Soldering Basics for Other Metals |
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Vase Caps | ||
 Vase caps are generally made from spun brass. The cap must be very clean of all dirt and oils for the solder to adhere. Use 0000 steel wool to clean the areas that you will be soldering. The cap also needs to be quite hot in order to achieve a good bond between the solder and the brass. An easy way to get the cap hot is to heat it in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. Use pliers to carefully remove the cap from the oven. Center the vase cap on the lamp. Flux all areas you will be soldering. (Paste flux is easy to use for this purpose, because it doesn’t drip.) Get a small amount of solder on your iron and hold it on the vase cap for a minute or so at the area you want to make a connection to the lamp. When the cap is hot enough, the solder will spread out instead of lumping up. Add more solder to make a connection to the lamp. (Some vase caps have a lacquer finish on them. This must be removed at the areas you need to solder. Use a craft knife to gently scrape the lacquer in these areas. | ||
Spiders | ||
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Spiders are made from brass as well. You can either cut the legs to fit, or bend them. Like a vase cap, you need to get the brass quite hot in order to create a good bond with the solder. Unlike vase caps, you can get the smaller area of the spider hot enough using just your soldering iron. Simply hold your iron tip on the area that you need to solder for a minute or so. Apply flux and a little solder, and continue to heat the spider with your iron. When it is hot enough, the solder will smooth out around the spider leg and adhere to the lamp. If the solder is globed up, the spider leg isn’t hot enough. Continue in this manner for all of the legs. | ||
Metal Outer Channels | ||
 
When attaching a zinc, copper or brass edge to a project, use this solder technique: Cut the zinc, copper or brass came vertical members to overlap the horizontal members in a "butt" type joint. A butt joint provides structural stability and distributes weight. Before you solder the butt joints, you can use masking tape to contain the size of the solder joint.
Clean and flux these joints and solder them to each other using the flat tip of the iron on the metal. The metal channel will take a little longer to get hot than copper foil. If the metal is not hot enough the solder will not smooth out. The metal frame should be attached to the panel by soldering it to any lead lines that it touches. On leaded projects, solder from the outer metal edging onto the lead came, pulling the iron tip straight up over the point of intersection when completing the solder joint. This simple technique will level the solder smoothly over the joint.
As you work more with your iron, different solders, lead came, and copper foiled projects, your skills will increase. You will quickly develop the techniques that will make you more confident in tackling increasingly complex projects. | ||
For copper foil pieces, stop your solder bead about 1/4-1/2" from the outer edge to allow room for the metal edging to fit onto the perimeter of the project. If you forget to do this initially, flatten the solder bead so the outer edging fits onto the project. After fitting the outer edging material, flux and solder the corners as outlined above. Connect the copper foil beads that intersect with the outer edging metal by continuing the solder bead into the edging making sure that the solder adheres securely to the metal edge.
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