Painting soldering wire

[AlanG]

Is solder (lead free) wire easy to paint? And i'm asking that as in, will the paint adhere to the wire ok like it does with lead wire? Need to paint various 'pipe' on builds and it's WAY cheaper to buy solder wire in bulk than small amounts of lead wire

[KarlW]

Can't see why not, especially if not getting flexed around.

Any etching primers just in case?

[JR]

Think I would put a coat of metal primer on just in case . It's about keying one surface isn't to take paint .

[Steven000]

I once made a ladder (about 10 years ago) with copper wire and soldering, it was painted with spray cans (primer and color), paint is still on :thumb2:

[AlanG]

Can't see why not, especially if not getting flexed around.

Any etching primers just in case?

I presume i would have to do the etching on them before i molded and glued them into place. I'm not messing around with etching liquid near my paint jobs underneath lol

[Jim R]

I like VMS Metal Prep 4k. Google it and you'll get a lot of info. Don't see why it wouldn't work with your solder wire.

[stillp]

Try it, and please let us know the result. Printed circuit lacquers (including the water-based ones) stick to the solder on the board so I don't see why they wouldn't stick to solder wire, as long as it's clean.
Pete

[minitnkr]

Never had a problem w/water based paints on solder wire.

[Jack L]

This is painted soldering wire…primed with Mr Surfacer and painted with Mig. Other than ongoing issues with Mig paints, it pained up fine.

[AlanG]

Cheers Jack. In this instance i don't want to prime the whole thing as underneath the pipes/wires is going to be a NMF.

[rtfoe]

Your worry should be after its painted and type of paint. Priming it should avoid any chemical reaction. I know copper turns green on reaction to enamel paint after years.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Tim Marlow]

Is solder (lead free) wire easy to paint? And i'm asking that as in, will the paint adhere to the wire ok like it does with lead wire? Need to paint various 'pipe' on builds and it's WAY cheaper to buy solder wire in bulk than small amounts of lead wire

Yes Alan. It’s exactly like painting white metal, which a lot of my little blokes are made from. It takes paint far better than brass, as an example.
If you want lead wire though, try fly tying suppliers…….all sorts of sizes and shapes on reels.

[AlanG]

If you want lead wire though, try fly tying suppliers…….all sorts of sizes and shapes on reels.

Been fly fishing for decades now and i have to admit. It never even crossed my mind about getting it from them. Cheers Tim

[Tim Marlow]

Been fly fishing for decades now and i have to admit. It never even crossed my mind about getting it from them. Cheers Tim

Weird isn’t it….never fly fished in my life and it was the first thing I thought of :tongue-out3:

[rtfoe]

Weird isn’t it….never fly fished in my life and it was the first thing I thought of :tongue-out3:

You think out of the box Tim with an open mind. :thumb2:

Cheers,
Wabble