Soldering 5mm sterling jump rings

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi debisher,

We carry "StaBrite", but it's just one of the 1000's of things that are not in our catalog. If you call us the phone sales staff can look it up quickly with a search. We stock it for local trade in our showroom.

Either one of the 2 brands of silver bearing low melt solder, "Tix" or "StaBrite", might be available locally at a Lapidary, rock shop or craft store.  Both of them come with a small bottle of flux to use with the solder.

You can use any small soldering gun or iron. Clean the tip well so it is not contaminated with rosin or acid flux form other jobs. If you will do a lot of this, electronics supply houses carry excellent (but expensive) temperature controlled, fine tip soldering irons that are really perfect for this job. Even Radio Shack might have one model.

You could use a "3rd hand" or locking tweezer or hemostat to hold the clasp or charm just back of the jump ring. This will keep heat and solder from damaging the rest of the piece.

Close the jumpring so it is a tight fit. (If you are new to this, see the drawings in our on line catalog on closeing it "sideways" for a tight fit.) Put a drop of liquid flux on the joint. Heat it with the iron so the flux steams up. Melt a tiny drop of solder on the tip of the iron and apply it to the joint. The heat should cause the solder droplet to flow into the joint. Let it cool. Rinse off any remaining flux with plain water.

Practice a few times on "spare" rings before soldering the jumpring on your 軸 masterpiece.

We can sell you the solder and flux. Rings & Things doesn't carry this type of tools, but they should b available locally or borrowed from a friend. (Maybe we need to carry even more tools?)

Good luck!

[Candy]

Hi---I'm a newbie trying to learn how to solder jumprings with Stay-bright and a soldering iron.  I've purchased 2 small irons and gone through a gazillion jumprings for practice and still am not getting it right---am about to scream!!!!  What wattage should the iron be?  I've tried a 25w and a 40w iron.  They both heat hot enough but apparently don't keep the temp.  The 40w won't even pick up the solder---melts it but the solder won't adhere to it.  Please help me---I've got customers waiting!  Thanks so much!

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi Candy!

Without seeing your irons I can only guess at the problems. If you can't get solder to stick to the iron it probably needs to be "tinned."  

Use some clean, fine sand paper to sand the beveled sides of the tip down to clean copper. The point it self should be coppery looking. You can do this hot or cold but might be less likely to burn your fingers if cold.

As it heats up, put some drops of Sta-Bright flux on the tip. As that boils off, apply the end of the wire solder to the tip and flow solder all over the end. You now should have a shiny white solder covered tip to your iron.

Get your jump ring (JR)  closed and ready - perhaps held by 3rd hand tool or hemostat.

To solder your tiny jump ring put a drop of flux on the closed gap in the jump ring. Melt a tiny drop of solder on the tip of your iron. You should have a drop sitting on the top side of the iron. Move the drop under the flux-wettened jump ring joint so the heat from the molten solder boils off the flux. Once the flux is dry move the drop up slightly so the solder flows off the tip onto the JR.  This should put a tiny amount of solder closing the gap.

You can wipe the tip of your iron on a wet sponge. This keeps the tip clean so you don't have to re-tin it every time. Don't let the tip get black and crusty looking or you will need to re-tin it. If your tool is a "cheapy" that doesn't have a constant temperature controller and stand (like an electronics version) you should shut it off when not in use. Wipe it on the damp sponge as soon as it heats up and add a little solder to keep the tip in good shape.

A kitchen sponge sitting in a saucer with a little water makes a good place to clean your tip. The better temperature controlled irons have a place for the sponge.

For the tiny JR you are using, the smaller wattage iron will probably give you better control.

Let me know if I've missed any part of your problem.

[Russ Nobbs]

I'm glad we were able to get you going!

As to the "applied solder appears to have a slightly rough texture"

That could be a "cold" solder joint, one where it was moved before it hardened.  Are you using some 3rd hand type tools to hold the parts still while  you work?  If not, the motion of the parts may be enough to make the solder crystalize. "Cold" joints are not as strong and don't look as good.

To fix that rough look just reheat the jump ring with an iron that has no extra solder (you are not adding any solder.) Once you see the solder flow (melt) remove the iron and let it cool without moving the piece.

You don't really apply hot solder to the work. You do want to have the solder flow onto your work because your work is hot enough to dwaw he solder to it.

I don't have a good reason for your "volcano" tip.  Is the tip screwed down tight to the shaft of the iron? (Assuming you have that type.) The heat is not conducted as uniformly as it should be if everything is not tight. You should be able to have molten solder at the very tip. That *should* be the hot spot and that's all you need to touch to your work for tiny jump rings.
Polly posted another thread about soldering irons and solder from an e-mail I got. Take a look at that post also.

Thanks for your kind words about our response. Being helpful is really part of Rings & Things' "corporate style" even though we keep putting off becoming a  corporation.

Keep asking questions. We'll answer them as long as we have useful information. Since this is a public forum, other people will benefit, too.  

[Luann Udell]

Okay, last night I followed all these instructions faithfully and massacred about a dozen jumprings....

I lay the ring down on a ceramic tile; apply flux/pickle (the StayBrite solution), heat that with the tip of the pen til it sizzled; pick up a tiny drop of melted solder and touch it to the join.

Nothing.  Solder stuck to the pen tip.

I tried applying flux/pickle, holding the pen on one side of the join and the tip of solder wire to the other side (about a millimeter of space), thinking the solder would melt and be pulled through the join by the heat of the pen tip.  Nope.  Too far away.

I tried holding the pen tip on the join and adding a teensy chip of solder to the top of the join.  Now THAT was hard!  Didn't work.  The solder melted on the pen tip and stayed there.  

The problem seemed to be that the solder wouldn't flow from the solder pen tip to the join.  And I THINK this is because, no matter how much I preheat the jump ring join, by the time I then pick up a droplet of solder, the join has cooled too much--and the solder stays on the tip.  

I woke at 4 a.m. realizing I was using a ceramic tile underneath (which I used for that torch "hard" soldering class last month) and maybe I could use the new steel soldering pad I just bought.  It would hold the heat better & longer.

But won't the join ALWAYS be cooler than the pen tip??
I'm so discouraged!!!  HELP!
Luann

[Luann Udell]

Okay, I'm taking the sharp scissors out of my hand and stepping back from the window ledge....  :^)

Thank you, Russ, for your explanation.  I've just sent in an order for a "third hand" device.  I had one, but it seems to have disappeared into my son's bedroom...  He thought it was "cool" and that's probably the last I'll ever see of it!

I'll try again this weekend.  Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly......SOLDER!!
Luann
P.S.  Is soldering one of those things that seems so hard until you get the hang of it, and then it's so simple you wonder what all the fuss was about?  I'm hoping and praying this is the case.

[debisher]

I need to solder tiny silver jump rings 4-5mm.  I read another posting on soldering sterling jump rings but they were much larger.  Can I use the stay brite that you spoke of and a soldering gun for the tiny jump rings?  If so, how do I purchase the items that I need.  I did not see them in your catalog.  Thanks, Debi

[debisher]

Thank you soooo much for your help!!!!

[Polly]

I've asked one of the experts to look over my reply, and make sure that I'm sending you in the right direction.

Maybe the end of the soldering gun is either too new & clean, or else has some oils on it that are preventing you from picking up solder with it.  (I've only used ancient soldering irons.)

Have you tried placing the end of the solder directly onto the jump ring?  Rather than trying to melt a drop of solder on it, and then rush the solder & iron over to the item to be soldered.

Can you give a detailed account of the steps you have been trying?  We might be able to spot a step that is out of place.

--Polly

[Candy]

Eureka!!  It's working! Still not perfect, but tinning the iron as you described is what made the difference!  Also, having a wet sponge on hand to wipe off the tip---I tend to pick up too much solder and the excess wipes right off on the wet sponge.  One thing I'm still having trouble with is the solder builds up and hardens on the tip in a "volcano"-type cone, and the molten solder pools in the center.  Any idea why?  I can file it down easily so it's not a big problem.  Also, sometimes the applied solder appears to have a slightly rough texture---not smooth and bright.  Can that be fixed?  Russ and Polly, I want to thank you for your quick responses---you were so helpful!  And Rings & Things is a wonderful company!!  I particularly love all the helpful hints, tips, and projects in your catalog, and the friendly service and people.  Thanks again!!

[Russ Nobbs]

I just realized I never answered the question about wattage. The small electonics type irons I like are 60W. the tips on these control the actual temperature and I picked a middle temperature - not the highest nor the lowest available.

The advantage of the pencil irons made for electronics use are the small tip. It's much easier to get a tiny drop to flow onto just the joint in a 4mm jumpring with a tiny tip than with one made for stained glass use.

[Metalman]

Sounds like you getting it going - some of these activities need a lot of practice to get them working smoothly.  The 'volcano' tip might be related to the amount of the tip you have tinned.  Go ahead and tin your iron maybe 1/2" up along it.  As Russ said, its hard to tell with out seeing it.
Keep us posted.

[Russ Nobbs]

Here's my suggestion, Luann,

Start with some plain jump rings, no chain, nothing connected.

Hold the jump ring with a 3rd hand, alligator clip or something so it's held in the air with the join at the top and the clip on one side.  Turn your iron on hot enough to melt a drop of  solder on the tip. Wipe that drop off onto your wet sponge. Put a drop of flux on the join of the jumpring. Melt another drop of solder on the tip on your iron. bring that drop up under the join in the jump ring so the molten solder makes the flux boil off. Bring it up a little more so the molton solder drop touches the join. Heat will flow through the solder onto the jumpring.  Within a few seconds the jumpring gets hot enough to draw the solder up into the join. Remove your iron and wipe the tip clean.

You now have a solder joint over the joint in the jump ring.  (I hope!!!!)

I think your problem before was that the jump ring wasn't getting hot enough. After the flux sizzles you should be able to keep heating the joint and just touch the solder wire to the top of the join and have the solder flow through towardes the hot iron.

--Russ

[Russ Nobbs]

   ******* DON'T JUMP! ******

You might ask your son for your "roach clip" back. He probably thought you had drug paraphernalia on your workbench and confiscated it... just to keep you from getting in trouble, you know.

I was going to put "roach clip" and hemostat in my list of 3rd hand type tools in the last post but thought better of it.

I've soldered stuff for at least 45 years,  so, yes, I think it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.