Soldering problems and tips, chart

PROBLEM	PROBABLE CAUSE
Solder falls through seams to other side when soldering copper foiled pieces.	Soldering iron is too hot or you are holding the iron in one area too long. Put a damp rag or sponge under the area you are soldering.
Beading of seams is too flat.	Not enough solder.
Beading is lumpy -- peaks instead of flowing.	Iron is too cold.
Can't seam to get beading smooth.	Wrong kind of solder for job. Did you flux? Iron too cold or too hot. Too much or not enough solder.
Solder won't stick to copper foil or lead.	Did you flux? Copper foil may be oxidized; clean with vinegar, salt, and water solution. Lead may be oxidized; wipe clean, dry, and rub with fine steel wool or wire brush.
Solder splatters into little balls all over the glass.	Iron too hot; purchase rheostat for your iron. This will control the current to your iron and control the heat output.
Lead came melts and disappears before your eyes.	Directly touching the lead came with a very hot iron. Position solder at joint, iron on top. Let solder flow down on lead came.

How to make your own bronze colored patina

Go to your local feed store where they sell hay, etc...  There should be available bags of copper sulfate crystals used to keep pond scum down.  Use an old food blender (never again to be used for food) to turn these crystals into powder.  In a large jar (mayonnaise is good) blend several tablespoons of this powder with a pinch of salt in warm tap water.

Before cleaning your copper-foiled work with detergent (but after a light windexing) use an old sock to sop this copper sulfate mixture over your solder lines and "magic." An aged bronze effect is instantly produced.

A bag of copper sulfate crystals will last a very very long time and is considerably cheaper than the commecial products sold in bottles.

Soldering tips from a pro

When we teach beginning stained glass classes we notice that quite a few of our students have issues and questions with soldering.  It is only natural!  It can be quite a daunting task for a student who has never soldered before.  I have come to the conclusion that there are two groups of new stained glass solderers, ones that get it right away and others that need to practice, practice, practice.  So today I thought I'd try to explain to new stained glass artists how to solder properly!

To begin with, you will need the correct foil, solder, flux and soldering iron.  In fact, you will also need a good work surface as well.  We solder our windows on top of a sheet of particle board which we lay on top of our work bench.  We prefer not to solder directly on top of our bench since flux will flow into and onto the work surface you will use.  Not to mention that you can scorch the surface you are soldering on.  We want to keep our work surface clean for making patterns, cutting our glass etc etc, for that reason we keep our table top flux free!

As far as using the correct foil, what we mean by that is,  using clean foil. That means foil that doesn't have the backing glue on the outer copper surface or contaminated with other materials.  If the foil is contaminated carefully clean it with either rubbing alcohol or Goof-Off.  When foiling you need to foil the pieces with equal foil on the front and back side of the piece of glass.  The foil needs to be flattened down with a fid (a flat plastic stick or even a pencil) to make a nice smooth surface for soldering.  If the foiling is flawed or sloppy, the solder job will also look flawed since you can't add additional solder to an area that doesn't already have foil.  So take your time when foiling and do a good job, or it will show later.  When soldering lead came, the came needs to be clean too.

For solder we prefer to use 50/50 solder for lead came and 60/40 for copper foil.

With flux we like to use paste flux for lead came and liquid flux on copper foil.  There are types of flux that seem to sputter when heated.  We try to stay away from those brands of flux.  They can actually become dangerous by allowing small particles of molten solder to become air born and perhaps land on skin or clothing.

We advise glass artists to use soldering irons made for stained glass.  Some irons used for circuit boards do not heat up enough to work properly.  Other irons only have small iron tips which can make it very difficult to solder easily.

Once all of the above conditions are met, it is time to start soldering.  We start soldering on the front side of the window, once completed we flip the window over, solder the back side completely, then flip the window over to repair the front where solder may have flowed from the back to the front.  We flip the window back and forth until we are happy with the soldering.  If the window is to have a zinc frame, we solder it on at this time, as well.

On the front side of the window, when we begin to solder a piece, we like to tack solder all of our glass pieces into place.  By that I mean, we like to put a little solder on every piece just to keep all pieces from moving and distorting the window's shape, as we solder.  We do butt our window up to the outer area of our work surface where we nailed two strips of wood trim into a 90 degree angle (we do this to keep our window square).  As seen in the picture below.

Photo from the Colson Stained Glass Studio

First apply the flux to the entire piece.  We use a small paint brush which can be purchased at most stained glass retailers.  When soldering you want the solder line to look rounded, not flat.  If an area looks flat, add more solder so that the solder line is rounded!  It is not necessary to solder in any specific manner, it is more important to have the correct finished look.  If you end up with rough, dull colored soldered areas, that is indicative of cold solder.  To repair an area like that, add a little more flux to the area and heat up the area with your soldering iron.  You also don't want excessive blemishes and large clumps of solder.  To repair, re-flux and re-solder.  It is not necessary to always add more solder, it is possible to just heat the offending area with your iron and correct the issue.  

When done soldering, both sides, wash off the flux.  Flux can eventually deteriorate the solder if left on the window.  We clean the flux off our windows by using a sponge with a small amount of dish detergent.  

Finally, please watch the soldering video we previously posted SOLDERING COPPER FOIL.  There are other soldering videos on You Tube and online which are excellent to watch and give hints and tips to new glass artists.

Soldering copper foil video

We found this very good video on YouTube by DelphiGlass teaching how to solder copper foil.  Click on this link to watch the Soldering copper foil video here.  It is excellent for new glass artists and others who have problems soldering correctly.  Soldering video link

Soldering irons for glass art

Again, we always recommend that our students purchase a soldering iron specifically made for stained glass.  There are irons made for soldering pc boards that really won't work well for soldering foil or lead came.

Also when soldering lead came our studio glass artisans at Harrach Stained Glass always use  temperature controlled irons or we plug our irons into a Mini Phaser which is pictured below.  Just plug an iron into the Mini Phaser and control the iron's temperature by using the dial on the front of the unit.

We have found that a lot of glass artists prefer to use 60/40 solder for all of their soldering needs.  At our studio we use 60/40 solder on copper foil and 50/50 on lead came.  We also prefer paste flux for lead came and liquid flux for copper foil.

It is also important to always use an iron stand, to allow the iron to be easily laid down while still hot or plugged in, without burning a work surface!

There are quite a few different wattage irons available, such as 40w, 50w, 60w, 80w, 100w and 175 watts.  Some irons have ceramic heating elements, which are supposed to last longer than non ceramic elements.

Weller

Hakko

Inland

How to repair a broken piece of glass in a Tiffany (copper foil) window.

I wrote this tutorial for those artists who need to replace a broken piece of glass in a Tiffany - copper foiled window.   This technique also works for replacing multiple broken pieces.

First, place your window on your work surface with the smooth side of the broken piece of glass, facing up.  (It is much easier to cut glass on it's smoothest side.) Take your glass cutter and score (cut) multiple times through out the broken piece.  I like to cut in a criss cross star or "x" shape.

Next, hold the glass window up on it's side (if possible) and take the "ball" side of your glass cutter and tap the broken piece of glass from the opposite side from the side you just scored.  If your glass cutter doesn't have a "ball" or metal cutter fluid cap on one end, use a small hard object.  As you tap the broken piece of glass,  the new score lines that you made will break and some of the broken piece of glass will fall out of the window.

Lay the window back down on your work surface and with a pair of needle nose pliers, pull the remaining pieces of broken glass out of the spot.  Once all or most of the glass is removed from the area, use your soldering iron and heat up a small portion of the copper foil that was originally wrapped around that broken piece.  Be sure to use flux.  Take your needle nose pliers and lightly pull off the old heated copper foil at the same time that you move the soldering iron.  Some times you can remove the old copper foil in one piece!  Other times you will have to pull off small pieces of foil.  Either way, keep removing the old foil until it is all gone.  Do not over heat this area or you might break some of the good surrounding glass pieces or you could possibly damage the good foil still on surrounding pieces.

Finally, smooth out the area where the piece was removed with flux and your soldering iron.  Once done, take a piece of regular paper (like computer paper) and lay it under your window, below the area where the broken piece once was.  Take a pencil and trace around the inside of this opening.  Use a pair of regular scissors and cut out this traced piece.  Glue this new paper pattern piece on to the new piece of glass with Elmer's rubber cement.

Cut, foil and re-solder this piece back into the window.  Clean, polish and it is finished and repaired!

What happens if your piece of glass is thicker than your lead came?

Have you ever been working on a leaded glass window and discovered that you used such a thick piece of glass that it is too wide to fit into the channel of your lead came?  This does happen!  Typically this happens when you are using a piece of glass that has a very deep texture.  You will notice that a piece of Drapery glass has a lot of very thick areas.

So, to resolve this problem, you will need to use wide heart came on that thick piece of glass.  You don't need to use the wide heart came on the entire stained glass window, instead you can use it only around that thick piece of glass.  And continue using the regular heart came for the remaining window.   When shopping for came, it is possible to find wide heart came in lead, zinc and brass.

If this same situation arises when working with copper foil, the remedy is quite simple as well!  You'll need to foil one side of the piece, then flip it over and foil the other side, allowing the foil to overlap in the center area of the edge of the piece of glass.  Later, when the piece is soldered in the stained glass window or suncatcher, this piece will be as secure as a regularly foiled piece of glass!