locksport: Silver soldering failures while trying to do soldering for 3in1 Abus Plus pick

I dont know what is my issue with silver soldering. In this video i tried with new soldering materials (flux,silver) that i was instructed to use. I tried to follow instructions but the result was a set of failures. Then i tested silver soldering rod that i have used earlier and using it maybe got ok result.
Materials used:
- stainless steel (304) tube. Chinese, ordered from Aliexpress
- maybe stainless steel rod, are pieces of a bbq stick
- flux: www.kouluelekt...
- silver: www.kouluelekt...

[@JONSLOCKPICKING]

I use 0.5 wire and easy flo flux. For picking tips. I use hacksaw blades. Just pull the pin out of the end of hacksaw and insert injector stem. Then I heat the wire and dip it into the powder. Then heat the metal till red . Then put wire on bang job done. lol.

[@PocketWomen]

This is a very complex pick to make. Thanks for showing your soldering process I have had a lot of trouble with soldering, cheers

[@MarcWh]

The flux you’re using there looks to be a zinc chloride based flux like the famous Baker’s Soldering Fluid. It is used for soft soldering. Silver soldering is not a soft soldering process but a hard soldering or brazing process. You need an appropriate flux such as Johnson Matthey Easy-flo.

[@CamRStanford]

You need to pickle the metal you're working with in acid to remove the oxide layer so you can get the solder to properly wet the metal. That and higher temperature--I would probably also orient the pick so gravity is pushing straight down on the solder into the joint--and not flowing sideways into it.

[@WolfJustWolf]

Maybe the problem is that there is no flux inside the hole. Or that there is too little space between the hole and the tube. I would chamfer the hole before soldering.

[@_least7808]

Thank you for the video! Good to know what awaits me😅 I'd say the flux is the culprit - the solder didn't wet the surface so it made that nice ball.

[@bpark10001]

You need to have the parts totally covered with white cream flux before heating. The 1st heating needs to be slow to boil off the water in the flux & not knock off the white powder that results. The flux should then melt & become clear liquid with silver metal underneath, then the silver solder flows. For something small, you can heat just above boiling & dip into cream flux, then remove, heat & solder. I do not like the flux coated rods. By the time the flux gets to the work, the work has oxidized black. The work should look silver with clear glassy overcoat before the solder flows. After it cools, the glassy coat should be hard to remove, requiring lengthy soaking in hot water & brushing. If you have failure & work gets black, it should be re-cleaned before trying again. What metals are you joining? Titanium & aluminum will not silver solder.

[@Tr3smass]

You're going about it the wrong way...if you're going to use silver then you need to clean your metal very well your manipulation of the pieces with your hands goes against this principle, you need gloves the simple acidity of your hands can ruin a weld or solder ,use something like Scotch Brite to clean pieces, once that's done , you want to apply the flux on the seam where the solder is going to go, heat it up but not direct heat just so the flux melts and becomes sticky and "glassy" now take the filler metal and heat up your piece but not to the point of it getting orange red.... that's way too hot....just so it becomes dark blue a bit on the starting to get red and apply you filler metal....remember though silver DOES NOT FILL GAPS, if your pieces are too far apart or the hole is too big...it won't work. Fit the pieces right and then you'll get good results. P.S. you got that bubble because the pieces are too hot

[@IngoHerges]

You need a good flux. The flux also acts as a temperature indicator. i totally like your videos but it is very difficult to understand you due to the quit speaking.

[@BrettSucks]

The metal needs to be very clean try cleaning with copper wire wool.

[@MikkoRantalainen]

The silver balled because you didn't have suitable flux ("juotosneste" in Finnish). Either the flux you used wasn't high enough quality for the silver or you simply had too little of it. The whole idea of the flux is to reduce the surface tension of the liquid metal *and* to avoid oxidation of the liquid metal. As you probably know pure silver has light grey appearance but oxidized silver looks nearly black. Look at some microsoldering videos (with tin) by Louis Rossmann and you have some idea how much flux is still okay. If the silver balls, it has already lost the flux and no amount of extra heating will wet it again. Maybe try adding flux first, then the silver blob, then more flux so that there's flux for sure between the blob and the metal you want to solder? (The solder you used in 11:35 has white dry flux on top and it melts with the flame which helps to wet the solder. That's why it doesn't ball so much. It seems to me that even this solder had a bit too little flux which gets burned away by the flame very fast.) I agree with the other commenters that you should have more space in the hole so that you can see if the solder gets between the shaft and the flat metal. With tight hole it may be that the solder doesn't get wicked into the tight space and you have more fragile pick as a result.

[@michaelzborovan4362]

I might also recommend proping up the end off the fire brick. That brick is absorbing a ton of the heat... and clean, solder w right solder and feed in the rod instead of little pieces...