I typically use 60/40 rosin core electical solder for electronics work in my modeling projects, but I have trouble using that solder with piano wire, such as when making front railings for diesels, where I might want to have vertical wires attached to the overall shape of the railing in a T joint. Am I using the wrong solder or the wrong method? Cedarwoodron
Piano wire or spring wire is steel and does not solder at all. You may try brazing but the heat involved would ruin what you already made. Brass wire would be a better alternative to the spring steel. Not as durable but a whole lot better than plastic and easier to work with.
Pete
Piano wire is generally made of stainless steel and will require a specialized solder and flux in order to solder it properly. If this is for handrails, can you just glue them instead with some CA?
Tom
I saw silver-content solder, at Michaels Crafts, of the sort used in hobby jewelry-making. Has anyone used this type of solder with piano wire? Cedarwoodron
I have successfully used silver solder on the steel hobby wire available at the LHS. It definitely was not stainless wire.
I used it for caboose end railings and attaching diesel stanchions to railings. A flux will help but remember to clean afterwards if the flux is corrosive.
Or 2-part epoxy which is easily shaped and paintable.
Rich
After a quick search on Google, silver-bearing solder seems to be the one. Looks like you can pick it up at Radio Shack, too. Make sure you get the proper flux to go with it.
Tom
I would suggest that you try phosphor bronze wire available from Tichy Train Group (among others)
http://www.tichytraingroup.com/index.php?page=view_category.php&category=Wire&offset=0
It solders very nicely, bends easier than piano wire (but is much stiffer than brass so it will withstand handling) and is available in a variety of sizes. The .010 wire is slightly smaller than a typical scale hand rail and the .015 is slightly bigger. I use the .015 and I think it looks good but I am definately not a rivet counter. Here is an example of .020 phosphor bronze used for a railing:
Phosphor bronze is also excellent for making your own power pickups for engines, passenger cars or cabooses.
Sorry it is slightly out of focus.
Dave
You could look for a stainless steel flux.
I have some I picked up many years go when doing strain gauge work at a helicopter company. It is an acid and needs to be completely neutralized after soldering. Kind of like soldering electrical with Sal Ammoniac flux. It will come to bite you down the road if the connection is not cleaned properly.
McMaster Carr sells it. I am sure if you do a search for stainless steel flux, you will find other suppliers.
Rich
Stay-Brite silver solder. Available at Micro Mart. This si the same solder system that I used back in my slot car days soldering piano wire and spring steel for making a chassis. The flux is very acidic. 0After your work is done, clean all the parts soldered with a water and baking soda solution to netrualize the acid. An old tooth brush works great to scrub the parts. I have a couple of old chassis’ that I made 40 years ago and they have not corroded. I’ve also used it for selected wiring applications. So long as the pieces soldered are cleaned afterwards you won’t have corrosion problems.
You can solder piano wire with regular solder if you really clean it well with some 400 or 600 grit sand paper. You also need to sand the Athearn iron stantion as well. Once both parts are nice and shiney you should be able to solder the wire to the stantion. You must use a flux, I use Tix liquid flux, but regular paste flux will work too. A good 40 watt soldering iron with a CLEAN tip is essential.
That’s my experience too. The piano wire will solder, but it’s harder to do than brass or bronze. Clean it really well, shiney bright, use flux, use 60-40 tin-lead solder, get it good and hot, and it will solder.