[Jewelry making - Article 01068] - Re: [Orchid] Soldering Enormous Bezels

[Amy]

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    Hello Lee, Yes, the heat sink of the tripod and screen is a drag. 

    An alternate strategy, suggested by a fellow silversmith, is to heat
    the piece on a soldering pad (from the top) with the flame in the
    middle of the sheet until the thing gets up to temperature, then
    playing the flame around the outer edge of the bezel to flow the
    solder. Her theory was that the soldering pad retains enough heat to
    make this work. Viable?" 

    This probably won't work well since the top edges of the bezel would
    get too much heat while the backing was getting up to temp. I've had
    success in the past with large silver pieces using the following
    setup. 

    Take a spinnable annealing pan and put a soldering pad on top. Add
    two short "pillars" of porous firebrick at either end of a piece of
    screen big enough for the project. Get the project about 2-3" off the
    solder board surface. That gives you room to heat from below if
    needed. (Protecting the much smaller bezel stock from melting.) 

    Use two torches (help of another pair of hands can be great!!!!) One
    with a large bushy flame to do general heating, and one with a
    smaller flame to heat the joint area. Add solder chips inside the
    bezel on the backing piece or use the stick feed method from inside.
    Pre-heat the whole piece with the large torch. While maintaining
    that, use the smaller torch to direct heat on the seam. Keep it
    moving in decreasing size circles as the area gets ready to join.
    Spin on the annealing pan as needed. 

    Another option would be to do some really great pierced pattern in
    the backing sheet thereby reducing the sheet metal area. Could be a
    design element that is a fun "secret" for the owner. 

Hope it helps!
Amy


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