Weatherproofing copper foil...?

You could wax it every now and then with something like Clarity Glass Wax but...it's my experience that overall, copperfoiled work doesn't fair all that well when left to the exposed weather. The solder seams tend to get rather ugly (oxidized) over time.

You could wax it every now and then with something like Clarity Glass Wax but...it's my experience that overall, copperfoiled work doesn't fair all that well when left to the exposed weather. The solder seams tend to get rather ugly (oxidized) over time.

- snipped-for-privacy@w5g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

Not quite true...I've made water crystal catchers that hold water and don't leak. Basically a diamond shaped box. Before putting the last diamond on, fill with water then solder the last foiled diamond in place and hang from one end.

Not quite true...I've made water crystal catchers that hold water and don't leak. Basically a diamond shaped box. Before putting the last diamond on, fill with water then solder the last foiled diamond in place and hang from one end.

But of course I turbo-soldered it...is there any other way?

But of course I turbo-soldered it...is there any other way?

If you were a true basement bandit artisan buying your supplies wholesale and having a website persona, you'd have a big vat of molten solder and do a dip-n-dunk in order to save all that time soldering those joints. Ain't you learned nuttin from hanging around here?

Not quite true...I've made water crystal catchers that hold water and don't leak. Basically a diamond shaped box. Before putting the last diamond on, fill with water then solder the last foiled diamond in place and hang from one end.

so will a cemented piece. i have made lots of garden items (in a past life) that have held up over time. even lead oxidzes, and worse the cement falls apart. If properly designed, foiled pieces are extremely tolerant to weather, use a good polish, maybe kem-o -pro and let nature take her course. you will get oxidation on either lead or foil in time .m

Chemo the Clown wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

SOunds interesting - do you have any pics posted on-line? I'd like to see that.

- Kris

Chemo the Clown wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

ALso, this just occurred to me: there is a contractor-grade silicone made for sealingpool lights and so on - if one is worried about water- tightness, that should work - aquaria sealed with silicone last for may years without leaking.

I'm wondering whetehr I could put a thin coat of silicone over the lead...or maybe it could be painted with Rustoleum? If lead oxidizes, I don't understand why lead came would look better than the solder covering the copper foil?

OTOH maybe it's just "caveat emptor" and I coudl include a card with "Care INstructions"...?

THanks,

- Kris

"michele" wrote in news:NcG1k.36275$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

Maybe, then, I'll try a very thing bead of silicone...I'm not so much worried about the look of th eoxidized lead, as about the possibility of structural failure. OTOH, peopl emake scuptures with glass adhesives, so maybe a thin like of that around the edges of the metal to help seal the copper/glass interface?

snipped-for-privacy@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

I don't have any pics of the ones I've made but they are just like these:

Chemo the Clown wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

snipped-for-privacy@t12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

Yeah sorta...depends on how the sun hits them...sometimes they cast some nice rainbows across the room.

Chemo the Clown wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@v1g2000pra.googlegroups.com:

I got another thought from your mention of the water-filled items, and decided to cut my glass with the texture *inside* - i'm starting off with clear glass (just because I got a proverbial bee in my bonnet about clear textured glass ;) ) and will assemble it and see how it looks. If it look OK that way, my thinking (for better or worse ) is that having the flat side out might add to its longevity (because, fro your bevel work, the flat side is also facing the "element" so to speak, i.e. the water).

Since the weak spot is the adhesive that sticks to the glass, I'm also going to play with some silicone sealant on scraps to see whether it'd look OK to run a thin bead along the lead:glass interface (I'm pretty good at getting thin beads). The solar-cell has to be silicone-sealed anyway.

If the clear glass looks nice, I'll make a few more before moving on to colored glass- especially since it'll take fewer LEDs to adequately light- up the clear. Who knows, I might even try to put some bevelled sections into the lights ;)

So, I got a couple ideas from your input, *and* learned about something new

- thanks :) !

- Kris