Posted by Gary Dodge on March 13, 2003 at 02:08:27:
In Reply to: Re: Battling the war posted by Vic on March 12, 2003 at 18:43:00:
There are many different ways that folks do things and often there is no clear cut right or wrong.
To some extent cementing a panel will do a fine job of neutralizing flux without washing. One of the prime ingredients in cement is calcium carbonate (CaCo3). Calcium carbonate will react with acid to form a salt (CaCl) and therefore there is not a great risk that the flux will remain active and cause corrosion of your metals or staining of your glass. I suppose that if you had excessive amounts of flux you could wind up dissolving so much of the Calcium carbonate that you might weaken the cement, but in general this is not a concern.
On the other hand, if you can clean your panel up first, without enduring great hardship, why not just do it and live without fear?
GaryD
: : I've taken many classes and read much material regarding hot/cold glass and it seems that teachers/authors in this industry are either vague or contradictory with instruction (an unconscious/conscious effort to weed out the weak?). Recently I took a leading class and was told that flux should not be washed off a panel after soldering. That one should continue to cement and then clean the piece. The reason given was that cleaning was unnecessary and timely. Now I just discovered while reading a book on leading that you SHOULD clean the panel after soldering or the piece will oxidize. Can you advise? Thanks!
: Most flux is acid based. Acid is corrosive it needs to be neutralized. All my work is lead and I use Allen "steric" acid flux (the British refer to this flux as "tallow"). It's is a wax type flux that dries back to a wax after it cools. You then remove the residue with a wire brush. This is the BEST lead flux there is.