Soldering Irons/ stations

[jbond]

What is the best type, wattage, temp, etc to use for soldering leads on track?

Thanks

 John 

 

[loathar]

Here's a nice one. They sell a few different size tips for it too.
http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15860+TL
Watch the Radio Shack irons. You can't get tips for some of them.

[skagitrailbird]

 I also recommend a tip cleaner from Xytronic, item #460.

[dstarr]

 That's a nice looking soldering station and the price is really good.  The Weller soldering station, after which that clone is styled, cost a lot more.  In fact the Weller costs so much more that I would have some reservations about that $14.95 clone. 

  For soldering rail, a plain electric iron in the 75-100 watt range with a smallish tip works well.  So does a soldering gun , 100 watts and up.  The fancy temperature controlled soldering stations were invented for the electronics industry.  They work hard at keeping the tip temperature down, to avoid frying semiconductors.  Rail doesn't care, hotter is better, so a plain iron or soldering gun works just fine.  

 

[tony22]

Don't know about that clone, but Weller is one of the industry standards for a reason. All of our assembly techs at work use Weller stations. If they didn't hold up the company wouldn't be using them.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I use a high power soldering gun myself and that's what I recommend. Mine is a Universal 140/100 watt gun from Weller. Cost was under $30.

[Capt. Grimek]

Loathar, have you had/used this iron for awhile? (How long?) At that price if it dies, no big deal but do you think it'll hold up long enough, at least, to do an entire layout? I was planning on a Weller as they served my father well for decades, etc. but I could use the $ difference on other things right now. Thanks. Say hi to Mr. Martin for me if you see him ;-)

[collectthem]

 How exactly do you solder the rails together? Iexperimented with it but the solder just beads up and wont stick.

[tony22]

collectthem

 How exactly do you solder the rails together? Iexperimented with it but the solder just beads up and wont stick.

Soldering rail can be tough, especially if it's small iron (Code 40 or 55). A big help is to make sure both rails have flux applied to them. It will help the solder flow easily as soon as it is able to do so. If you have not already, give that a try on some scrap rail. Many solders are multicore with embedded flux, but for some reason it doesn't always seem to work on its own.

 I really think the best way to do rail is with a resistance soldering station, but they're a bit pricey.

[tomikawaTT]

collectthem

 How exactly do you solder the rails together? Iexperimented with it but the solder just beads up and wont stick.

I hand-assemble all of my specialwork, so this is the distilled essence of several decades of experience:

• Everything has to be squeaky clean.  Rails (or flex track) straight from the fabricator frequently have a residue of the lubricant used in drawing them through the forming dies.  Paint and pre-blackening treatments also leave a surface unlikely to hold solder.  I scrape my soldering surfaces with a sharp-ended steel tool, then wipe with isopropyl alcohol.
• Use flux.  Don't depend on the core of rosin-core solder - it's frequently too little/too late.  I use non-acid paste flux.  Other folks here use liquid.  Either way, it goes on before heat and solder.  One well-known supplier of turnout jigs recommends acid flux - NO!!!!  Don't use it!
• Use the right solder.  60/40 (or 63/37 if you can find it) is good for rail assembly and electronics.  50/50 is good for plumbing, or to use if soldering a number of parts together in sequence.  Avoid the EPA-favored lead-free types (unless you're in the habit of chewing on your solder joints.)
• Use the right tool.  When soldering small wires and PC boards I use a temperature-controlled pencil iron.  For rail, either soldering drops/jumpers or assembling frogs in place, my weapon of choice is an ancient Weller hand cannon, the mean big brother of Jeffery-Wimberly's gun.  (It's rated 250/325 watts!)
• Apply a HOT soldering tool.  The object is to get as much heat as needed transferred in as short a time as possible.  Ideal is to get on, heat the flux and apply solder as the smoke begins to rise.  With my big Weller, I can solder a wire to the side of a rail in 1 - 2 seconds.
• Make sure the parts don't move.  After dirt on the surfaces, the most frequent cause of defective solder joints is that something moved while the solder was still liquid.  A good solder joint is smooth.  If it seems to have a crackle finish, reheat it.

 

Soldering isn't subnuclear particle physics, but it does require attention to detail.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with beaucoup soldered joints)

[Blind Bruce]

To all you guys using solder guns. How do you get that large tip under the rail? My gun doesn't begin to fit under or between the ties. I have been using my Weller temp controlled ststion without much success. I feel that I need a high wattage iron with a very long & thin tip.

[armchair]

 I still use the old weller 100/140 watt gun I got 2nd (or 3rd) hand back in '71 , use the smallest tip You can find & start blasting. Chuck has some good tips there. Good luck to Ya'......

[cv_acr]

Blind Bruce

To all you guys using solder guns. How do you get that large tip under the rail? My gun doesn't begin to fit under or between the ties. I have been using my Weller temp controlled ststion without much success. I feel that I need a high wattage iron with a very long & thin tip.

For soldering feeders onto the bottom of already laid rails, tin the wire, bring it up from below and use an aluminum soldering probe to hold it up against the bottom of the rail and apply the soldering iron to the side of the rail right at the wire. Make sure the bottom of the rail is clean. (You can cut a thin strip of fine sandpaper and run it under the rail between the ties before soldering.)

We did about a hundred new feeders in the main yard on the club layout in this fashion, using a larger gun-type iron.

[loathar]

Capt. Grimek

Loathar, have you had/used this iron for awhile? (How long?) At that price if it dies, no big deal but do you think it'll hold up long enough, at least, to do an entire layout? I was planning on a Weller as they served my father well for decades, etc. but I could use the $ difference on other things right now. Thanks. Say hi to Mr. Martin for me if you see him ;-)

 

I plan on buying one next week. Can't really go wrong for the money. Like me, your probably not going to keep it plug in 8 hours a day, 5 days a week like an electronics shop would.
Honestly, over the years I've owned Wellers, Ungers, Radio Shafts and a host of cheap generics. Of all of them, the only one that ever died was a Weller 100watt gun. (so much for spending extra on a name brand)
PS-I liked the Unger best out of all of them. I used to build slot car chassis with that one. Little bit more expensive though.
http://www.action-electronics.com/unpl.htm

 

[Capt. Grimek]

Thanks for your reply. Hey, give us a review after you get and try yours would you? I'm thinking of ordering one but have to recover from my spending at today's train show! Good thing tomorrow's my birthday and my wife was feeling generous with my budget allotment for this month. :-) I have two of my Dad's old Weller guns. A smaller one and a big one. I had planned on using them for sentimental reasons, but the majority here seem to favor irons for their lightness and small size...

[mobilman44]

Hi!

IMHO, a decent 45 watt iron is just about perfect for soldering your HO track.  Soldering guns obviously will work, but a slight slip and you have a plastic gob of ties on your layout.  The soldering stations are excellent, but somewhat costly for a lot of folks out there.

Especially for someone just learning to solder, I would especially recommend the standard Sears/Weller iron with a chisel tip.

As I'm just getting into DCC, I'll be picking up a smaller iron - or a station - soon, so I won't be "homogenizing" the electronic circuits.

Mobilman44 

[jbond]

Thanks for the tip!

[EM-1]

Frankly, I have a Weller dual adjustable (20 and 40 Watt sections) soldering station with an assortment of screwdriver and chisel tips.  Dropped the needle and cone tips years ago. I do have the two sizes of dual heat guns, but haven't used either for several decades.  I also have one 80 Watt fixed heat soldering iron, but it is fitted with a hammerhead tip for soldering up series battery pack sticks. I also have srarted using no-clean flux core 63/37 electronics solder for almost everything.  I just keep a squeeze bottle of the same flux handy when soldering.

I have also been trying some of that no-lead solder.  What crap.  Personal feeling, the ROHS idea is a bad idea.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 A little trick I use for joining track sections it to put a little paste flux in each rail joiner then join the pieces together. I then heat the joiner and apply the solder. The flux pulls the solder into the joiner and tightly bonds the rails and joiner together.