Solder question?

[Lockdown27]

Should I used flux when I use acid core solder? ITs for making a plugspinner. I just made one but it was hard cause it kept rolling off.

[zsoutendijk]

I do...

make sure you sand down the metal with a really rough sandpaper, that should help it stick.

[maintenanceguy]

No, the acid core is the flux.

I'm not sure what you're doing but solder is really soft. If you're using solder to hold something that's going to be under spring tension or will be under an impact force when it strikes the plug, I'd use brazing rod instead.

The cheap stuff is 5% silver brazing rod and the expensive stuff is 15% silver brazing rod. I just bought a 5 lb container of the 15% for just about $100. But you can buy just one rod for a few dollars.

Silver brazing rod sill stick to just about anything, it doesn't need flux (although it flows nicer with it...use the stuff for silver brazing rod), and it's strong.

The down side is that it needs to be considerably hotter but you can still braze small stuff with a hand held propane torch.

[Lockdown27]

Thanks guys just made a nice Plugspinner.