What type of solder is recommended to solder nickel silver flextrack? (rail joiners, track feeders) I will by it tomorrow and need some guidelines because I am new to this and want a good start. [:D] I just bought a Weller 25 W.
I use electronics grade rosin core solder. Radio shack sells it in several guages.
simon1966:
As always I must try to translate this to Swedi***erms.
If I understand it right rosin helps the solder to flow into the joint? Is this the same as flux?
Sorry Electrolove, I should remember by now that you are in Sweden and not just round the corner from Walmart and Radio Shack! Yes, rosin is a flux. A flux core solder is much easier to use IMO than solder where you have to paint the flux on first. Electronics grade solder is a higher grade than some on the market and has better conductivity. The description from the Radio Shack package is “High-Tech Silver-Bearing Solder” I use a very fine guage for decoder installations and a thicker guage maybe 1mm for soldering the track joiners.
No problem, not so many Swedish people here. [:)]
Sometimes when the people at the forum says Walmart and Radio Shack I’m so jealous. The only shop here with lots of different things is a place called Coop. And it really sucks. Yesterday I was there, searching for needle files. The smallest file I found was 40 cm, hahahah. But I will survive… Thanks for helping me out with the solder. Appreciated [tup]
Use a rosin core 60/40 alloy solder. KESTER “44” is a good brand. For model railroading and general electronics the .031 inch size is best. Works on copper and brass also. You may need to apply additional rosin or “flux” in some applications.
===Do Not Use ‘ACID’ flux=== Like the name says it is ACID.
Repeating, use a rosin core solder suitable for electronics. If there is a choice of diameters, use a thin one (BTW, 0.031 in. is about 0.8 mm).
Don’t use acid core - severe corrosion will result. Nor would I use any king of separately applied flux, some also will cause corrosion over time if not completely cleaned off. Electronic grade is designed not to corrode.
Heat the joint that you want to solder with your soldering gun before applying any solder. Heat it enough so that the solder melts when touched to the joint. Don’t melt the solder on the soldering gun before touching the joint. Get the joint hot first. The problem with not getting the joint hot enough is a “cold” solder joint. This is one that looks all right but the solder was not hot enough to properly flow throughout the joint. The “cold” joint may be an electrically open circuit. I am also a ham radio operator and I know this from the experiance of building many electronic gadgets. It is really hard to find a bad solder joint when some electronic unit doesn’t work right. Practice on some scrap pieces of track.
One last thing, if you ever have to make plumbing repairs in your house, don’t use this solder on drinking water lines because it is lead based.
KG1960:
Thanks for the really great post. I’m beginning to understand what solder I should use. I will try my luck tomorrow and see if I can find some solder.
Another tip if you can do it, If you have plastic ties, I try and remove 1 or 2 ties from each side of the joint so I don’t melt them. I then slide them back under the rails after I have cleaned the solder joint and put a drop of glue to hold them till ballasted.You can’t do this on every joint, but the ones I do seem to look better.
Don’t be scared away from using a paste flux, but use it knowingly. Whether you use a rosin or paste flux you need to wash it off afterwards. A small toothbrush with a little water will do the trick. Acid will eat away stuff over time. Rosin will leave a greasy film that will attract dirt, as well as corrode stuff over time, but more slowly than the acid flux.
Acid fluxes will allow a faster and better soldering connection.
I use an acid flux with a thin rosin core solder. Clean it up afterwards and you’re good to go.
Mark in Utah
Radio Shack also sells small cans of flux that are rated for “electronics use”. I highly recommend uisng this when you solder to the rails because the solder will flow about 3 or 4 seconds faster than with just the resin-core solder, which means far less chnace of melting something else, like ties, etc.
I noticed you said you were looking for needle files> Before I got my set, I used emory boards or nail files. In fact, I still keep some around for messy jobs where the file can be thrown away.