Hello there,
You said:
" 	That's good. It's only a problem for me if I am trying to get to
something in the middle of the work and need to move a hot iron against
something. I usually don't want to touch anything around it with the hot
iron so knowing right where it is is essential."

The tubing takes care of this problem, with some practice. You hold the
tubing in the curl of three fingers, middle, ring and pinky and feed the
solder through the tube with your index finger and thumb (at the top of the
tube). You use the tube like a cane, finding your way around the project
(memorize it first, try dry runs with cold iron and solder). You find the
joint with the end of the tube (It's cool enough for you to touch to help
you  position it), holding it at a slight angle so the solder can be slipped
out of the bottom of the tube. Once you've got the tube in position, put the
tip of the iron against the barrel of the tube, slide it down the tube to
the joint and when the tip of the iron is in position begin feeding the
solder down the tube lifting it oh so slightly once you feel it touch the
work so that it will contact the iron and flow. Practice, practice,
practice, learn to move the iron and solder away from the joint smoothly,
etc. You're going to make lots of junk jewelry as you practice.

This is just a shadow of a synopsis of the great lessons in those articles.
If you really want to do this right, get them, read them and practice,
practice, practice...

73


Ron Miller
N6MSAClearwater, Fl. USA
SKYPE: arjay1
-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Martin McCormick
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: soldering?

Clarence Williamson writes:
> Well the tubing is called hypodermic tubing.  I haven't the slightest 
> of = its normal use.  It is probably used in chemistry.

More or less, yes. Hypodermic means under the skin so it's probably what
needles such as are used for drawing blood and giving shots are made of.

	If that's the case, there should be many gauges or sizes of this
tubing and most of them will be too small for solder but the larger sizes
should work fine for guiding the usual sizes of solder.

	I bet cutting it is interesting because it will probably ruin most
wire cutters and you don't want to smash the end so I am not sure what sort
of cutter will score or cut without also smashing.

> If you are interested, it is available from smallparts.com.

Thank you.

> As far as finger protection goes, you might try using the fingers from 
> a = pair of welding gloves.  These might be too thick, I don't know.

Yes. Welder's gloves are wonderful when you are outside and trying to
destroy unwanted vegetation, but you don't feel that much fine detail.
That's why I didn't even mention nomex oven mits, etc. The only thing you
can feel through those is that you have something in your hand but that's
about all.

> I don't usually burn myself if I use the tubing.

	That's good. It's only a problem for me if I am trying to get to
something in the middle of the work and need to move a hot iron against
something. I usually don't want to touch anything around it with the hot
iron so knowing right where it is is essential.


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