beginner's questions about soldering

Ted Shoemaker · 2003-12-13T18:17:42+00:00

Hello,I have some basic questions about soldering. If I want to make a small art project with common metals (steel, copper, aluminum, etc.), what do I need to know aboutsoldering?About 25 years ago, I learned a very few basics about solderingelectronics.One was that you use different solders for plumbing, electronics, andjewelry. But which kind do you use for art? (Also, it's likely thetechnology and materials have changed since then.)Please respond to the newsgroup and not to my email.Thank you very much,Ted Shoemaker

Dec 13, 2003 44 Replies

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Jim Stewart 22 years ago

Indium will wet glass and is used to bond glass faceplates to glass tubes. Don't know any more details than that.

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DoN. Nichols 22 years ago

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Hmm ... Tektronix oscilloscopes used to use terminal strips made of notched bars of ceramic, with silver plating in the notches to form the terminals. There was a warning printed inside the 'scope, and a roll of special silver-bearing soft solder, because the standard lead-tin eutectic alloy would dissolve the silver over repeated re-solderings. This may suggest that the powder that you used was tin, or it may simply be that there was not enough resoldering to need to worry about the silver dissolving.

Enjoy, DoN.

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Ed Huntress 22 years ago

Well, it was a one-time solder joint, on a piece of vacuum apparatus.

I just got a Christmas card from my old partner. Maybe he remembers. I'll ask.

Ed Huntress

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Eastburn 22 years ago

Indium is a Dopant used or once used in Semiconductors. Used to make infused diodes. Place a ball in a carbon hole on top of a layer of Si (glass is SiO2) and it makes a internal joint. Atoms merge together.

I thought it was used on glass, then it was electro-plated with copper, then nickel or what was needed. Maybe lead.

Martin

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