Question on Soldering

Personally I do not care for those "soldering guns" as I find them too big & bulgy. I prefer an American Beauty Soldering Iron, and yes I use it for everything.

No, definitely not. A soldering gun that is big enough to solder wires to track puts out way too much heat for soldering tiny wires and components in a locomotive, and is big and clumsy besides. I have a Weller 100/140 soldering gun for track and other big jobs, and a 12 watt Weller soldering pencil for most everything that I do with wires and PC boards in a locomotive. I also have a 40 watt iron for jobs that are too big for the 12-watter, but the gun is not appropriate.  

A soldering station is one good solution to your bench soldering needs, as you can adjust the heat output for the job. However, it's expensive and there's a learning curve to get the right setting for the right job. 

A good quality 12-20 watt soldering pencil will cost less than $20 and take care of the vast majority of your electronic soldering needs. I find the 12 watt to be just fine. 

For working on anything electronic like engine internals, you probably want a pencil style iron, not a big gun (in addition to too much heat, it's also too big and hard to work with for small projects).

For O gauge tubular, I solder to the bottom using a large gun.  But the gun would probably be too much heat for anything with plastic ties or roadbed (melting), so depending on your track style, the answer may vary.

-Dave

I use a Weller soldering iron that I recently purchased.  It came with a nice soldering station and adjustable heat (5W-40W).  Used it yesterday to repair some wiring on PW F units and it worked beautifully.

I also have a Weller 100W/140W gun.  It would have been difficult to use for the jobs the iron did this week--cumbersome in my hands, and probably too much heat.  But when I was soldering wire to Gargraves track, the gun was great.  I haven't tried soldering wire to rail with the iron so I can't speak to that application.  As it is, I'm happy to have both. 

Thank you gentlemen. I should have mentioned this is for Tubular Track.

Paul

I use a Snap-ON soldering gun that comes with 3 posts or tips of small medium and a large one for heavy work. This being a single post gun makes it easy to get into tight places but it wasn't cheap.  I also have a soldering station i bought off ebay for electronic work for 60.00. It is ESD safe. But i still have my old soldering iron that Dad bought me many years ago. It just depends on what you are working on and what works best for you.

When I use a gun, yes.  I have a Weller 200/260 watt, two-stage gun I use for all track work.  I sometimes use it for attaching leads to rollers and tinning wires, etc. for soldering stuff to locos.  

But when working on boards, etc., I typically use a 40 or 50 watt (can't remember which) soldering gun.

I have an assortment of soldering tools including both a Weller 100/140 gun and a Weller 240/325 gun. I have never used the 240/325 gun.

I use the 100/140 on most things other than printed circuits.

It is too hot and clumsy for P.C. boards.

I use an Ungar Standard line or Ungar Princess iron on printed circuits.

Paul,

Tubular track..ok fine. This is not an insult. What are you soldering? Surely, you're not soldering feeders? I've not heard of anyone doing this anymore. I haven't done so in over 50 years. Just curious in my old age.

God Bless,

"Pappy"                  

Hi Happy.

The solder is for several uses and feeder wires could be one...what is your preferred method of securing wire to tubular track?

Paul

Paul,

For many years I've used 18-20 awg uninsulated solderless male spade connectors attached to my feeders. I insert these into the underside of my tubular track. I found this method to be much faster. Another plus would be one can reuse sections of track over again. The key is to insert these with care into your track. This will insure a snug connection.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Paul, we have a Hakko soldering station at the club. you can dial in the heat you want and you can change the tip for your particular purpose. many different tips are available. if you appreciate good tools like I do, you will love this one.

http://www.tequipment.net/Hakk...-iv8ICFWVp7AodolcAHA

I use a Weller 100-140 watt solder gun and solder 16 gauge feeders to the side of the track and have never had a problem,I space the feeders at 6-8 ft on the track.the layout has 800 ft of tubular track.

neuefruhling,

I don't solder feeders and I'm 72.

The gentlemen who bought my two prewar layouts enjoyed not having to deal with solder everywhere. So much so that they paid top dollar for everything.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Hello Paul • I use tubular track, check out my YT Channel.

I use a Weller Soldering Gun & Iron for all my track work and wire work.

Use Radio Shack® 60/40 Clear Flux Solder for tubular track & wires. See photo below.

Great suggestions and the Weller seems to be very popular. How do you determine if something needs to be tinned prior to soldering? 

Paul

quote:

Great suggestions and the Weller seems to be very popular. How do you determine if something needs to be tinned prior to soldering?

IMHO, tinning always makes the job easier in the long run.

Regarding the weller guns: They have been on the market for a very long time. Older models had hollow nuts to hold the tips in place. Newer ones use set screws.

The tip nuts work better, but you must be willing to look for an older, used gun.

If you buy a newer one, with set screws, be aware that they will probably need to be retightened frequently.

Even the ones with tip nuts need to have the nuts loosened and retightened once in a while.

I used to pick up Weller soldering irons in nice shape at garage sales for about $5.00 each. I had quite a stack of them until I put my older son on the task of distributiing them. We gave them away to family and friends that had a use for them.

I may be one of the few people who prefer the copper tips over the plated ones.

Hey John, hows the weather on LI Sound this morning? If you can find the article would love to see it - drop me an email and I'll swing by...

Paul

I have used the spades more than once, its not really to be sneezed at, if that's what you like. But... 10 new drops to do on assembled tubular track, not so much as a wire hole drilled, 2 drills- you get spades, and fav. pliers. I get my solder gun, extension cord, and a razor blade, bet I win. Modern solder and flux, must be better. I just find it too easy to solder everything once iron/gun is out, and if something is wrong, it wont be a "suspect" till last. 

. 

 He just gave advice no one remembers to mention, but is very important with most irons/guns. Heat tips contacts should be reseated, if not cleaned, often. Not doing it the tool will not heat fully, or temp. drop suddenly while in use.

Tinning wire helps most often. Over tinning can cost you wire length, careful. Remember that wire isn't going to bend with solder run deep into the insulation.

"Dirty" surfaces, I tin both items for sure. But if clean, and I know it'll flow well, I do skip it.

If I do try to skip steps in a rush, any issues at all, resets my process to 100% basics.. like tinning. 

Id guess about 80w would be the minimum for tube-track, for quick-easy soldering on slight tarnish with flux. 80w Weller iron looks made for track, thick 1/2 chisel tip. I just haven't used mine yet!

 Tip size sometimes has more impact than watts, providing a heat reserve, and matched temp. balance to wattage. But more watts will often reheat faster. I think reviewing the posts with that in mind will give you a feel for why some use lower watts on the same jobs. Also some like to solder hot/fast, others prefer slow heat, using tip sides, and movement more.

I like hot/fast, but I will heat sink to protect things if I'm worried at all.

Pappy, I solder spades vs crimp too.(no joke) Unless it is a true SAE automotive style crimp, with insulation crimp also.(not the blue, yellow, red, junk "dot" crimp or crush which are for solid wire really) It is the only crimp worth mentioning over solder IMHO. First wire threads are split and held in two rolled crimps pressed together, then two more tabs dig into the insulation holding that too. No solder, this crimp provides the best combination of flex, durability, conductivity, & price. The crimper has a W gap to deflect tabs, rolling tabs to the center, and reversing them back inward into wire. Im sure you've noticed the difference in an automobile, or appliance before.

I solder the connectors onto my wires too. I don't like crimping.

I have also soldered the wires to the underside of my track, as opposed to using spades, etc. I tin the spot on the track where I am going to solder, and I tin the wire.

On my current layout, all the power feeds are through lockons, and the power & ground terminals of the UCS tracks.

Another point on soldering: When working on postwar Lionel trains, I find that the Lionel assemblers were very generous with the amount of solder they used. The policy was probably something like: "better too much than not enough".

Regardless, when resoldering joints, I like to remove as much old solder as possible, and use fresh rosin core solder. I use wide solder wick for most applications.

To unsolder discrete components like resistors or capacitors from a board, I have a military surplus desoldering tool that has hollow tips and a vacuum bulb to suck the solder away. There are various size tips from different applications.  It works very well.

I use the same soldering gun as Lee Willis in soldering track wire for circuit boards, for led lights and dropping resistor assemblies and engine wiring I use the Weller 0-60 watt soldering station and heat shrink tubing. For track soldering I use 1/16 inch diameter solder and 1/32 inch diameter wire for led assemblies and circuit boards, engine wiring either 1/16 or 1/32 inch solder based on situation. Thin plate track, I use Gargraves, is a large heat sink, this requires the high wattage soldering gun, also track must be bare metal, no paint,grease,oil,etc., pretin soldering tips and wire, I use miniature clamps available from Micromark to hold the wire(solid) against the rail side for soldering. Note, wire must be soldered to the rail base or slightly on the rail web above base, to prevent interference with the wheel flanges. 

I have a number of soldering tools, the two that get used most are my Hakko FX-880D and my Weller 100/140 solder gun.  They serve very different purposes and both have their place around the layout.

I'd never try to solder circuit boards or fine wiring with the soldering gun, and I wouldn't try to solder track or brass work with the soldering station.

I use a weller gun for soldering feeders to track.  I do this for tubular, Fastrack and (even though I don't like to use it) Realtrax.

If one of those spade push-in tubular connections gets loose, the small sparks or heat that it may generate is a great place for a fire to start, IMHO.

Solder is better!

Ed

Nice one CW, I've never thought of using one of the UCSs as an input. I have grabbed power there but never introduced it.

You can do the same thing at 022 type switches, too.

For board work solder suckers(vacuum bulbs/pens) are the neatest tool you can get. Makes those stubborn holes that refill over and over, a breeze to clear.

You are so right.  I have two of them, one for really stubborn work and the other for most circuit board work.  I prefer the gentle one if possible, the big one can pull traces off marginal boards when they're hot or have been reworked a couple of times.  The ones I use are the Edsyn Soldapullt models.

One mod I make to the tip is to cut a small V to insert the soldering iron and maintain a better air seal for best suction.

I would also recommend a adjustable lite magnifying light clamped to a workbench and "third hand" or helping hands adjustable alligator arm fixture,see Micromark/Radio Shack, as an example. For desoldering, I use an old Radio Shack desoldering iron, suction bulb or desoldering braid based on application. I have also occasionally used soldering flux in soldering wire leads to the Gargraves track.

If your layout is in the basement work place lighting is critical, at the work bench fixed florescent overhead lighting, and corded lamps with spring holding bracket for above and below the train layout bench work.

I use a Hakko 936 soldering station on the bench and a Radio Shack 35 watt soldering iron around the layout. Sometimes i use the station on the layout but not usually. As for solder I always use lead and ALWAYS FLUX. Rosin core solder has flux in it but i get the best results with flux. Miniatronics past flux works well and is not overly aggressive i have used Radio Shack paste flux but it can be pretty aggressive and residue will corrode the metal over time.