Advice regarding soldering equipment

I've been learning more & more about jewelry design and construction
and am falling in love with the process. I've been using an acetylene
torch (no oxygen mix) at the local arts center, but I'm getting
serious enough to want to set up a studio at home.

What gas and equipment do I want to use? My main goal is maximum
flexibility. I looked at the "little torch" and love the precesion of
it. I want to be able to sodler fine chain, or 24 gauge jump rings
sometimes - while being mindful of adjoining stones or pearls. But I
also may want to solder larger pieces, or even melt and cast metals.

I was thinking of acetylene or an acetylene/oxygen combo with a choice
of "little torch" or some sort of full-sized torch attached. Or what
of the versa-torch? The whole gas thing is a little bit
nervous-making for me as a newbie. At the arts center, it is all set
up, and you just need to turn this, and open that, and use your little
spark-maker. But to be responsible for installing gauges and trading
hoses and handpieces......sigh.

Your advice would be most welcome and thank you.

raane

What gas and equipment do I want to use? My main goal is maximum
flexibility. I looked at the "little torch" and love the precesion of
it. I want to be able to sodler fine chain, or 24 gauge jump rings
sometimes - while being mindful of adjoining stones or pearls. But I
also may want to solder larger pieces, or even melt and cast metals.

My personal preference is propane or natural gas and oxygen. With this I
use a Hoke torch that I have adapted one of the tips for fine work by soldering
a piece of brass over the end and drilled a small hole.

I was thinking of acetylene or an acetylene/oxygen combo with a choice
of "little torch" or some sort of full-sized torch attached.

I don't like acetylene, I find it too dirty. I also don't much like the
little torch, it isn't versitile enough for me.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:32:18 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
(NE333RO) wrote:

What gas and equipment do I want to use? My main goal is maximum
flexibility. I looked at the "little torch" and love the precesion of
it. I want to be able to sodler fine chain, or 24 gauge jump rings
sometimes - while being mindful of adjoining stones or pearls. But I
also may want to solder larger pieces, or even melt and cast metals.

My personal preference is propane or natural gas and oxygen. With this I
use a Hoke torch that I have adapted one of the tips for fine work by soldering
a piece of brass over the end and drilled a small hole.

I would second that choice, though I'd mention that I'm not an enormous fan of
the Hoke, at least not the ones currently sold. The valves are just not that
good, so with very tiny tips, i find adjusting a proper and uniform gas or
oxygen flow difficult. But this may also be the individual torch I've got. At
work, I use a Hoke, and find it adaquate, though as i say, I'm not a great fan
of the thing. I'd note that one cay buy, for under 20 bucks, a set of adapter
tips for it that do the same as that modified tip. It's an adapter that screws
onto the torch in place of a normal tip, which then lets you use the included
laur-lok type hypdermic needes as tips. the ones included as all steel, not
plastic needle tips, and it includes a range of tube sizes and lengths, some of
which are more useful than others. the smallest of them has little use with
natural gas or propane, as they're too small to light. with oxygen/acetylene,
or oxy hydrogen, they work well. With the largest of these adapters, I can
produce ounce sized "ingots" of platinum from scrap, though i'd note that I
don't melt the whole mass at once to do it. Still, it's a decently hot and
substantail flame, and with no tip at all in the adapter, the flame is a good
deal larger still. The Little torch is fairly similar in capacity to these
adapters. With oxy/propane or natural gas, the smallest tips on the little
torch also have little use, and the largest one is, just barely, able to work
substantial amounts of metal, at least in the "ring" size range. The valves on
the little torch are a LOT better than the Hoke, but they are also more
fragile. it's quite posible to abuse them to the degree where you can then no
longer properly close them all the way down.

My own preference for the most versatile system, would be propane or natural
gas, with oxygen, and Y connections off the regulators with seperate valves on
each Y. one branch feeds a Meco midget, which has an amazing variety of tips
available for it, including substantial large tips suited to even moderate sized
casting melts or pouring ingots. Then the other branch of the Y would feed a
little torch for the small work. If I had to have just one, it would be the
meco, not the little torch, as you can always get, or make, a smaller tip, but
the largest size tip of the little torch is still rather modest, especially
using natural gas or propane. The trick of taking a standard tip for a meco or
Hoke, and silver or gold soldering on a length, perhaps half an inch to an inch
long, or small brass tubing, perhaps with about a millimeter inside diameter, is
one lots of bench jewelers use. the small size of the orifice gives a small
flame, and the length of the tube also makes a difference, with a longer tube
making the flame somewhat less agressive (the long tube seems to reduce the
working pressure at the tip a bit, compared to a tip with the same diameter, but
shorter, tube. And the big advantage of this type of tip (including the
manufactured adapter tips for the Hoke) is that the small little tube is easy to
manouver around detailed work.

If, like me, you're a tool-a-holic, you can add to this two torch setup. i've
got a second Y connector off those same tanks to feed a larger full size casting
torch. Wtih that, i can melt and cast several ounces of platinum, and cooler
melting metals are easier still. Then I also have my first ever torch, a Smith
handi heat. This one is acetylene only, without an oxygen tank. This torch is
one of two exceptions to my agreement with not especially liking acetylene.
Because it mixes air in from the moment you turn it on, it's relatively cleaner
than acetylene with oxygen, and it's cooler and gentler too. Air acetylene,
such as with the Smith Handi heat, the prestolite, or other such torches, is not
as good if you're doing extremely precise tiny work, nor as good for normal
goldsmithing. But for fabrication work in sterling silver, I find this my
favorite torch. The large gentle flames make it much easier to heat the whole
work evenly, which is more important for silver work than for gold or platinum.
And the "dirtiness" of acetylene, due to more free carbon in the flame, which
can lead to bits of carbon fluff floating around your workshop from improper
flame mix when lighting or extinguishing the torch, doesn't occur much with the
single tank torches. Plus, that higher level of carbon as well as the larger
broader flames, helps silver stay cleaner with less oxidation than it gets when
worked with smaller, oxygen/fuel flames.


I was thinking of acetylene or an acetylene/oxygen combo with a choice
of "little torch" or some sort of full-sized torch attached.

I don't like acetylene, I find it too dirty. I also don't much like the
little torch, it isn't versitile enough for me.

I agree, mostly, on both counts. Acetylene in larger torches IS dirty, and for
work in gold, is a bit of a nuisance. In platinum, that higher amount of free
carbon in the flame is worse than a nuisance. It can cause major contamination
problems with the platinum.

However, if most of what you do is tiny work in silver and gold, then i'd
grudgingly recommend the little torch with oxygen and acetylene. With that
fuel, the tiniest tips (which are useless with propane or natural gas) become
highly precise amazingly small flames with which you can do some very delicate
work. For this reason, it's a torch often used by goldsmiths who specialize in
repair work, rather than fabrication of new items. For soldering chains,
retipping prongs, and similar tight work in gold, the little torch is ideal.
But I'd agree with ne333ro that it's not all that versatile if you wish to work
in larger scales (like making whole pieces jewelry, especially in silver, for
which the little torch is pretty much inadequate)

Hope that helps.

Peter

Let us not forget Mapp gas, hotter than propane , a lot hotter than
natural
and not so sooty as acetylene.

Les

In article , Peter W. Rowe
pwrowe@ixDOTnetcomDOTcom writes:

f, like me, you're a tool-a-holic, you can add to this two torch setup. i've
got a second Y connector off those same tanks to feed a larger full size
casting
torch. Wtih that, i can melt and cast several ounces of platinum, and cooler
melting metals are easier still. Then I also have my first ever torch, a
Smith
handi heat. This one is acetylene only, without an oxygen tank.

I also use the Smith handi-heat and love it. Along with that, I have the
Smith little torch, to use for special applications