Soldering Gallery Wire!

Posted by Roberta Pihl on

Having a hard time soldering gallery wire? Here’s how I use it without melting tines!

First of all, I always use paste solder. It’s just easier: the flux is mixed right in with the solder so you just place it where you want it to go. No fiddling with chips and flux... The syringe makes it easy. Also, it has a wider spread than traditional solder so it will go where you need it (and then some, sometimes, especially with a pattern under it.. but that’s okay with the pattern you won’t even notice.)

Second, I NEVER place the flame directly over the bezel. It’s a little hard to solder and video at the same time so if you see me doing it even a little it wasn’t intentional.

But this is where heat transfer and mass come in: heat the backplate ONLY. This stuff is so fine that it will gather the heat quicker and if the backplate isn’t hot enough you’re just going to melt it. Skirt the outside of the piece and let it gather to the center on its own, slowly. If the solder doesn’t spread to the backplate quickly enough and the bezel turns pink before the solder flows onto the backplate, make your circle wider. Backing the heat off will give the backplate time to catch up. The trick is watching the bezel.
 

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