and pick soldering irons and pencils. Their #64-2184 looks the old one we have. The Digital Soldering Station With Detachable Stand looks closer to the newer one. Most of the higher wattage (30 to 60 watt) would probably work for soft solder on jump rings.

[Russ Nobbs]

yeh, it was a high end one, maybe 95 to 120 when I bought it several years back. The Radio Shack ones were in the 39 to 99 range. The Radio Shack pencils were 7.95 to 19.95 and I bet they'd do everything you need.... at least to start out.  A bowl with a sponge in it would be the only extra you'd need to wipe the tip on between uses.

[Luann Udell]

(sigh)...I thought this would be simpler...
I visited a Radio Shack today, and the clerk spent a total of 28 seconds helping me.

I asked about soldering *pens*, he said they don't carry anything like that, sort of gestured to a back wall and left.  

I examined a selection of soldering guns.  Most were very simple with the sort of handle-tip arrangement, all less than ฝ.  I couldn't find any information about temperatures at all.  

I did find another diplay of solder guns, more of a pistol-shaped thing with grip, but they were mostly rated by wattage.  100 watts, 150 watts, and one 200 watts which also switched to 100 watts (I think.)  The only temperature tables I could find were for this 200 watt gun (about โ) which said around 1130 degrees for 200 watts setting and around 935 degrees for the 100 watt settings.

So I'm confused again.  The 200 watt version seems too hot for soft solder, and not hot enough for "easy/soft" hard solder.  Should I just get an Ű Radio Shack soldering "gun" that would presumably heat to that 550 point you mention?  

Okay, I typed that and then realized I have 58 more questions.  My question is: is all I need is any cheapo soldering gun that assures me it heats up to AROUND 500-600 and go from there?  You said the temperatures on yours are controllable by which tip you use--are there guns which come with tips, or do you just buy a cheapo gun and look for tips til you come across one that works at the desired temperature?

I'm beginning to feel even stupider than usual about soldering....
Luann

[Luann Udell]

Yep, I just searched for it on your web site & found it right away.

All I can say is, I had a very strange 24-hour period from yesterday afternoon til this afternoon.  The inquiry about Staybrite must have fallen into this personal "Bermuda Triange"...!! ;^)
Luann

[Polly]

This question was e-mailed to Russ @ Rings & Things ... and it's a good question so I'm posting both the question and Russ' reply here. -- Polly

--------------------------

Hi!  I've dealt in vintage costume (and better) jewelry for many years, and am now determined to learn repairs, particularly soldering.  
I don't know where to start - a "how to" manual would be great, but I don't know if such exists.  I don't know what kind of soldering iron to buy, what kind of flux to buy, and where to buy these things.  I will want to solder more than silver - old brass, maybe gold.  Any direction you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks [----- -------]

[Luann Udell]

Okay, Polly, you said the solder pen from Radio Shack was an OK one.  We have one in town, so before I run out to buy one, do you mean "OK" as in "so-so compared to much better ones you can buy" or "OK" as in "perfectly acceptable for the job."

And are there criteria for selecting a good-quality pen?  Or is it hard to tell by looking and you have to go by brand name?
Thanks!!
Luann
(who promises to start regulating the number of solder questions she asks in any given day....soon.)  :^)

[Luann Udell]

Russ, a quick Froogle search prices the Weller EC1002 at around 赨.  Is that right?  There's another model (40 watts) that seems to go for about a quarter that much.  
Gosh, I thought the soldering gun would be a cheaper route to go over the torch!  
Luann

[Luann Udell]

Phew!  Thanks, Russ, I'll pick one up ASAP.  And the ideal operant temperature is 550 degrees...?

My strategy over the next few months is to clean out a tiny workroom off our mudroom.   Set it up as a soft soldering station--some fireproof certamic tiles on the table top; a small stove ventilation hood (โ??) vented to the window close by; a crock pot pickle pot etc.

I thought I'd start with a decent soldering iron & get the hang of soldering jumprings.  From there, begin what you call the "easy to hard" soldering set-up--move to a butane torch (โ-75) and add beading wire techniques for clasps and ear wires & head pins.  

If that works out well, stay put.  If I feel the need for more power (!!) then put in an acetyline/air torch set-up.  And slowly bring my 12-year-old son up to speed (who is a budding potter and is dying to weld.)  Er...I'm not going to teach him to weld, just to get the hand of simple soldering...

The instructor said it wasn't worthwhile to make my own jumprings.  But she does precision fine jewelry.  Mine is organic and "prehistoric" looking.  I'd like to have the ability to make findings that look a little primitive (although not incompetent!) and rough-looking, stylewise.  And I'd like to be able to make just the right size and gauge for special projects.

Thanks again, both Russ and Polly, for all the excellent and better yet, *specific* information.  I feel much better about my spending decisions over the next few months!!
Luann

[Luann Udell]

I finally gave up and called Russ himself!  LOL... since I was taking up too much bandwidth with all these questions.

I finally either Googled or Froogled the Weller series soldering tools recommended above and found a new one for around half-price (๠), and also found some good buys online at Ebay.

Now....Polly, I called to get the order number and price for Staybrite and the wholesale order person had never heard of it and says you don't carry it.  Is that a glitch, or should I just look for a more local supply?
Luann

[Russ Nobbs]

(sigh)
I'm SO sorry Luann!
We DO have it. It's stock number 69-092, we have 10 in stock. A 1 oz coil comes with a bottle of flux.