What kind of solder do I use to solder nickle silver track.
Donald
Donald; use rosen core solder. Do not use acid core. Most hardware stores and also Radio Shack carry it. Good Luck.
Bob
SANDY SOUTHERN RAILROAD
Solder BOTH rails on the curves and ALTERNATE on the STraight. DO NOT solder your tunouts in place.
Is there a size I should use.
Donald
I read this kind of advice before and I disagree. Solder goes were the flux goes. We want the solder inside the rail joiner, not all over the outside of the joiner or rail. After the rail ends are prepared and the joiner is made to be a tight fit, fill the joiner with paste flux. I use a little cocktail tooth pick. Now pu***he rails into the joiner. Put a small drop of 50/50 solder (just a roll of 1/8 inch dia. wire is fine) on the tip of the soldering iron and place the blade of the soldering iron on the outside of the track, on top of the joiner. When the solder starts to flow it will go into the joiner and up between the butt ends of the rail. A small line of solder will appear on the top edge of the joiner on the inside of the track and that tells that it is a good job. Remove the soldering iron as soon as the solder flows. My soldering iron has a flat blade like a screw drive, about 1/4 inch wide and slides right into the web of the rail. With a little practice, neat clean joints can be solder without cutting away the ties beneath the joint. Gee it sounds so easy. Okay, it is not as easy as it sounds, but works well with a little practice.
I encourage all to consider solid solder and liquid flux. I have been struggling with soldering for years in audio-visual and computer environments using the Radio Shack style solder. In another thread I stumbled on Harold at H&N Electronics (http://bart.ccis.com/home/hn/). Harold is a model railroader and R/c entusiast. He really is knowledgable and sure put me on the right track. I have soldered on curves, on straight, on points where the transition joins straight, with great success each time. The liquid flux, put on with a small paint brush when the joint is hot, causes the solder to flow like it was plating. It is hardly noticeable. I even built my own wired rail joiners using #20 stranded and solid solder and flux. I actually enjoy soldering now!!
Since nickel silver is an alloy in the brass family, the best solder is the same 60-40 that is used for electrical and electronic work. The best way to make sure that it goes where you want it and sticks when it gets there is to use just a tiny bit of rosin flux, applied before soldering. I use some called Burnleys, which comes in a can something like a snuff can, and apply it with the end of a toothpick. I’ve been using one can of it for the last thirty years or more and it’s still half full.
The rosin-core wire solder I’m presently using is about 1/16 inch in diameter. An inch or so is enough to do all the soldering necessary to assemble a turnout from raw rail.
There are three key ingredients to good soldering:
- Good mechanical contact between the parts to be soldered.
- Clean metal where the solder is intended to adhere.
- A hot soldering tool with plenty of heat transfer capability.
LOL with your soldering.
Here is another tip that will save you grief- as soldering irons cycle on an off, the tips loosen. You’ll start to notice the solder isn’t flowing well, or its taking a long time to get it to melt, because the loose tip isn’t heating well. Make sure the tip is screwed on tight, or the nuts holding the tip on are tight, depending on the type of iron used. And check this frequently, some irons are more prone (more frequent loosening) than others.
BTW, I use Radio Shack 60/40 rosin core solder and radio shack rosin flux that is in a grease form (in a tube), with no problems. I use the same technique as Moldy Oldie except as the solder runs off the tip into the joiner I slide the tip alongthe length of the joiner to assure a good hot flow along the entire joiner. Ocassionally I’ll supplement the “tip” solder with a little from the solder coil, always applying from the outside rail.
Use a smaller size, softer solder and that enables you to be able to just sand away the extra solder and track uneveness. Make sure that is how you want the track because it is a task to separate the pieces of track once soldered.
Remenber to keep your soldering iron tip clean and tented with fresh solder.
After cleaning - Tin the iron’s tip with fresh solder then wipe the tip with a damp cloth.
Don’t get burned from using too much water. Use only a damp cloth. This should keep
your soldering iron in top shape. Before quiting clean your Iron. Also remenber to place
the solder on the wire or medal to be soldered NOT on the iron tip.
The reason to use 60/40 small diameter electronic solder is it has a low melting point so ties stand a better chance not melting (not a place for silver solder!). As said, a good solder job should disappear and not be a blob on the track. Never solder the inside, always the outside (unless you like to file). Use a sparing amount (unless you like to file). Always use rosin flux of some kind, and keep your tip clean and tinned.