Soldering Iron/gun

[ARTHILL]

Time for a new tool. What have you used that worked/didn't work. I'm in HO, code 83 nickle silver on Woodland Scenic's foam roadbed. I'm especially interested in the practicallity of a soldering gun and its on/off advantage as compared with the point of a small iron.

[cwclark]

I use a 30 / 15 watt soldering iron for any electronic soldering and a 100 watt weller gun for big stuff like wire and track feeders...chuck

[cacole]

I use an electronic temperature controlled soldering station for decoder installations and other electronics soldering; a Radio Shack 15/30 Watt soldering iron for medium duty soldering; and a Weller gun for feeder wires to track, track joiners, etc. You need different wattages for different jobs.

[orsonroy]

I use a plain-Jane 40 watt Weller with a chisel tip for almost all of my soldering needs. I use it to solder feeders and to solder together brass steam superdetailing parts. I've got a 50/100 watt resistance soldering unit, but rarely use the thing (almost only for steam detailing fine work)

[Javern]

I use a jumbo Weller gun with dual lights. I've learned to use it without melting everything. It heats up fast. A couple clip on heatsinks are useful to

[IRONROOSTER]

Personally, I never could get the iron to work well (probably me), but have had sucess with a gun.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

The key to soldering track without melting the ties is to use LOTS of heat and get the job over and done as quickly as possible. You should be able to solder a joiner (applying heat) in less than 10 seconds if you're doing it right. If you use too small of an iron you'll end up heating up the entire rail, melting everything in the process.

I use a big gun for rails, and a smaller station for detailed lightweight stuff. I also use seperate paste flux for the track.

Mark in Utah

[Anonymous]

Good information. Mark_in_Utah, your comments/ observations are very helpful. Thanks.