Soldering wire leads to track

[oplholik]

Nscale code 80 track. Just taking a break from practising. What a PIB this is. Beginning to think that I should have used the rail joiners with the leads installed. To do so now, I would have to tear up the track every 4 feet or so to put them on, and I don't even want to think about that. So gotta make this work. I'm thinking that soldering to the outside of the rails will be a little easier than the inside so that if I get a little too much solder on, it won't interfere with the wheel flanges. Oh well, back to practising.

Paul O.

 

[hamltnblue]

Hang in there, it's worth it. In no time you'll be an expert.
Alot of it has to do with the equipment you're using.
What model and wattage of iron are you using?

 

[UP2CSX]

Make sure the track sies a really clean before you solder. Use some alcohol and an old tooth brush to scrub them. Get two small vice grips to use as heat sinks on either side of the solder joint. Tin the wire first, heat the track, and use a needle nose pliers to hold the wire. If the track it hot enough, the solder should flow right from the bare wire to the track in a couple of seconds. Hold the wire in place for about 10 seconds and then carefully remove the pliers. The wire should now be well soldered to the side of the rails. Nothing wrong with soldering the outside of the track. With a little sanding and paint, you'll never notice the wire once the track is ballasted.

 

[oplholik]

Hang in there, it's worth it. In no time you'll be an expert.
Alot of it has to do with the equipment you're using.
What model and wattage of iron are you using?

I'm using a Radio Shack 30 watt iron. Just finished soldering three of the 8 hot wire connections. Those three went well. Only 5 more to go, then I will do the negative wires.

Paul O.

 

[Blacksheep]

Make sure the track sies a really clean before you solder. Use some alcohol and an old tooth brush to scrub them. Get two small vice grips to use as heat sinks on either side of the solder joint. Tin the wire first, heat the track, and use a needle nose pliers to hold the wire. If the track it hot enough, the solder should flow right from the bare wire to the track in a couple of seconds. Hold the wire in place for about 10 seconds and then carefully remove the pliers. The wire should now be well soldered to the side of the rails. Nothing wrong with soldering the outside of the track. With a little sanding and paint, you'll never notice the wire once the track is ballasted.

That's the ticket. I solder almost everyday at work. DB9's, vga's, Speakers, XLR's etc. To me, I think the key to a good solder joint is tinning. This is easy to do on the wire end because its away from (in this case) the track. I'd even go one more step and tin the track with the same heat dam/sink method mentioned in the above quote. Once both are tinned its a cake walk to attach the two prepped pieces together and you will have less chance of turning your pretty project into a diorama of a molten lava flow.
So in other words you're only battling one piece at a time when you are concerned about flowing out the joint area. I always make sure the parts completely cool after tinning before I try and attach the two.
And get a good quality adjustable iron. I use a dorky gun but I've been soldering for 30 plus years LOL.