Anybody good at soldering?

[OFCJAX]

I have alot of skills. Soldering just does NOT seem to be one of them.

I have a few old skeleton keys I want to convert into kilt pins. I got some pin backs from walmart and I have a soldering gun and all the stuff but I suck at it.
Anybody wanna work out some "quid pro quo"?

[Tartan Hiker]

If they are brass or some other alloy, soldering won't do it. Use epoxy.

[James MacMillan]

I have alot of skills. Soldering just does NOT seem to be one of them.

I have a few old skeleton keys I want to convert into kilt pins. I got some pin backs from walmart and I have a soldering gun and all the stuff but I suck at it.
Anybody wanna work out some "quid pro quo"?

You are a little far away, but I sure do know how to solder, and would gladly do it for you. A better way would be to contact a local radio hobby group, and find some old-timer who grew up in the tube era. He can do it for you. I know of no key, brass or other wise that couldn't be soldered with the proper type of flux combined with the proper type of solder. Soldering is as much an art as welding, with different techniques for each metal. If it's metal, you can solder it!!!

[JS Sanders]

JB Weld epoxy at http://jbweld.net/index.php . Sold at most hardware stores too. Probably strong than soldering. I've had very good luck with it.

Slainte,
steve

[Howard Clark]

I'm with Jay. Ain't nuthin made of metal (except light white metal alloys) that can't be soldered. And even aluminum can be, it is just a royal pita and requires special stuff.

Clean the keys up shiny and bright (only necessary where you want to stick the solder), and then "tin" the place on the key where you want the pin to go. That is to say, heat the key, apply the flux, then apply solder to the bright area where the pin goes, and flow some solder onto the key first. Then stick the pin back on. And remember, when soldering the parent metal must get hot enough to melt the solder, don't just melt the solder. There's a lovely little "silver bearing" solder kit sold at most decent hardware stores. Little plastic tube with a coil of solder and the right acid based flux to use it. The silver bearing stuff flows at about 430F and will stick to most anything iron or copper based without too much trouble.

My apologies if you already knew all of this.

Epoxy is ok, and JB weld is probably the best of the easy to find ones.

[Tartan Hiker]

Obviously my flux and solder combos aren't what they should be...I've had mixed results at best with anything but copper pipes.

[Big Homestead]

If they are brass or some other alloy, soldering won't do it. Use epoxy.

Agreed.

[Jerry]

Electronic type solder will not work, and a gun will not supply enough heat to do the job. Most jewelry soldering is done with a propane torch and silver solder. The trick with any kind of solder is that the metal you are working with has to get hot enough so that it is the metal which melts your solder and not the soldering iron or gun. This why some metals cannot be soldered, they can't take the necessary heat. Once the solder melts, you have to remove the heat source and make sure that the pieces don't move or you will get a cold solder joint, which is a bubble in the hardened solder caused by the movement before the joint cooled sufficiently. I am one of those old electronics techs they were talking about that used to work with vacuum tubes, but I haven't done much jewelry work.

[Ian.MacAllan]

The only thing Jerry left out is this: never forget that anything that has just been soldered is still hot.

.

[OFCJAX]

Here's what I ended up trying.

I cut thin strips of masking tape and taped the pin/clutch back to the key (steel BTW). Then I used my gun to heat up both parts. I broke off a bit of solder the length of the pin back and wedged it into each side and heated them up again.

Didn't look pretty, but after it cooled I took off the tape and it held in place fairly solidly.

James: I could mail you both keys and a few backs if you wanna fix them up and you could keep one as payment.