I‘d like to make this statue out of copper pipes. I have one big pipe, and then a bunch of soft copper tubes used for plumbing. I have a soldering iron, and solder-I have been trying to attach some of the softer tubes to the larger one, but the solder snaps right off. with little effortor slides right off before it cools-im having trouble getting it to stick to the copper? Any suggestions?? thank you!
Sand the parts where you will solder. Use flux. Clamp your parts together. Use a propane torch instead of a soldering iron. How to: 1) sand where the parts will meet. 2) cover the area lightly in flux. 3) clamp the parts together. 4) heat the parts 5) place the solder at the joint, do not heat the solder. If it does not melt, the parts are not hot enough.
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OK, so what you need are a couple of things all together to make a solid joint. Copper, of course, cleaned with an abrasive sice as sandpaper to expose bare correr without any corrosion on the surface. FLUX, which is a wetting agent that makes it possible for liquid solder to smoothly wet the bare metal copper. and a TORCH or other heat source large enough to heat a large area. Apparently, your soldering iron is not large enough to cause the area you are heating to get hot enough to wet the surface with flux and solder. Go to any big box hardware store and look into classes on how to solder copper pipe used in water systems in houses. They offer classes in this to teach people how to do their own repairs. I learned how to solder copper pipe in such a class, AND how to properly cement PVC pipe as well. A propane torch is probably the quick and dirty answer so you can heat much larger areas at the same time so solder flows IN the joint instead of ON TOP of the joint. FLUX is THE most important thing you need. Flux is what makes it possible for the solder to flow like water and wet the metal surface with liquid metal to make a solid joint. Solder is much like a simple glue you use on pieces of paper, only for metals. The thing is, without flux to prepare the metal surface, the metal glue of solder won't stick to the smooth surface of a metal.
Essentially you have to follow the same process as used in plumbing. Thoroughly clean your copper pieces, apply flux, fit them together, heat up the joint using a torch (not just a solder iron), apply the recommended solder and wipe off excess solder. Be careful, the copper pieces become very hot even far away from the solder joint and stay like that for several minutes. You can get the necessary supplies in your local hardware store.
