Now has just eight lives

[kaliha]

Decided to have a go at making soldered pendants tonight. (As part of my ongoing experiments into making this wedding vow charm bracelet.)

It was going badly from the start

I decided to make a glass nugget to practice wrapping and soldering.

I get the microwave kiln out to discover that loads of the special coating has flaked off. Spend $38.00 on the internet to order a repair kit. Decide to risk it and fuse the glass anyway.


Check very carefully for random red spots in the sides as it fuses. Absolutely nothing, which is a good thing. The bright orange thing in the hole is the molten glass.


My blob of glass all fused together. It looks much better than this image would have you believe.


I cut a piece of self-adhesive copper tape to size and wrapped around the glass.


I used a nail file to push the edges down to get a nice fit all the way round and try and get rid of all the creases.

Then I start soldering. I break my solder into small pieces to make it easier to handle. And have at it. I'm not particularly neat, but I can always add more solder over the top and this is my first go at this I don't expect it to be good.

Then a flamey glow appears inside the soldering iron (I can see it through the holes in the top). I hurriedly put it in the holder and pull the plug out the wall as the iron fires out a shower of sparks. I nearly died of shock there and then.


So I've ended up with a half done pendant. (And probably the smell of burnt electrics in the kitchen. Woes.)

I spoke to m'Dad (as he is my expert in all things DIY) and he says I hadn't done anything wrong, the element just went in the iron which happens sometimes (and the soldering iron is over 12 years old. I remember using it to chip the PlayStation (the original first gen one). So now I need to go and buy a new soldering iron. And I don't think that they're that cheap either.

Comments

[sal101010.livejournal.com]

Andrew says they start at about a fiver and can go sky high. It depends on how much power you need apparently and what you're going to do with it.

However he's also pointed out that it may be repairable and then he said something about Wella TC (last time I looked, Wella was a hair product company) and said it'd definitely be worth repairing that!

Hope the unsolicited advice helps!

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Your unsolicited advice was rather useful. (It's not a Weller iron, which probably explains why it went ASPLODE!)

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ is a good place to look for solidering irons.

I burn myself with those blasted things lol

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I had a look in Maplin's at lunch any they only sell irons up to 25w. I need at least a 60w iron.

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Please be wearing safety goggles? Friend of mine nearly lost an eye to molten iron

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I have very sexy safety glasses. (No, they're not sexy at all. But they do the job, even if I have to wear my proper glasses underneath them.