The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Half-Teaspoon Soldering

    My favorite half-teaspoon measure hit the floor with a surprising sproing:

    Half-teaspoon soldering - broken
    Half-teaspoon soldering – broken

    The weld lasted far longer than anyone should own a spoon, I suppose, but it wasn’t much to begin with:

    Half-teaspoon soldering - sprung handle
    Half-teaspoon soldering – sprung handle

    Having had much the same thing happen to a measuring cup from the same set, I cleaned the back of the spoon and the front of the handle with a stainless steel wire brush in the Dremel and gingerly re-bent the handle to remove any inclination it might have to break free again:

    Half-teaspoon soldering - cleaned and rebent
    Half-teaspoon soldering – cleaned and rebent

    Some 60% silver solder (the formula evidently changed in the last few decades), nasty flux, and propane torch work produced a decent fillet:

    Half-teaspoon soldering - cooling
    Half-teaspoon soldering – cooling

    It looks a bit worse on the far side, but I’ll never tell.

    Rinse off the flux, wire-brush the joint, wash again, and it’s all good.

    I thought about excavating the resistance soldering gadget, but the torch was closer to hand and a bigger fillet seemed in order.