First of all here is what you need: 1.Resin core solder 2.Desoldering braid (available at radio shack) 3.Heat sink 4.Soldering iron 5.Wet sponge (to clean S.iron) 6.Tinned rail joiner STEP 1. First off you have to tin your joiner, this is how you do it: Insert solder into end (shown), the cut the solder sticking out. Hold joiner with pliers when holding the S.iron on the botton of joiner (flat part) When solder has melted, shake off exess solder in joiner. STEP 2. Insert pre-tinned joiner in ends of rail, place flat and aligned and install heat sink around area to solder (black metal object on photo). put de-soldering braid on top of rails, to cover the crack, place S.iron on top of braid then scrub track until you hears a squeak, that means that the track is soldered. Do's and Dont's: Try practicing on scrap rail before doing it on the "good ones." Withought heat sink the plastic ties will melt and result in ugly tracks. Try to use a low wattage S. iron If ya need more help just visit my community!
well if you shake off the excess solder before yeah, me and my dad (im 14) did this to the whole layout!
Here's how I solder together track. You need to solder in such a way that you get it over and done quickly so as to avoid melting the ties! 1. Use flux paste. Flux core solder will overheat the track, as you have to melt some solder just to get some paste on the track. I use acid paste (gasp). As long as you thoroughly clean up the track and wire afterwards, acid ful will cause you no problems, and will do a much better job. 2. CLEAN EVERYTHING. Cleanliness is next to godliness, especially when soldering. Nickle track solders up quite nicely, especially when new. Brass track must be cleaned first, prefereable with a wire brush where you want the solder to stick. 3. Apply the paste in the rail joiner, and to the outside side of the rail where you plan on attaching the wire if you plan on doing that. 4. Use a LARGE and HOT iron. Remember, you want to get everything over and done quickly to avoid menting the ties. Keep the iron tip tinned to keep a good iron-to-rail therma connection. 5. Use thin solder. Thin solder melts faster than the thick stuff used for plumbing. 6. Apply the iron to the inside of the rail & joint and as the solder starts to bubble add solder to the outside of the rail. Once the solder flows into the rail joiner, you're done! Don't worry about filling the joiner much, just start it in there. This may take only 5 seconds from start to finish. 7. Immediately wipe the rail down with a wet sponge to remove any unwanted solder. Hope this helps! Mark in Utah
The thing with my trick is that i use a heat sink to that the heat goes only where i want it to go. There's no melted tracks
I use a combination of the two methods. I use a make-shift heat sink similar to Patrick's to reduce the possiblity of tie meltdown but apply the solder as Mark does (50 watt iron) allowing the solder to "wick" into the rail joiner. This jig holds the top of the rails level so that soldering code 83 to 100 is simple. [ 05. February 2004, 15:19: Message edited by: Dbl6North ]
I have soldered many of the joints on my layout as well as soldering rail-ends to brass screws where the track crosses a baseboard joint. I find the 'normal' method of soldering electronic components works fine: A hot iron of adequate power and with a reasonable size/shape tip, applied for just long enough to get a good flow of solder. Then I break the rules and blow on the joint for a couple of seconds to cool it quickly. I use a 50 watt temperature controlled iron. Yes they cost more, but over the years I have found it a boon - fast warm-up, predictable heating. I don't generally use a heatsink at all and have had little trouble with melting of the ties. Occasionally the 'spikes', which are very small do melt, but this is rare and only when I know have overdone the heat . Good solder is important too - I found some types of multicore solder seem to have useless flux in them. I now have a largish reel of 'good' thin stuff, bought from RS or suchlike (it is 'halogen free' ?!?) and it is excellent. OK, it may have cost me $10 but it will last for years at my rate of use I don't usually preclean the rail or joiners, because I usually do this job as an afterthought when it is all down. I put the tip of the iron on the top of the joiner/side of the rail about 1/8th inch from the joint and feed ordinary multicore solder in. Once it melts I draw the tip across the joint to the other rail-end feeding more solder in as needed. If the solder fillet doesn't look even I just draw the tip back again to spread it. Then remove the iron and blow. I don't bother trying to get solder all the way to the other side; this will do one side and probably underneath too which is plenty. I use Peco track - maybe their plastic has a higher melting point than other makes. (Mmm. This was going to be a quick note - I got a bit carried away )
