Soldering set ups

[28ten]

I will start the ball rolling here.
My two weapons of choice are an ERSA 2000a Temperature controlled Iron http://www.blundell.co.uk/detail.php?id=dig20a84
and a Graskop resistance soldering unit. both get equal use and I wouldn't say one is 'better' than the other
I use Simon Varnham's Blue water based flux for everything, and for solder I prefer 145 although I do use lo-melt for the odd white metal part. With the RSU I have found the solder paste from Eileens Emporium works well.
After every session or even sub assembly, I clean the parts in hot water and occasionally I use Flash liquid of Shiny sinks if a part is very tarnished or dirty.

 

[djparkins]

I will start the ball rolling here.
My two weapons of choice are an ERSA 2000a Temperature controlled Iron http://www.blundell.co.uk/detail.php?id=dig20a84
and a Graskop resistance soldering unit. both get equal use and I wouldn't say one is 'better' than the other
I use Simon Varnham's Blue water based flux for everything, and for solder I prefer 145 although I do use lo-melt for the odd white metal part. With the RSU I have found the solder paste from Eileens Emporium works well.
After every session or even sub assembly, I clean the parts in hot water and occasionally I use Flash liquid of Shiny sinks if a part is very tarnished or dirty.

I agree - I've got an ERSA station and they are worth every penny.

I'd only used Weller TC irons since the 1970s but the last one finally gave up and I had read such good things about the ERSA ones that I invested. I particulay like the fact that you can get a lot of heat into a very small area [and with quick heat recovery] with their .7mm bit, which I find ideal for our wagon kits with .012" brass & .008" details.

Regards,

David Parkins,
MMP

 

[Simon Dunkley]

Looked at the price of the ERSA. :shock:

Still, I originally thought that when I bought an Antex 660TC (roughly half the price of the above) and have really loved using it.

I generally use 60/40 tin/lead, plus 9% phosphoric acid flux, and 70 deg low-melt for whitemetal.
I also use 145 solder, but not where mechanical strength is important, e.g. where a PCB frame spacer joins onto a loco sideframe. I find the low surface tension - which makes this ideal for adding overlays and boiler bands, etc - makes for a weaker joint, and since I bought the TC iron (which is 50W) I have had complete success with the basic solder for most jobs.

For cleaning in advance, I use bits of Scotchbrite pad, and also the little tins of bit cleaner/tinner for the iron during use.
A wash in hot soapy water at the end of a session, with an old toothbrush if I really feel like it, is all I usually do until painting time, when it is out with the Shiny Sinks or whatever is around the house, plus rinsing in hot water.

I have an unmarked (brand filed off) large iron which I bought from SRB many years ago. I think it is about 85W, but the bit is so large it is impossible to keep it properly tinned, and it hardly ever gets used.

 

[Rob Pulham]

I use a Maplins 40 watt digital solder station for 145 and 188 solders and one of Maplins really cheap (?9.99) 40 watt temp controlled solder station for whitemetal. I also use an Iroda solderpro 120 micro-flame almost as much as my irons. I also have a cheap and chearfull market gas torch but you need to many hands to hold the work, hold the torch and then light it. The solderpro is self igniting.All used with Simon Varnam's wonderful flux.

It's quite amazing how little solder you can get away with when using the micro-flame and less solder = less cleaning up.

 

[Phill Dyson]

I'm another fan of Maplins ?9.99 solder station, I use it for jobs ranging from Whitemetal to brass , I also use a Nimrod gas powered soldering iron (for some brass & outdoor work) .

Phill :wave:

PS If I were doing a lot more brass kits, I'm sure a more sophisticated set-up would be advantageous , but for the amount of metal kits I build the above fulfil my needs

 

[Jordan]

I'm at the even-lower Budget end of the market than Phill... :shock:

I have a cheap* 20W iron for the smaller brass and whitemetal parts, and a cheap* but meaty 80W iron for the really big jobs, like the main frames on my Class 22. For anything even bigger I have a gas-less MIG welder... :lol: :lol: :lol:
I have used Carr's Yellow Label Flux but recently started using Simon's Safety Flux, so at least I'm doing something the same as the masters here....

* as in un-branded, or a name you've never heard of; like in ?1 shops, Aldi etc....

 

[lancer1027]

I use an Antex 690 digitally conrolled. This covers me for all my needs, brass,whitemetal etc. Very nice bit of kit in my opinion (not that soldering is my fortay)

Rob

 

[Simon Dunkley]

BTW, I was reading some advice in the instructions of my DJH 03 - typical bloke, reading the instructions last and some time after starting :lol: - and the master,Tony Wright mentions (in his advice within the instructions) that one should, when soldering WM castings to brass etched items, 'tin' the brass etch with 145 deg solder, have I been doing it wrong? Because I have, in the past, 'tinned' the brass etch with 70 deg (low melt) and soldered the WM castings to the brass that way. My reasoning was that the 70 deg low melt solder would then melt before the casting did :lol: I have taken to using a bigger/hotter iron very quickly for such work rather than leaving a lower powered iron on the work for longer - I learnt that the hard way :lol: :shock: :lol:

70 degree lowmelt does not adhere well to brass, but it does adhere well to 145 and other solders. Hence, you tin the brass with 145 or whatever you normally use, and effectively solder the whitemetal castings to the 145 with the 70.

Or you could do what a friend does (and this scares me!):
Put the whitemetal casting in place, hold with finger of non-dominant hand. Apply flux to joint. Put blob of normal solder on soldering iron, tough blob but not iron onto flux, watch as solder flashes into joint.
If you get it wrong, you either cannot get the casting off in hot water, or you melt it. Or both.

Works for him, but I am a lesser mortal!

 

[Ressaldar]

I use an Antex 690 digitally conrolled. This covers me for all my needs, brass,whitemetal etc. Very nice bit of kit in my opinion (not that soldering is my fortay)

Rob

Hi all,

same kit as mine, plus a London Road RSU - two great bits of kit.

regards

mike

 

[adrian]

Thoughts from the collective on soldering stations would be appreciated.

After too many months away from the workbench for various reasons, I've finally got round to clearing a bit of space and picking up the pieces. I turned on my trusty Weller soldering iron which promptly went phutt!! So I'm in the market for a new soldering iron, my main interest is scratchbuilding and etched kits in 7mm. I have a resistance soldering unit for detail work and a small oxy-propane setup for brazing and silver soldering. What I'm looking for is a good unit for general 7mm etched kits, with the occasional whitemetal work.

With Christmas on it's way I'm getting asked what I want, so soldering irons are on my Santa list. Budget is likely to be upto ?100. So what would people recommend? Do I go for another good quality Weller 48W plus another lower temperature one for whitemetal. Or do I go for a temperature controlled setup? Although some of them don't seem to go low enough for whitemetal soldering. I saw this Weller station - http://www.soldering-shop.co.uk/catalog/weller-whs40lt-soldering-station-special-edition-p-49.html which covers 70c to 450c.

What do people recommend - separate irons for specific jobs or a soldering stations to cover the full gamut?

Adrian

 

[djparkins]

I will start the ball rolling here.
My two weapons of choice are an ERSA 2000a Temperature controlled Iron http://www.blundell.co.uk/detail.php?id=dig20a84
and a Graskop resistance soldering unit. both get equal use and I wouldn't say one is 'better' than the other
I use  Simon Varnham's Blue water based flux for everything, and for solder I prefer 145 although I do use lo-melt for the odd white metal part. With the RSU I have found the solder paste from Eileens Emporium works well.
After every session or even sub assembly, I clean the parts in hot water and occasionally I use Flash liquid of Shiny sinks if a part is very tarnished or dirty.

Fully agree with 28ten here - I have an ERSA soldering station.  A joy to use - a nice light iron that is comfortable to hold as well.  Cannot speak too highly of it.

David Parkins

 

[djparkins]

I now notice I've already contributed to this thread earlier!  Senility really is setting in.

DJP

 

[Ressaldar]

I now notice I've already contributed to this thread earlier!  Senility really is setting in.

DJP

welcome to the club then David - free membership

regards

Mike

 

[Graham Powell]

I use Jenolite car rustproofer for flux. Ordinary multicore solder. Irons ranging from 25W to 120w and three mini blowlamps. One technique I do use is to get little beads of solder, put them in place with a little drop of flux and then gently play on it with  the mini blowlamp. The solder flashes, runs along the seam with virtually no cleaning up.  I notice another modeller on the Guild website uses the same technique.  All very basic but having built 120+ locos it works for me!.
rgds
Graham Powell ;D :wave:

 

[Steve Cook]

My current setup is an Antex 50 W temp controlled iron (200 to 450 deg C) fitted with a variable resistor plug adaptor to crank the temps down for whitemetal. It has proved to be capable of almost everything, but where large items are joined to large surfaces which act as heat sinks, it just cannot maintain tip temp - more of a problem in Gauge 1 and Gauge 3 than 7mm I should think. To counter those issues, I have an Antex 100W iron - more than capable. Antex tips are easily available in my local Maplins which has helped out on the odd Sunday session. I also have a resistence soldering unit to test supplied by Simon D - I'm embarrassed to admit I've not even turned it on yet!

145 is my preferred solder, but 188 and 220 get a look in depending on job. I use Carrs fluxes at the moment, partly because that is what I started with and am used to, but likely to change to less corrosive versions as the bottles run low.

An ERSA station is high on my list of things to buy, I've heard lots of good things about them, the other irons would be relgated to 'emergency back ups'.

I'm also tempted to get an iron just for soldering whitemetal. Having had a quick training session at last years Camrail from a chap called Alan, when you know the iron will not melt the whitemetal, it takes all of the stress out of soldering the job and one can concentrate on getting a good joint. On the flip side, that seems like a lot of irons for an amateur.

Steve

 

[adrian]

Fully agree with 28ten here - I have an ERSA soldering station.  A joy to use - a nice light iron that is comfortable to hold as well.  Cannot speak too highly of it.

Thanks for that I had seen yours and 28tens recommendation - but the dilema is I could get a Antex solder station and a MMP08 for the price of the ESRA station.

Although I did find an ESRA RDS80 for ?131+VAT http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduct.jsp?sku=4422820&CMP=e-2072-00001000

Adrian

 

[28ten]

I would say that if you build etched kits a decent iron is an essential. I couldn't say that an ERSA is better than an Antex as I haven't used both, the four ERSA settings very useful though.
I am going to give the microflame a go, just because I'm am always willing to try something new!

 

[Graham Powell]

If you are going to try the Microflame just be careful!. If I am using it, I just gently move it back and forth until all of a sudden the solder melts and it flashes into the seam you are doing. It takes a bit of practice. Have a look at Edward Lawford Models on the Guild traders website. He uses the same technique. Some people recoil in horror at the thought of using a blowlamp but a lot of what I do is scratchbuilt from nickel silver sheet though saying that I'm not averse to using it on kits.
Been using it today actually. No cleaning up afterwards.
rgds
Graham Powell ;D :wave:

 

[28ten]

Not like this then ? 

 

[Dan Randall]

Looks like Jordan's bought himself another Steve Beattie kit.... 


Regards

Dan