Posted by Angel on November 11, 2002 at 21:27:45:
In Reply to: Brand of Solder posted by Tony on November 09, 2002 at 09:25:40:
Tony, it's not weight you need to know but composition ratio of lead to tin. The first number listed in the 50/50, 60/40 and 63/37 solders is Tin. The more lead present, the higher the melting point.
Most glassers doing foil construction use 60/40 routinely. 50/50 is traditionally used to do lead came joints, but most people on forums (includiong the pros) are using 60/40 for that too.
If you want to know about the properties of solder you can go to the Canfield website or the Inland "How-to Solder like a pro" online book
http://www.inlandcraft.com/howto/htmain.htm
Here, you'll learn all about the types of solder and why each is used (see pages 7 through 9). I will tell you that I mostly use 60/40 for ordinary soldering. 63/37 is excellent for deco-soldering, edgge beading and when you want a particularly high, smooth bead. 50/50 melts at a higher temp and stays liquid longer than the other 2, which is why it's good for flowing into lead came joints and not leaving a rounded solder spot. Because it stays liquid, it's not very good for foil work...producing a flat bead...and is much harder to get smooth seams because of the higher temp requirement. It IS good for filling cracks between pieces and preventing melt-through to the other side.
There are several good brands like Fry, Canfield, Hirsch. The cheaper, generic brands often contain a lot of impurities the will gunk up your Iron tip. Canfield is about the easiest to find anywhere. Solder is only going to be as good in use as the flux and the quality of the soldering iron. In that group, it definitely runs third in importance.
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: I was just wondering what brand and weight of solder do you all recommend? Thanks