I am getting ready to solder wire to my track. I have some Oatey No. 95 lead free tinning flux. Should I use it? Will this hurt electrical conduction?
Thanks
dochoot
Just be sure you are using rosin flux [for electrical]rather than acid flux[for plumbing]. I may be wrong because of what I am used to, but Oatey sounds a lot like a brand of plumbing flux.
Anyway, tinning is the right soldering procedure—clean and tin a pudddle on the flange on the rail and tin the wire end, hold the wire on the tinned flange reheat and meld them together.
If you have rosin-core solder, you probably don’t need any additional flux.
I would recommend resincore solder, because flux is an acid and remains will corrode your track after soldering. You can wipe it off, but there will always be some remains. If you use flux be sure you can rinse the piece in water after soldering. (otherwise the remains will look like battery damage after a while)
For connecting wires to track or solderwork in your locomotive always use resincore solder and no flux. The best way to solder is to melt a bit of solder on the tip of your solderiron to guide the heat better, heat up the thing you want to solder and then melt the resincore wire on the hot surface. If you put the solder on the iron and then onto your workpiece, the resin is already vapourated and will not help to solder the wire.
Flux is used if you use a torch to solder, when plumbing or building models out of metal which will be thoroughly cleaned or sandblasted afterwards.
There is nothing wrong with using flux as long as it is the rosin style and not acid. I took apart a 20 year old control panel that was all soldered using rosin flux and there was no deterioration. If flux was so bad they would not have so many types. Take a look at:
http://www.geocities.com/etforeplay/solder.html
http://www.action-electronics.com/kester.htm
Just don’t use the acid style.
Jim
I bought Radio Shack rosin core solder with flux added. Did I buy the wrong stuff for soldering loco and tender wires? If not, do I still have to wash the flux off a finished joint?
What you got should be fine. You don’t need to clean off rosin flux, whether you added it separately or it was in the solder. It’s just as well, since rosin is not that easy to clean off.
I always clean my wires or track with a little very fine grit sand paper before soldering.
laz57
A toothbrush dipped in denatured alcohol will take the rosin flux off.
Jim