can anyone help?

willsy · can anyone help?

just had a try at soldering and didnt work to well atall

is there anyone anywhere near yeovil or bridport or anyone or anywhere i could post it that could help me

H2o vapour

Hi,

What you been up to,

Tel us a bit more, may be able to help. Mean time, make a nice cup of tea and ponder the situation.

H20

willsy

basically i a carpet fitter and way to heavy handed for soldering plus i got nowhere near enough patiance. every time i tried solder just ended up in the boiler couldnt get it to stick and really didnt do the job

Steve_S

There's three things you need to do to make it work. First, clean the mating surfaces with wire wool or emery paper. Rub hard and get every trace of tarnish or dirt off. Then spread some flux over the area where you want the solder to flow. Then apply the heat. Often the problem is insufficient heat, so keep the flame on it until the flux bubbles then appears to dry up. Remove the flame and try touching the solder onto the joint. If it doesn't flow apply more heat. When you've done it successfully once it'll be easier next time!

willsy

would this produce enough heat?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/REFILLABLE-...mdZViewItem?hash=item150232377703

Steve_S

I bought one of those a few years ago but it never worked very well. Maybe I just got a bad one. Torches of that size are fine for small jobs like attaching pipes, but if you want to heat bigger bits of metal, for example a boiler, then you really need something a bit bigger. It's handy to have both sizes, and I probably use my small one the most.

H2o vapour

Hi,

Hard to say if you will get enough heat form that torch , but having said that you don't want to much. As has already been said, clean to a good finish, Wire wool or Emery, flux all round area to be soldered, flux on solder and enough heat.

You could try to Tin the pipe first, that's an old plumbing trick. this means getting some solder on the pipe first. Make sure that the pipe is a good fit into the boiler and not to sloppy, prep up well. learn the mealt point of the solder and what it will do. Use scrap to experiment on untill you get the feel. Move the flame arround the work piece and get equally hot all arround the joint. keep putting flux into the area. Also, YOU DON'T HAVE to build the solder up, small amount will travel by Capillary attraction as long as the joint is preped well and hot all the way round.

What solder and flux are you using?

I'm an old plumber, comes with practice mate !!

H20

Mamodman123

You need enough heat, it needs to be spotlessly clean and you need to get the right solder.

It's all about practice in the end in all honesty! you will get better the more you solder.

willsy

what is the best solder and flux to use

mogogear

Also I forget who recommended it- but flatten out the end of the solder you have with a hammer and an anvil or the like . Make it paper thin for about an inch or two then trim off half so you have a ribbon about 4mm wide left on the end of the solder wire..

Now dip this end in a bit of flux also before you start feeding it onto the joint- it will melt fast and flow right in!!

Good luck

Reid

Atticman