u/crazycatladeh

Baby boy had to get his teefer pulled! He was so cute with it!!! 😻😻

I tested all my solder changes - from a new tip, new flux, and heat suggestions….and thank you!! It worked so much better today!!!!!

Thank you for all the encouragement and help! I would have given up without you!!

Ack! I know it’s awful. There are so many gorgeous pieces of art in here and this is mine!

With that said, I have learned so much with my first piece at home and my first time using came…and I won’t give up!

Thank you to everyone who gave advice with my grinder and the issues I had with my solder. I ended up getting a new iron and trying to finish this tonight..and woah, it certainly is a first piece… /cringe

I’m still struggling with a few things and debated posting because it’s not something to be hung (which I tried to integrate a loop and that was a whole adventure!), but I would love (and desperately could use!!) feedback.

Materials used after cutting and foiling-
WinUSD Stained Glass Flux
StudioProb60/40 solder
Glassco 3/16 round U lead came
NovaCan Super Brite Copper Patina
Hakko Fx-601 solder (temp between 469-540)

A few reflections:
- I clearly thought I knew how to use came, but yikes! I do think it was too small because I had a lot of trouble getting on some of my pieces. But I need to read up much more on this.
-I thought the patina would stain the lead came as well, but I’m so clearly wrong!
-I think my liquid flux is causing my solder to be cakey, and moving to the recommendations from others is a necessity.
-I’m still struggling with the temperature of my iron and feeling as though I’m bouncing between burning or not hot enough.

If folks feel generous, I am open to any and all suggestions! Thank you for being such a lovely community where I can post this super crappy project and ask for feedback! I hope to redeem myself on here some day with the quality of work you all share!

Hi all! Thank you again for the help yesterday with the grinder!!

I’m on to soldering and I’m trying to figure out what might be happening. I’m not use to the solder being gooey. Typically it’ll liquify easily, leaving little bubbles that drop off. I’m using a 60/40 solder, liquid flux, and a new iron that I have up at the highest temp (850). I’ve tried intervals of 50 all the way to 350 and it’s either not melting or is gooey. At any of the temperatures, I’m not able to tin at all.

I don’t know if it’s the iron, the solder, the flux, or the user! I’m use to doing this in an open studio that has most of the things available, so I’m very much a newb going in blind!

Any advice is appreciated!

Hi all!

Firstly, longtime lurker, first time poster. Thank you for inspiring me to believe I could do this at home. I’ve spent my day off enjoying my first home project, and so far it’s been a success - got my first blood, and somehow lost a piece down the sink drain!

I have a plastic box for when I use my grinder, and I noticed quite a bit of grinder dust outside the box after the use. Should I be concerned with this? Some of the dust was on top of the box where I was working. Any tips? Should I be worried about if I inhaled it? Will this be both my first and last project?

Thank you in advance!!