New to soldering

New to soldering, does rosin core solder eliminate the need to use flux on rail joint?
Lead vs lead free?
What type, not brand, works well

There are hundreds of you-tube videos on soldering Model Railroad track with full instructions.
The answer to your question is NO always polish the areas to be soldered and lightly coat the area with Ronin Flux that way you will have nice clean solid solder joints.
Another thing if you can find The solid core solder sn63 it is the quality of solder that the cell phone industry uses as well as most computer manufactures.
As far as model Railroading Track soldering with 3/64 X 60/40 solid core solder will work fine and it’s 30% cheaper if you buy the 1 Pound roll.
Check out you-tube
Just type in - soldering Model Railroad Track - and you’ll find everything you ever want to know with full video close up instructions.
Dan

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Heat the work - not the solder.

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I’ll present a somewhat opposing view. I’ve soldered thousands of connections on tubular track, Atlas silver nickel track, and tons of Ross & Gargraves tinplate track. I’ve never had the need to add any extra flux for the job. I use Kester brand 63/37 Rosin multi-core solder.

I would strongly recommend 63/37 composition solder, especially for a newcomer to soldering. Unlike 60/40 solder, 63/37 solder is eutectic, which means it has a single, sharp melting point. When cooling, 63/37 solder transitions from liquid to solid at a single temperature, 60/40 solder has a semi-solid state that spans around 10 degrees as it cools. If you move the joint during this cooling period, you get a poor solder joint, otherwise known as a cold solder joint.

Completely agree. I’ll also add that I find the smaller diameters easier to work with. I have some that is .015 and .020 diameter and it allows for fast melting while applying it to the rail joiner.

Also (as if it needs to be repeated) Keep the tip clean! I use one of these (with weight added to the bottom)

Good Luck, Ed

If you can spare the money, invest in a resistance-soldering rig for both soldering rail joints and attaching feeders to rail sections. This keeps the heat in the rail and doesn’t require careful positioning of a fine tip, removal of ties to preclude melting, etc.

I do recommend using a good no-clean flux when soldering – it solves so many issues before they happen. Even a small bottle should last a reasonably long time. Obviously you use a non-acid type. The advice about 63/37 eutectic (the actual composition is slightly different in the last decimal place, in case you look up the references) is sound for general work at only one ‘heat’. But be advised this contains lead, and contact with the solder or its potential vapors should be avoided as much as possible. There are other eutectics that are more expensive (see “RoHS solder”) and in my experience these DO need careful joint prep and appropriate flux to work well.

Likewise, if you’re seriously interested in soldering, get a temperature-controlled soldering station (there were many threads on the old forum about this, which I understand have been ported over and made searchable). I recommend the type that includes a vacuum ‘desoldering tool’ and a hot-air gun for reflow – you’ll be surprised how much you find them useful as you ‘get the hang’ of it.

Keep your tip clean, and well-tinned with a thin layer of solder. I advise buying a bronze sponge, rather than a wet sponge of some type, and make a practice of knocking any buildup off the tip each time you use it. You can also keep a container of paste or liquid flux, or “tinning” solder paste (which is particles of solder in flux) to plunge the tip in, after wiping, to keep it tinned and bright.

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There are other eutectics that are more expensive (see “RoHS solder”) and in my experience these DO need careful joint prep and appropriate flux to work well.

I certainly agree that the RoHS lead-free solder is considerably harder to deal with, and I would most certainly not recommend it to a newcomer to soldering! :thinking: Truthfully, as long as you practice relative simple safety measures and wash your hands after working with leaded solder, there are tons of things that are going to kill you a lot faster.

The fact is, soldering fumes do not contain lead. The melting point of both lead and tin are much higher than temperatures used for regular soft soldering. So the obvious question is, what are these fumes composed of if not lead or tin? Answer: They’re from the flux. It’s obviously not really a good idea to inhale tons of rosin fumes, but they’re not lead. Truthfully, almost all the concern with lead based solder isn’t from dangers of using it, it’s from the dangers posed later when the items that have been soldered get disposed of in landfills and/or go to trash incinerators and the lead is then released into the environment.

I use .031 solder for track and general wiring, for PCB work I use .020 solder. All of it is the Kester brand 63/37.

I use the Hakko FX-888D soldering station for all my work on the bench, for track work I normally use my Weller 100/140 watt gun, more convenient and gets the job done faster.

Once you get a little experience, melting the ties, at least on O-scale Atlas track is a non-issue. I’ve soldered many hundreds of drops onto Atlas track, never had any problem melting the ties.