Frank:
I’m guessing the Lion used 50% lead, 49% goofiness and a 1% silver lining![(-D]
Dave
Dave,
[bow] [(-D] [(-D] [(-D]
Frank
[quote user=“wdcrvr”]
I have been trying to build by layout for quite a while now and do not seem to be able to get the grasp of soldering. I am currently trying to power the frogs on my turnouts and am destroying turnouts in the process. In my attempt to get the solder to adhere to the frog I end up overheating the frog to the point that the plastic around it gets soft and the frog gets out of alignment. I seem to have this problem a lot. I have a hard time trying to get the solder to adhere to anything. The solder tends to form little balls and doesn’t want to stick to anything. I use flux and I try to make sure all surfaces are clean before I start. I have had this problem also when solder rails together. Can somebody steer me in the right direction. Am I using the wrong solder, the wrong flux or the wrong soldering iron?
Thanks
wdcrvr
First thing. I don’t think you can successfully solder to frogs. A frog has to have some plastic insulation in there somewhere to keep the two rails electrically isolated from each other. By the time you get the rail hot enough to solder, you have melted that plastic insulation.
Second, soldering tips.
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The right solder is 60:40 tin lead solder. That is the lowest melting temperature alloy of tin and lead, (the eutectic mixture). There are 50:50 solders sold for plumbing, leave them to plumbers. There are “lead free” solders sold to appease the greenies. I have never used lead free solder and have no confidence in it. There is “silver solder” which needs a torch to melt it. Stick with 60:40 tin lead solder. Get fairly fine solder, anything less than 1/8th inch in diameter is good.
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You have to heat the work up to solder melting temperature. You cannot drop hot molten solder onto cold work and espect anything good happen.
This is a good point, based on my electronics experience in my other hobby of vacuum tube audio. I think “eutectic” refers to the fact that the melting temperature is the same as the temperature where molten solder solidies. So if you heat the joint up just to this point, apply solder and it melts, then remove the heat, the joint will solidy as soon as the temperature drops below the same melting temperature of 183C–in other words, very quickly and with little extra heat to melt ties/etc. All other solder alloys have melting points higher than that temperature. All of the silver-bearing solders have higher melting points and solidify at different temperatures, as do other alloys of lead and tin solder. I do think the exact formula for eutectic solder is 63:37 Sn:Pb, but 60:40 is close enough.
One other point from my own experience at least in electronics is that if the joint’s clean, and the surfaces are tinned, no extra flux besides what’s in the core of a rosin-core solder is necessary. The Multicore brand has more than Kester solders if you think you need lots of flux, but I find it splatters a lot. So I use Kester “44” in the .020 and .031 diameters.
Bruce
Keep in mind the OP is trying to solder to the Atlas Custom-Line metal frogs. THe metal used there does not really take solder, even if you clean off the blackening in the spot to solder. Silver solder MIGHT work, but that has an even higher mel;ting point than common tin/lead solder, and it doesn’t take much heat to get the little plastic tabs holding the frog on to let go.
A brass screw in the hole provided is the easiest thing, easy to solder to without danger of melting the frog loose. Hardware to link of the frog, with a brass strip, comes with the Atlas Delux Under-Table switch machines, but you can also order the hardware as a spare part from Atlas. I just use a plain brass screw.
–Randy
They used to put the brass bar and screw with the turnout, but now you still can get them from Atlas, 6 and 12 in a package. Looked it up the day I replied, but forgot to add the link. That is the best way, hands down.[:D]
Frank
OP here. I want to thank everyone for all the replies and will continue to watch for more. Just an update: Yes they are Atlas Custom Line turnouts. I have tried the 2-56 screws and had to use a tap. Still had problems with trying to solder to the screws. Yes, I need a lot more practice. I think I will get the 1-72 screws because they would be smaller and therefore less noticeable. By getting a bit of info from each reply I believe I can get better at this. I have bought a new soldering iron. Not because I necessarily needed one but because I could not pass up the deal. The Radio Shack Pro-Line 70 watt soldering station that sells for $99.99 is currently available for $39.99. I felt like it would be a good investment.
I am going to make sure that I am using the 60/40 solder, make proper use of the flux, heat the object not the solder, use the RS tip cleaner/tinner, etc.
This forum is really valuable for people who do not have the experience that others have.
Thank you all so much.
wdcrvr
wdcrvr
What were the screws made of? If they were anything other than brass you will have trouble soldering to them. Brass screws should solder very easily.
Dave