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Why Does Solder Bubble and Splatter When Soldering

Why Does Solder Bubble and Splatter When Soldering

It is caused by flux boiling through the solder you’re laying down. That’s why you notice it more on the second side of a project – by then you have sealed off the other side, it can’t splatter out the back. As you may have guessed, the best thing you can do to limit this is use less flux.

The other possibility is that your soldering iron is hotter than necessary and causing more boiling. If you are sure you’re not using too much flux, try putting a temperature control on your iron.

Submitted by Wanda Shorty from an old issue of Stained Glass News

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Helpful Items for Cutting Straight Lines

Helpful Items for Cutting Straight Lines

Do you have trouble cutting a straight line? If you do, try a tracking head.  If you already own a nice Toyo glass cutter and you want to change your head to a tracking head, that is also possible.  An important thing to know is that it is NOT good for cutting curves, so you might want one cutter with a tracking head and one without.  
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Solder Tip

Solder Tip

Common solders are a mix of tin and lead. The numbers that describe each type of solder refer to their % of each metal in that solder. The melting temperatures are: 50/50 421 degress F.
60/40 374 degrees f. They "set up" at 361 degrees F. Most lead free solders are usually within a 430 to 465 degrees F. Melting temperatures of lead and zinc came also vary. Lead came usually melts at 620 degress F and zinc came at about 780 degress F.
Many people use 50/50 for the back side of a lamp or to fill gaps in a project. If you have big gaps in a piece that needs to be filled, turn your irons up and use the 50/50 solder. Once it is set up, turn the iron down and use 60/40 to tin and bead. Since 60/40 becomes liquid at a lower temperaturethe 50/50 patch doesn't melt when they solder over it with the iron turned down.
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