Soldering, best setup?


I purchased a little, battery-powered Weller soldering iron years ago at Walmart for around $15 or so (probably higher now, I'm sure). Takes four AA alkaline batteries for power, arranged in series inside the body for 6 volts. With an 8W/11W selectable heat range, it's almost a perfect size for soldering DCC decoders with their tiny 28 or 30 gauge electrical wires that you typically have to deal with on hard-wire decoders.
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As the small, low wattage tip radiates a lot less heat than larger soldering iron varieties, there's a lot less tendency to melt back the plastic insulation coating of those tiny electrical wires.

The major downfall of this item is its voracious appetite for batteries. As with any heat producing device, it eats them about as fast as I eat a sharing-size bag of Peanut M&M's. :p Which is probably okay for just an occasional soldering job. But not when used on a frequent basis. Constantly replacing batteries gets to be an expensive hobby in itself! I cured this problem by rigging up an MRC power pack to provide the power to the iron in place of the batteries. With the throttle set at 6 volts, it does the job perfectly, with no more pricey spent batteries tossed in the trash can, one after another.;)
 
I use three methods if you can call it that way. My Weller pistol grip soldering iron. I have this thing for well over 20 years now and with practice i was even able to solder several H0 gauge pantographs for my locomotives. You have to build up jig to hold everything in place. If i have several pieces to solder i hold pieces with rail nails in a piece of pine board. I cut off the heads of rail nails so it's easy to slide the brass pieces in between. That has worked very well over the years. Next tool i tried and am using ever since, is a mini butane torch. This i found useful for bigger jobs where i need heat spread in larger space; soldering locomotive boiler as an example. Just a little over a year ago i finally got Micro Mark resistor soldering unit. The only thing i regret about this wonderfull tool is not getting it sooner. With resistor soldering i can do fine work, like details without too much risk of heating too much around the area i'm soldering. With resistor soldering you still have to find a way to hold work in place. For that the guy from Micro Mark hooked me up with clamps on steel mount. I also use mini alligator clips which you can find on train shows. Usually i found myself using a combination of two of these tools while building a project.
 
I bought one of those deals with several flexible arms and moveable alligator clips to position items to be soldered. Works quite well with the Hakko station. Sometimes I have to hold the iron with the left hand due to directionality but I can manage. I have one of the ancient soldering guns, (was my dads) and a mini torch etc but they have their time and place.
 
Snowman said:
I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS, and I don't know if it's suitable for micro-wire type soldering or not, but:

www.micromark.com

110V/100W Resistance Soldering Single Electrode Set

Details 110V/100W Resistance Soldering Single Electrode Set Concentrated heat reduces solder time many times overImprove solder joint qualityEliminates thermal damageCools in seconds reducing the likelihood of injuryMade in the USA
www.micromark.com www.micromark.com

Not cheap, and less portable than a wireless handheld version certainly, but you might look into it.

Read the description of how it's used first. Then note that there are different versions of current attachments at the "other" end, among them pliers, tips and the small alligator clip version I clicked on up there.

I do have the idea (I might well be wrong of course) that resistance soldering is used for most automated PCB board soldering these days, due to its high speed and thus very centralized heating. It's just too fast heating up and then cooling down again for heat to migrate far along the circuit traces. Those etched traces have a very small cross-section, and so heat must travel by direct conduction. Get the job done very fast and not a lot of wayward heat can migrate outward, whether along circuit traces or even rail.

I also have the idea you can solder feeders to rail so fast that you won't melt plastic ties as you might with other methods. Thereby avoiding the use of clip on heatsinks or wet rags, etc.

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"Somewhere" I know an old issue of Mainline Modeler magazine published an article on building your own rig, and I recall that unit also incorporated a foot switch. I would not consider buying a rig like this without one for the sake of safety alone. IMO you would want both hands free--in my case I'm all thumbs at times.

Another DIY version can be found here: http://girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/solderer.pdf
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DO NOT use resistance gear for wiring or electronics. Resistance gear uses low voltage high amperage current to generate the necessary heat. It's great for structural work and for adding detail parts to, or the repair of brass models, but that's its niche. You wouldn't want to be shooting high amperage current through your decoders, motors, etc. For wiring, decoder installs, etc. a low wattage iron or one of the several variable temp units from Weller, Micro-Mark, etc. will do you a good job. For wiring get yourself some flux suitable for electronics. NOT acid based. Save that for your structural work. coat the joint with the flux before applying the iron.
 
riogrande5761 said:
I had Weller and failed to get hot enough after a year. My wife found me this one (below) on Amazon and it has a temp control and pilot light and has been working great soldering the drops from the rail to the buss.
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Now that looks like a nice little soldering iron. I've never seen one like that before. I may have to pick one up if I find one for sale somewhere.
Don't need it bad enough to order it right now, but if I see one and the price is right, it will undoubtedly end up going home with me. 👍
 
riogrande5761 said:
So far it's worked great and the fine point is good for soldering feeds to the rail where space is tight. I have some old heat sinks from a Radio Shack soldering kit I still use to minimize melting of any ties.
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Good deal on the heat sinks. By the time I wanted to get some like that, they were no longer available. Nowadays, I simply use a couple of small pieces of wet sponges, one on either side of the solder joint. That works pretty good for heat sinks, too.
 
Two tools: a Weller trigger gun for heavier work, and a professional quality Weller soldering station for light-to-medium work. I got the soldering station used at a hamfest. It's a model certified for ESD protection.

I keep other soldering tools handy: solder wick, a vacuum solder extractor ("solder sucker"), and a sponge for tip cleaning. When I need heat sinks, I just use a couple of alligator clips, or grip the work with needle-nose pliers in such a way as to provide the heat sinking. Actually, I rarely use heat sinks, and haven't smoked anything yet.

I have not invested in a micro torch, as I do a minimum of work on structural brass. The gun has worked for my needs so far.
 
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