Paste is a combination of a brazing or soldering alloy that has been manufactured into a very fine powder, a suitable flux for the application, and a neutral liquid binder that holds everything together in a moderately thick paste.
The solder alloys used in paste solder are exactly the same as solder alloys used in sheet, strip, chopped pieces, or wire solder. They've just been manufactured into powder form. Each very tiny sphere of powder has the exact combination of elements that makes the solder alloy, which gives predictable, consistent melting.
Paste solders are available in virtually every karat and color gold, and usually a range of melting temperatures for each karat/color combination. They are also available in a wide selection of silver solders, copper and brass solders, and low-temperature soft solders. |
Perfect combination of flux and solder, every time. Eliminate concerns about whether you used enough flux, or the right flux. Paste solder contains the proper flux for the solder in the proper proportion.
One-step application. Paste solder applies the flux and the solder alloy in one step, before heating, which eliminates juggling a torch and a solder pick or solder wire.
Ease of Use. Paste solder is the easiest form of solder to learn to use, and the easiest to use on a consistent basis. Paste solder can eliminate the need to gauge how hot the assembly is to determine when to add the solder. Because it is pre-placed, the jeweler can concentrate on heating the part evenly, and can see clearly when the solder has melted and the joint is complete.
Versatility. No need to worry about the wrong wire diameter, or the wrong chip size. The size of the paste deposit can be adjusted to meed the needs of the solder joint, which means one package of paste can eliminate the need for multiple sizes of chips or wire.
Production speed. Paste solder is faster and more efficient than any other form of solder. It is ideal for production environments, but also works exceptionally well on the bench. In many cases, pieces with multiple solder joints can be done in one heating with paste.
Customization. Unlike pieces, strip or wire, paste solder can be customized to a particular appliction, by changing the solder alloy, the flux type, the concentrations of each. Custom additives can be included to achieve specific results. |
Unfamiliarity. Most bench jewelers learned how to solder with wire and/or pieces. Paste is different and unfamiliar and will probably take some getting used to.
Not well suited for large or uneven gaps. Let's face it, not every joint is perfect. When soldering joints that may have large gaps, or inconsistent gaps, hand-feeding wire, or having the ability to apply multiple chips as needed is the way to go. Paste does a great job in most applications, but you can't add more paste to the hot joint when you realize that there's not enough there to do the job. |
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