home … buildstuff … instructions

Instructions

Candleholder Instuctions

  1. Use a matching colour copper foil backing to the final finished colour of your solder. Silver solder = Silver-Backed foil, black patina finish = Black backed foil, copper patina finish = regular copper foil. For best results when using silver-backed foil, make sure you use EDCO silver-backed copper foil!
  2. Foil your bevels so you start and stop on the same side with each one, and try to make it on the end that will be on the bottom. When you go to assemble the candleholder, double check that the side with the foil overlap is on the bottom. This is done as the foil overlap is buried in solder on the bottom, and not exposed up on top where everybody will see it. Tinning the overlapped foil up on top can loosen the overlapped foil's adhesive, making it flap around.
  3. Divide the number of sides in the candleholder by 360. This will give you the degree angle between each side. Draw a straight line on your work board and make a dot along the line in the middle. From that line, draw a line upwards along the degree angle you calculated earlier.
  4. Line the first two side pieces you are going to assemble on each of the lines as above. Brush a small amount of flux on both pieces where they meet, once high, once low, and tack solder those two spots on the outer side of the candleholder. We typically use 60/40 solder during this phase of constuction.
  5. Continue to add the next side piece one at a time, doing the same high & low solder tack on each side until you are back to where you started. The sides should match up perfectly. If they don't, determine which sides are incorrect and slip a small piece of paper between those sides and touch your iron to the solder joints. Slide the paper up and down thru the soldered part until it separates the two side pieces. Re-position the side piece and re-solder into place.
  6. Once the sides of the candle holder have been tacked together, put the candleholder on top of the glass you are going to use as a bottom piece. Trace around the inside bottom of the candleholder with your marker pen. Make a mark with your pen on one side, on the outside, on the candleholder and then make another make on the same side of the base piece. This will guarantee the piece will fit back in just right once cut out. Grind and foil the bottom piece.

Instructions 7 to 13 >>>