Soldering to rail

[Mid Century Bob]

I bought two Roco turnouts (#42440) and two double slip switches (#42451) for my under-contruction layout.

I attempted to solder fine wire around the point pivots (on the undersige of the turnout) but find the solder will not flow onto the rail. I did a quick test on a scrap of Atlas flex track. It took only 4 seconds for the soldr to flow.

I've modified perhaps two dozen Atlas and Walthers (Shinohara) turnouts in this manner. I've not had a problem with getting the solder to flow on these brands.

I thought the Roco rails were nickel silver like the other brands, but maybe not? Anyone else had this issue? Anyone have a solution?

[mlehman]

Never tried to solder anything Roco. But they're most likely nickel-silver, just a somewhat different mix in the alloy.

For tough jobs like this, I use rosin flux. Mine came in a small tin from Radio Shack, but you should be able to find something suitable in any well-stocked plumbing supply aisle. Smear a little on and the solder starts flowing and staying like you want it.

You may also want to throughly clean the location with a grease solvent. There could be some residual oil of grease there.

[wvg_ca]

if they are nickel-silver [primarily brass], or brass, they should solder fine ...

if they are steel or aluminum, they will take more heat, and may require solder designed primarily for those base materials

[dknelson]

mlehman

You may also want to throughly clean the location with a grease solvent. There could be some residual oil of grease there.

Agreed and also, a scratch brush (a sort of retractable pencil looking thing but with brass or steel wires) can help clean and prep the surface for better soldering.  

Dave Nelson

[Redvdub1]

I don't have any Roco t-outs, but they were closely allied with Atlas back in the day and Atlas had zinc die cast points back then.  So I presume Roco also had zinc die cast points. 

To solder the zinc point rails...abrade the zinc rail with a metal screwdriver with a narrow nickel-plated "wedge" tip.  Then dab a little resin flux on the gouged area. Use a wedge shaped 15 watt soldering pencil and use 0.020 eutectic tin solder to wet the pencil wedge tip.  Press wedge tip tightly against gouged area and bring 0.020 eutectic tin solder to the joint area.  It will flow and form a nice little solder "button".  Then use 30 gauge wire, wet one end, press into solder button with the wedge tipped soldering pencil.  Quickly withdraw pencil when the 30 gauge wire flows into the "button".  note:  30 gauge wire will carry a couple of amps w/o any problem.  I've done this many times with Atlas custom-line turnouts  and the process also works with the ME frogs (which are a nickel-silver with added manganese). 

BTW..the new Atlas Mark IV #8 turnouts (not the #4s or #6s) have nickel-silver point rails and frogs.  The above process also works on the ATlas zinc die cast frogs. 

[Mid Century Bob]

Thanks to all for the good advise.

I cleaned the ynderside of the rail more thoroughly than before, first, by scraping the surface with a hobby knife untill I had all shiny metal and then clening with alcohol on a Nail Tee, which is similar to a Q-Tip but smaller in diameter. The cotton is more dense than on a Q-Tip and shaped into a narrow cone rather than a globe. It gets into small places better. The brand name is Fran Wilson. 

This time out I was able to get the solder to adhere properly without melting the plastic ties.

 

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions.