How to Solder Jump Rings with a Soldering Iron

Jump rings are essential when it comes to making chains, chainmail, and jewelry. They are often designed by wrapping a wire around the mandrel, making a coil, and cut the loop using sure to create individual rings.

As a jeweler, soldering your jump ring is vital, and if you are a newbie, consider yourself at the right place. In this article, we shall be focusing on how to solder jump rings with a soldering iron.

Soldering a jump ring with a soldering iron is relatively easy; all required of you is to follow these vital steps discussed in this article. With that in mind, let’s go through the process:

Soldering jump rings with a soldering iron

When it comes to soldering a jump ring using a soldering iron, you will need to consider the following;

Solder temperament 

The first thing you will have to consider is selecting an extra-easy solder temperament for this task. Usually, there is one solder temperament that requires low heat, which is often referred to as low-temperature solder. It would be best if you always kept in mind that jump rings do not require a solder with a high melting point.

Cutting the extra-easy solder

Furthermore, you will cut the extra-easy solder into relatively small chips. Consider using tin snips that measure approximately 0.03 inch or 1 mm squares.

Assembling the extra-easy solder

Once you are done cutting all the extra-easy solders, you should consider assembling them on one container. While doing this, you should ensure that they don’t mix with other solders that you might have in your container.

Opening your ring

Take your jump ring and open it using a set of pliers. Ensure you use a pair of pliers that will perfectly fit your jump ring.

Applying flux

Once you have your jump ring-opened, you will consider applying flux to both ends of your ring using a small and fine paintbrush. Usually, flux is a vital agent that aids in allowing your solder to flow into your joint perfectly. They often come in a different form; however, borax is considered the most common flux.

Closing the ring

When done with applying the flux, you can now close your jump ring using your pair of pliers. As you do this, ensure that the two ends of the ring with flux have been flush together.

Charcoal block

Take your jump ring and place it on a charcoal block. Before you start soldering your jump ring, ensure that the joint is touching the block.

Picking your extra-easy solder chips

Start picking up your extra-easy solders chips using the tip of your small and fine paintbrush. Once this is done, you will place the solder chip on your jump ring joint and then turn on the soldering torch.

Heating the ring

You will then start heating your jump ring along with the charcoal block; however, you should avoid heating your solder directly. As you solder your metal jump ring, the solder will melt and start flowing towards the ring’s hottest point.

Watching for your solder to melt

As the solder starts melting, it will be having a liquid appearance during this stage. You will then watch you solder as it flows towards the hottest point on your jump ring.

Removing the heat

Usually, this process happens very fast and once you are done, ensures that you have the heat removed quickly.

Placing your jump ring in the pickle solution

Once you remove the heat from your jump ring, you should place it in a pickle solution. The pickle solution helps in removing the layer of oxidation that is present on a soldered metal. Furthermore, it would be best if you considered waiting until all your jump rings have been soldered in order to add them to the pickle solution all at the same time.

Removing from the pickle solution

After a while, you will remove your jump rings from the pickle solution; ensure that you use copper tongs for this process. Once they are out, you should rinse the rings using water. You will then repeat the whole process for each jump ring.

Things you should keep in mind while soldering jump rings

As previously stated, soldering jump rings is relatively easy, and it often takes a few seconds. During this process, you should always keep these vital tips in mind:

• You should avoid using pickle solution on items that are silver plated. This is because the solution is capable of removing the layer of silver hence exposing its base metal.
• When soldering your jump rings, do not apply excess flux on the jump ring joint. As you solder a jump ring, you will apply heat, and excess flux can bubble due to heat application; hence it will end up displacing the solder chip.
• Usually, fusing metal jump ring is not as strong as the bond of metals that are connected by soldering at higher temperatures.
• The color of a hard solder closely matches that of silver. This means that extra-easy solders do not match silver; however, it is relatively easy to work with.
• Usually, it rather laborious solders each jump ring at a time. Therefore, you should consider using a good soldering torch since it is much quicker.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to soldering a jump ring, you will require an extra-easy solder, tin snips, a pair of pliers, flux, small and fine paintbrush, water, copper tongs, soldering iron, jump rings, and a charcoal block.

The best part is that this process is relatively easy, and it tends to take a very short time. Furthermore, you don’t have to possess any additional skills to become perfect in soldering jump rings; this makes it ideal for newbies out there. 

Adhering to the steps discussed in this article will find that the whole process is relatively easy than what most people think it is. As we conclude, we hope that you have found this article helpful when it comes to understanding how to solder jump rings with a soldering iron.