Bottle Cap...Take 3!?

Are you sick of hearing about my struggles? I am!! Well, first of all, I tried the epoxy & it seems to be doing great! Very strong bond! For some reason I wasn't paying attention & the ring ended up not being flush with the cap, but it is still a strong adhesion!

Today I got my mom's soldering gun. Went to Ace Hardware & bought some solder & flux. Had no idea what I was doing. Got home & tried it out. I'm not sure the darn thing works! I'm so frustrated. The solder wasn't melting & flowing. I smelled stuff, saw puffs of smoke, a spark or two, but it didn't seem to get terribly hot. Now, the ring had already been adhered to the bottle cap with the epoxy, so I thought I'd give it a double-duty strength treatment with the addition of the solder. Maybe that was my problem. But honestly, I think it's the gun. I hope mom kept her receipt. It's one of those "As Seen On TV" (but bought in a catalogue) soldering guns that is cool to the touch, but heats up when you need it to. I kept having the urge to touch the tip, because the commercial SAYS it won't burn you if you touch it! I touched it. It was cool to the touch. But, it takes 4 AA batteries & you have to unscrew 2 tiny screws to take off the lid to the battery compartment. Time consuming--mostly because I searched everywhere for tiny screwdrivers for the tiny screws! I ended up using nail clippers & other tiny, sharp objects.

Right now I'm searching everywhere for my ring blanks (ugh! I have too many messes!) to try fresh & new on a clean, never-been-touched bottle cap to see if my theory is correct about the soldering gun being a dufus & not me....I'll be in touch later this evening to let you know....