help cant get track soldering


M

marriedshades

Member
Tried differnt solder and still beeds up and won't stick to the track. someone want to come to kansas and show me what I'm doing wrong.
 
If the rail is clean with the oxidation scraped off, you need more heat. A little flux wouldn't hurt either.

I used to use a pencil soldering iron and would let it heat up for about 20 minutes. Even the handle would be warm by then and if I was quick could get it to flow. I'd tell you what wattage it was but it is so old, the label is worn off. Probably 20 or 30 watts. I'd put a dot of flux on the joint, put the solder on the joint and the iron on the solder. By the time the solder melted, enough heat had transferred to the rail and it would flow. Usually. Be sure the flux is for electronics and not plumbing.

I use a Weller iron now but haven't laid any track recently to try it out.
 
If you are using the correct solder and flux then the next likely cause is the rail is not hot enough.

What soldering device are you using? What is the wattage rating?

Some folks use a low wattage iron thinking it will cause less problems with surrounding materials (to a certain extent) the opposite is true.

Heat takes time to "travel" through the rail to the surrounding materials. But the quicker you can get the part of the rail you are trying to solder up to temp, the quicker you can finish and apply a heat sink to cool the rail, if needed.

If you cannot justify a resistance soldering setup then the next best thing is temperature controlled - which acts in effect like a variable wattage unit applying only enough heat as needed to keep the tip at the selected temperature.

And you can set the temp to just that required by the solder.

Take a piece of rail by itself (no ties attached) and practice on that at your workbench.
 
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I always used a Weller dual heat 100/140 soldering gun. Get that baby hot with solder on the tip and all you had to do was touch the joint for a split second. I always dabbed on a little soldering paste/flux on the rail joint/wire prior to the heat and the solder would flow nice and thin.
 
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All solder has flux in it - appropriately name Resin Core Solder. The reason for the flux core is to allow the solder to flow off the iron tip and onto the object your soldering. Solder, by nature, follows heat. If the item you're trying to solder has no heat, it will not flow. If the object you're trying to solder has any oxidation at all (most oxidation is NOT visible), it will not flow. Always, ALWAYS use flux on the object. It only takes a touch with a flux pen. You'll hear it sizzle when you touch heat to it - that's the sound of flux cleaning to object. After about 1.5 or 2 seconds of sizzling, touch the solder to the rail, not the iron. When the solder melts on the rail you know two things: 1) the rail is hot enough, and 2) the rail is clean enough for solder adhesion.

The best way to get this figured out is to do it on the bench first. Solder two pieces of rail together and pay attention to the amount of time it takes. It's important to be very patient when soldering. If none of this works, let us know. I have one more technique that would help, but shouldn't be used on rails unless there's no other options.
 
What diameter solder are you using. The smaller the better. I prefer .020 to .030. Makes things a lot easier. I would keep some paste solder around. I never have had good success with rosin core solder. Another item is the tip of your solder iron. The bigger it is the more time it takes to heat up. I would suggest that you should use a solder iron that is 30-35 watts with removable tips. For soldering track I prefer a .030 conical tip. Much easier to use for our hobby. Take a look at the Fast Tracks web site and look at there instructions for soldering. Good all around tips for model railroading.
Wayne
 
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Another thing that people forget to do is to tin the iron. The best way I have found, is to get the iron as hot as it will get, then unplug it, immediately liberally coat the tip with solder, and let it cool. This works on a new tip or iron. If the tip is used, clean it thoroughly, then start over with the tinning. The reason for tinning is so you have some solder on the tip to facilitate heat transfer.

I have even used the biggest Weller gun they make. First, take some paper towels, fold them up until you have 2 of them about 1" x 3", and about 3-4 layers thick. Wet them until they are saturated. Put one on each side of the target area, get your gun up to temperature, and as quick as possible solder the joint. The paper towels will keep the ties from melting.
 
just thinking about all this, get a drill and drill a hole in the rail at the spot you want to solder, sorta smallish drill one that is sized smaller than the bottom side of the rail to the "I" of the rail, this would leave a small spot of the rail thinnish at a point that will not take major heating to solder to. Hook your wire over/into/whatever way you deal with it and solder that baby in.The hole may fill in with solder and that is a good thing. I've never tried this, its an idea just popped in the head. Otherwise a high heat iron/gun is the thing to do, get it hot, quick and fast and release fast. The rail will only spend off the heat away on a low wattage iron and never get hot enough. I've tried to solder onto large buss wire with a small iron...noooo wayyyy. I have a silver solder iron for that.
 
I just drove to Kansas yesterday. Unfortunately, Peabody is still just a bit too far, and my agenda is rather full. But if I end up going to Wichita next weekend I could stop by.

I am using a brand new 25 watt wand from radio shack
Click to expand...
I think that is too light. When I use convection heat I have a Weller 90 watt that I turn all the way up.

I also agree with the prior poster that smaller diameter solder is easier to work with.
 
Tin all surfaces, except for the rail....FIRST! Iron tip and wire tip. You can/should clean the surface to which the wire is to be bonded. Try acid flux or use a burr on a Dremel tool and give it a gentle quick swipe...being careful not to take off to much!

You should be using braided wired for your feeders. Better for electron flow on surfaces, but also more surface area for the solder to adhere to. It happens to be easier to bend, too.

In physics, the heat flow from hot to cold works at the 4th power. No, no mistake...the fourth power (okay, in perfect vacuum, etc), but you should see that the disparity in heat is what makes two highly disparate temps really flow quickly. So, the hotter your iron and the colder the wire/rail foot or web, the faster will the heat transfer from the hot iron tip (that you have tinned already) to the wire tip (that you have tinned already), but through the rail against which you have placed the tip. The rail will heat very quickly locally to the tip contact, and that heat will continue to migrate quickly to the next cold area, including the tinned wire held against the rail web or foot. In literally one second, you should have about 80% of the required soldering effect, and with another half second of contact, you'll have fully liquid solder swimming around the joint you intend to create. Withdraw the tip immediately, hold the wire in place for a count of one-two-three and let it go. You're done.
 
Good point, and a couple of those paper bundle clamps, the kind that you can fold the handles back, and where the clamp is spring sheet metal formed in a channel, usually painted black...one of those clamped on either side of the place where you will be soldering will act as heat sinks.
 
(a) 25 watts might not be hot enough. Upgrade to a 40-watt pencil iron (Radio Shack has one for $13) and try again.
(b) Use rosin-core electrical solder, which contains its own flux.
(c) When you heat the rail, use a small blob of solder between iron and rail to facilitate rapid heating.
 
Ah, my bad. Was thinking radiation, not conduction. In any event. it runs fastest in a given system as the temperature disparity rises, and that's the main thing to keep in mind when placing two objects in contact, or when figuring heat transfer along a stretch of material. So, keep your iron hot.

Thanks for the correction.
 
Selector said:
Ah, my bad. Was thinking radiation, not conduction. In any event. it runs fastest in a given system as the temperature disparity rises, and that's the main thing to keep in mind when placing two objects in contact, or when figuring heat transfer along a stretch of material. So, keep your iron hot.

Thanks for the correction.
Click to expand...

I hope nobody gets the idea that to speed the heating of the rail they should put ice on it first! ;)
 
I have a gun type solder my dads old don't rember the power guess ill try that and by a flux pen . i just soldering junk track pratice the way if i make a misstake i trash trash and not something i want to save and use.
N
 
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