Solder a Sculpture Using Brass Bolts & Nuts
Brass bolts and nuts are not only useful pieces of hardware--they are also good-looking. Because of their color and simple, versatile shape, brass fasteners make great design elements for sculptures. The possibilities for combining brass bolts and nuts in a sculpture are nearly endless, as long as there is a solid point of contact between the pieces for soldering them in place. Soldering brass is not very different from soldering other types of metal, although some special tools are required.
Instructions
1. Test the meeting point of your brass pieces. Make sure that you have at least a quarter of an inch of overlap where you intend to make a joint.
2. With a small paintbrush, paint the flux onto each part, covering the area to be joined. The flux will boil away when you apply heat, leaving the brass clean and ready to adhere.
3. Melt a small amount of solder onto the tip of your soldering iron. When the solder has just started to melt, paint it onto each piece of the joint with the tip of iron. Cover the join area with a thin, even coat of solder--using too much solder will weaken the joint.
4. Clamp the pieces together. Paint the joint area once more with liquid flux.
5. Heat the joint with your butane torch. A propane torch also works well for this, but the soldering iron alone will not get hot enough to properly join brass. Apply heat to the two components rather than directly to the solder--the idea is to get the brass hot enough to melt the solder. Heat the brass until the solder melts and changes color.
