Mark sez:

" The 45% stuff melts at 1200-1300 range, while the 4-6 percent stuff melts
around 430F."

Yep, 430F is the temperature usu. given in the charts for silver-bearing
solder. O/A can be used on the 4-6% stuff, if you are careful. Example:
My 20+ years old ring had shrunk on my finger. I opened it up the requisite
amount and then silver-soldered in an appropriate piece of same gold content
cut from junk jewelry. I used a #1 Victor tip for this because that was the
smallest I had. The only trouble was lighting the small, low pressure,
flame - open flame worked much better than sparky. It worked very well to
illustrate using a tool well outside of design specs. Mainly, I wanted to
see if I could do it.

Certainly, it would have been a lot easier to use one of the jeweler's sized
tips - Harris Lil' Torch kit probably as recommended by Uncle Don Foreman.

Bob Swinney





"Mark" wrote in message
...

There's a solder paste called "solder-it" that comes in a syringe and
is FAR stronger than any of the Radio Shack junk I've tried to use in
the past. Can't comment on Lead content. Flux seems to work nicely
on ferrous, copper, brass... /mark


Robert Swinney wrote:
Obtain some so called "silver-bearing solder". It is usu. marked as 4 or
6 % silver and 96 or 94% tin. This solder is readily melted with
ordinary propane tarches. Use acid flux (liquid) ordinarily sold as
dilute hydrochloric acid. Joints made with this solder and flux are
fairly strong, with tensile strengths usu. as good as the base metal
(that is, copper, brass, etc). An advantage of silver bearing solder is
the comparitivley low melting temperature. The temp. is low enough,
around 1000 to 1300 deg., such that it is not apt to cause warping.