Controlling solder.

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Controlling solder.

Postby emptyglass » Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:06 pm

Heres a little tip I thought I'd share. Some silly bugger shared it with me.

Take a carpenters pencil, a good graphite one, and draw a line around the joint where you want the solder to stop, solder/weld as normal.
Take care not to put too much solder close to the line, or it can physicaly push its way over.
Liquid paper does a pretty good job also and has the benefit of being able to lay down a thick line.

I always see polishing as time consuming, difficult, and generally unhealthy (I still like the result though). Anything to reduce polish/clean up time is a real help for me. You will need to passivate and clean the joint after. It's not the be all and end all, but it helps.

Of course, you wouldn't bother doing it brazing a joint in the dunny wall, but give it a go on your next "fine" job.
emptyglass
 

Re: Controlling solder.

Postby stubbydrainer » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:34 pm

That's a pretty good tip that EG, Is it for soft solder or Silver solder or both ?
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Re: Controlling solder.

Postby emptyglass » Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:58 pm

Both.

It works for the same reason solder dosn't take to some parts of a joint, that is, its not clean.

For soldering/brazing temps, the graphite dosn't burn off.
As I said, it won't stop a blob under gravity, but it usually stops capilliary action. I say "usually" because you can push solder across if you feed too much in.
emptyglass
 


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