Small Pendant Lamp Repair

This little lamp gets the prize for the tiniest lamp I've ever repaired.  Its a pendant lamp with a metal bracket which detached.  Here's how I went about repairing it .. Click on any photo to enlarge.

The Sharpie pen next to the pendant lamp shows the small size.  To the right is the metal bracket which became detached.

My first step in a repair of this nature is to remove any old copper foil, solder or adhesives.  In this case, I melted off the old debris, including some clear glue, from the surfaces.

Hard to see in the photo, but for a stronger bond, I tinned and soldered two short lengths, about 1/2" each, of braided copper wire to each interior side where the bracket will be re-attached.  Before soldering the wire on, I applied Novacan Blu-Glass Flux with an acid brush, shown in the background.

Now the debris has been removed and I'm using a 100W soldering iron to heat up the bracket so that it will accept the flux and solder.  I'm "tinning" it on both sides of the "feet".  This thin layer of solder will act as the glue to adhere it to the lamp.

I'm using blue painter's tape to hold the bracket in place, perpendicular to the work surface, while I fill in the gap with solder.  The hot solder will melt the tinned areas of the bracket and bond the two pieces together.

After the solder set, I placed the lamp upside down, resting between stryofoam blocks.  I then filled in the area between the "feet" of the bracket with solder.  As a final step, not pictured, I applied black patina to the new solder and waxed the entire piece.  The owner came to pick it up soon after and was very happy with the repair.

Please visit my website to see my custom windows and repairs (click here).  And if you are on FaceBook, become a fan and I'll keep you up to date on all my stained glass projects.  Call me any time at 201-600-1616 or email with your questions. Thanks!