SBSK Silver Solder 3/64 1/2 oz STAR2000 by Stay-Brite

UPDATE 25 OCT 2017: Although the acid flux bottle says it isn't recommended for aluminum (I don't know why), it *does* work on aluminum! I Just soldered some aluminum tabs on my drill battery case and it worked perfectly! Without the acid flux no amount of heat or good rosin-core solder would make it work. Once I got some acid flux on a clean surface, however, it bonded instantly! RECOMMENDED: use an old solder tip you don't care about ruining (as always for this stuff since acid flux is corrosive), drop the acid flux on the surface to bond *first*, get solder on your iron (regular rosin-core electronics solder is fine, or acid-core should work too), and touch a hot iron to the aluminum surface. Boom! The heat causes the acid flux to eat into the surface a tiny bit and the solder on the iron sticks instantly to the aluminum surface! Wash the parts carefully when done, as able, to rinse off any remaining acid flux so it doesn't keep corroding your connections. Saved my day! ORIGINAL REVIEW 1 OCT 2016: Works on broken/frayed stainless steel bicycle cables (for brakes, shifters, etc). I have an after-market cruise control installed in my older car, since it didn't come with a cruise control. The cruise control has a small twisted stainless steel bicycle-type cable attached to my car's throttle lever to control the gas pedal. About 1.5 years ago, however, that cable broke. I had no idea how to fix it, and numerous auto repair shops said there was nothing they could do. Finally, I came across this flux and solder kit. Previous attempts at soldering any types of steel, such as that wire, were futile, as the oxidation (I think that was the problem) prevents bonding, and rosin fluxes I had did not work. One drop of this flux on the end of the cable, plus my handy 60W soldering iron, did the trick. Great flux. The container comes with a folded up piece of paper inside, which is an MSDS. It states: Stay Brite Solder Wire Composition: Ag: 3.4-3.8%, Sn: balance That means that this solder is approximately a 96.4/3.6 Sn/Ag mix. In other words, it is ~96.4% tin and ~3.6% silver. This is a high-quality lead-free solder, though I'm sure any standard solder would also work well with the flux included in this kit, such as 60/40 60% Sn (tin) / 40% Pb (lead) leaded solder, or 99.3% Sn (tin) / 0.7% Cu (copper) lead-free solder. Also from the included datasheet, and confirmed from a datasheet downloaded from the company online: Stay Clean Liquid Soldering Flux Composition: Zinc Chloride: <30% Ammonium Chloride: 5-25% Hydrochloric Acid: <5% Methanol: <5% Water: balance Making a few assumptions from the above information, that means this acid-based flux might be something like: ~30% Zinc Chloride, ~15% Ammonium Chloride, ~5% Hydrochloric Acid, ~5% Methanol, ~45% water. METALS THE FLUX IS GOOD FOR: The flux bottle states that this Stay-Clean flux is "For all soldering purposes," more particularly that it is excellent for use on copper tube, brass, bronze, stainless steel, nickel [nickel-plated steel], and galvanized [ie: galvanized steel]. It is not recommended for aluminum or electrical/electronic applications. I don't know why it is not recommended for aluminum, but I suppose it is probably not recommended for electrical/electronic applications simply because it is an acid-based corrosive flux, and might not allow the circuit to last as long as it would otherwise if the acid is left on the board. Nevertheless, if you wash the excess flux off afterwards I'm sure it's fine, and if I ever need to solder a spring-steel type battery adapter or battery-holder spring again, or any other similar crimped steel connection, I will certainly use this flux for that electrical application, as I'm not aware of any other way to get solder to bond to such materials. Acid flux is required for those cases. Happy soldering! ~Gabriel Staples ElectricRCAircraftGuy

Overall 5 stars for the product, but personally I'm giving the Flux 5 stars and the Solder itself 4 stars. The solder itself is nice and as advertised, but for me it did not flow or wick into fluxed areas quite as well as other silver solders I have used (both lower and higher silver content solders). Possibly because the solder is such a high tensile strength silver solder. Now as for the flux... WOW. Really cleans up the metal right and wicks that solder into the joint well, and makes for a great bond. Perfect stuff for joining hard-to-solder metals, like joining copper to stainless steel, stainless to stainless, etc. I joined some copper to stainless steel for some artwork, and just for a learning experience joined stainless steel to stainless steel. The flux is really good stuff, just make sure like all flux you don't burn it when heating. If you do, just clean the surface with a wet rag to cool down (with heat resistant gloves on), clean off burned flux, then reflux and start over. As a liquid flux this does go a long way versus a paste flux some might be used to, so don't squirt it all over the place by the way. Also beware of skin contact, the flux contains acid and other skin irritants. It's a good idea to wear disposable protectant gloves when applying the flux to fittings, as one hand is likely going to have to touch the flux and/or fluxed fitting at some point when getting pieces in position to solder.

Muy bueno para la soldadura En plata

After using this item to fix a broken piece of silver, I found the solder to be adequate for the job, but the flux seemed a little too liquid to stay where desired.

I used this to solder stainless steel. I have a lot of experience soldering and brazing copper but I have never done stainless before. I read that it requires a lot of heat and might require a MAP or Acetylene torch. I can say that this is NOT the case. For me, when using a lot of heat the flux would burn and turn black. I found that using just enough heat to get the flux to boil was the right amount. How I did it was: I cleaned the two parts I was going to solder thoroughly and sanded them a little bit with some high grit sandpaper. It probably doesn't matter but I used 1000. Apply a small amount of flux to both surfaces and position them. Apply light heat until you see the flux start to boil and then carefully continue to add heat until the solder melts. I was able to get very sturdy and clean joints once I got the hang of it. I love that this little kit exists because I only needed to solder two things and I didn't want to buy a huge 1lb roll of this expensive solder.

This is a fantastic buy - the flux works really well, using only a drop or two. The solder appears to be easy melt - my torch took it from zero to flow in nothing flat. I tend to use my torch when soldering, only because it seems like every time I read about soldering, the perils of using a soldering iron are discussed. After working with the Stay Brite I am not hesitant to use my soldering iron, which I LOVE. Since I'm not the best at soldering (and because I know myself lol) I solder outside with my torch. On a cinder block. With my tripod on top. In the middle of the sidewalk. Paranoid? Maybe a little...but I doubt the 3 other families who share townhouse walls with me would be very forgiving if I accidentally caught the place on fire. I'm not worried about using my soldering iron inside - and knowing I can successfully solder with this will ramp up the time I can solder. I love that the flux is included and that it all fits in the little container. This is my absolute favorite solder for jewelry and small art projects - I'm REALLY glad I found it!

I just recently started working with a solder iron to use on my jewelry, but so far it is pretty easy and this solder and flux is working very well. I am working with silver, silver plate and some base metals and this works great on all of them. I seem to be going through the solder fairly quick so I'll have to order some more soon, but I was surprised at how easy it is. I was so afraid to try this and finally had a friend give me a few pointers and now I'm confident enough to keep experimenting. This particular solder seems more suited toward jewelry making and it looks nice and shiny when I'm done fiddling with it. Some solder is dull, but this one looks much nicer, kind of like real silver. It's also easy to reheat and move around if it comes out a bit too bumpy the first time you apply it. As I get better, I'll post some images of my jewelry.

So far so good. Filled in this rubbed thru hole in capilary pipe on old r22 system. It melts at very very low temp so don't go bananas on heat. Seams to be very tough and bonded quite well too clean copper. As it looks it saved us 14 grand in a new system.