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As you become more skilled at soldering you may find that the number you have been setting you temperature control on no longer works the same.

Things that affect the temperature are:

1. voltage of your iron

2. speed at which you solder

3. size of area or seam you are soldering

4. cleanliness and overall condition of the tip.

So I am referring to #2. As you get faster, your iron will operate differently.

You temperature controller is similar to a dimmer switch. By dialing the control to a higher or lower setting, more or less electricity is fed to the iron. This increases or decreases the iron temperature.

The numbers on the dial are a reference scale to indicate higher or lower temperature settings.

To begin, adjust the dial to the "50" setting. Wait approximately 15 minutes. If the solder flows quickly into a smooth puddle, your iron is probably operating at the correct temperature. Adjust accordingly. As you become faster, you may have to set the temperature control to a higher number as you are releasing the heat faster.

For more info on "how to solder like a pro" go to the following address.

http://www.inlandcraft.com/howto/pdf/htsold.pdf

One of our customers, Carmela was in the store with her little 3 year old boy, Matao. She was down in the classroom and saw these slumped bottles. She said, "I want to learn how to flatten bottles". Matao says "you take that hammer and you KNOCK em down"! Now there is a child that can connect the dots! We do have the directions on this blog. Clock on fusing and scroll down to slumping bottles. It was published on Octboer 21st, 2011.

Don't you love how your piece looks when it is foiled before it is soldered? That shiny copper foil just sparkles. Why, oh why then, is it so hard to get copper patina to look as good as the copper foil. The simple answer is tarnish! A beautiful patina finish is always about how the metal is prepared and cleaned before you apply the patina. So here are a couple of tricks we use at Stained Glass Express to get that professional look for copper patina. 1. After soldering, clean your piece with patina and flux remover. Then rinse well with tap water. Dry all the solder lines with a paper towel so there is no tap water left on the piece. 2. When the piece is dry, mix a solution of 3 parts distilled water and 1 part ammonia. Scrub the solder lines and joints with fine steel wool (0000) dipped in the ammonia solution. Scrub until all of the solder is a consistent satin finish silver. 3. Dry the piece with a paper towel. It is important at this point not to use tap water because the additives or minerals in the water may react with the patina. 4. Dip a paper towel into the patina and rub it all over the piece to cover the solder lines. The patina should come out very shiny. If there are spots that are not shiney, that means there is still tarnish on the solder in those places. Repeat the process over those spots to correct the problem. 5. Dry the solder lines and the glass with another dry paper towel. Immediately apply polishing compound and follow the manufacturers directions for the product.

To make the heart bottom left, use four 1x1" bevels and 2-2" half circles. You can also make it large by using 4- 1 1/2x 1 1/2 bevels and 2-3" half circles. The large heart in the center is made with 1-1x1" bevel, 4-1x2 bevels, and 2-3" half circles. The heart on the bottom right is made with 1-2x2" bevel and 2-2" half circles. You can also make this one large by using 1-4x4" bevel and 1-4" half circle. Word to the wise. If you use copper foil, be prepared to patina your solder copper. If you don't, the copper from the inside of the tape will show through. If you don't want to use copper patina, use black back foil and patina it black or use silver back foil and leave it silver. A variation of these hearts is to replace the half ciricles with red or pink glass.

Plugging a soldering iron into a rheostat (or temperature controller) does NOT reduce the temperature. It reduces the amount of electricity coming in but doesn't change the temperature the iron will heat up to. It will just take longer to heat up. It's the same as the tap on your sink. Turning the tap down will make the water come in slower, but the water will still fill up your sink. It'll just take longer to fill up.

The reason some users believe rheostats "control" the temperature is that it is possible to reduce the amount of electricity coming in enough that the amount of heat being lost into the air is enough that the iron can't heat up to full capacity. That's especially a problem with the Weller 100 iron where the temperature is controlled by the tip. If your tip wants to heat up to 700 deg, but you aren't providing enough electricity for it to do that, the iron's heating element is running constantly. This will assuredly produce premature burn out.

The main reason I strongly recommend against using rheostats is they prevent the iron from providing a dependable temperature. The greatest advantage to the Weller 100 is that every time you use it, you can be confident it will heat up to the same temperature - and every time you leave it rest to reheat, it will heat back up to that same dependable temperature. It's reliable. Incoming electricity isn't reliable. It can vary as much as 10% at different times of day or on different days. If you're running the electricity through a rheostat, you'll be getting a temperature variance as great as 10%. That means that today you'll be soldering at 700 degrees, then tomorrow your iron might only supply 630 degrees, then the following day go up to 770 degrees. It's difficult enough to learn to get smooth even soldering without having to relearn how your iron works every different time you use it.

Just thought this opinion on rheostats and controllers was interesting, hope you enjoy!

Stained Glass Express