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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.9.37] on Friday, September 28, 2012 at 02:10:41 :
In Reply to: Re: Solder little holes? posted by Ron Hardin [174.61.151.80] on Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 22:59:26 :
I have 2 rolls of 50/50 left. Been selling a lot of it on ebay. $12 a roll if you want some.
I believe 63/37 is the lowest melting, because that's what they use on electronics (or did until ROHS came into effect and banned lead). There it needs to be runny to wick up into the wires, and it needs to melt at as low a temperature as possible so as to not damage the components.
The advantage of 50/50 is it doesn't melt suddenly, but has a mushy range where you can sort of push it around and form it without it either running all over or solidifying totally. That's why plumbers used it, plus it's a little cheaper than 63/37 since lead is cheaper than tin.
Nokorode acid flux will work, though bare steel is a little harder to solder than copper. The old-time tin smiths used a zinc chloride flux (dissolve scrap zinc in muriatic acid until no more will dissolve) or ammonium chloride ("sal amoniac", which used to come in a block) I've used both and they do work better than Nokorode plumbing flux. The Nokorode has a greasy component that tends to burn and coat the steel with black gunk. I'll have to ask my old body-and-fender neighbor what he used for flux when doing the lead body work.
In the old days plumbers used it to "wipe" lead pipe joints. They'd just smear it around with their hands, wearing thick leather gloves. Something along those lines is also what's used for doing lead body work. I was just talking with a neighbor a couple days ago who was telling me all about how he used to do lead body work.