Now then !
I am finally starting to redevelop and rebuild Port Perran station which involves a complete rebuild of the station itself and the installation of lighting and point motors.
I've now got to grips with street lighting and the platform lights.
it's now on to the point motors (Seep). I understand how to wire them up (at least I think I do) using toggle switches which involves the dreaded soldering.
Now I've never been a fan of soldering and I know it divides opinion (ie people fall into the very, very easy camp or utterly impossible camp ).
I'm most definitely in the second camp.
Before jumping in I've been trying to practise joining a wire to the toggle switch. I've watched various You-Tube tutorials which make it look so easy but.........it's not !  I've managed to "tin" the end of my wire but I can't get it to join to the toggle switch. I'm holding the tinned wire beneath the connector on the switch then heating the wire and connector from below and allowing the solder to drip on. But it doesn't hold !
Any tips please !!!!!!

Port perran,

Tin both the wire and separately the connector on the toggle switch, both should end up with a film of solder on them.

The place the wire on top of the connector and heat them briefly. Don't add extra solder on your iron at this point, after you have tinned both parts you should have enough, the iron is used to remelt the solder on both parts. As soon as you see it turn liquid again remove the iron and then wait 5 seconds for your joint to cool.

Before you tin clean both the wire and contact, sandpaper is good a small file is better (others use fiber glass pens). The idea is to remove any oxidised metal before you tin. If you are not using flux, or resin cored solder (which contains flux) you will find that flux helps tinning a great deal.

Keep practicing, perhaps on waste materials (two bits of wire will do). It took me a couple of hours of practice to get the hang of it.

Cheers
Dave

Took me a while too! This is probably not going to be popular but I found I couldn't get on with the 'new' lead-free solder, just would not stick. So I went on Ebay and bought myself some of the good old-fashioned lead type - easy peasy now


Paul

Just been soldering some power leads and SMD lights. I would recommend a good solder tip cleaner as well. I also use the good old fashioned lead solder, much easier than the new lead free muck.

Alex 

Dave, wondered what iron you are using?  If you see yourself doing a deal of soldering in the future, maybe you should invest in a solder station?  You also need a couple of extras to make it easy, one is a damp sponge to clean the tip with, also some fine emery cloth & a small tin of flux to tin the iron with.  The tip should be bright silver with no dull bits.  For small solder jobs, bell wire etc, lead free solder at around 300 degs should be fine.


N.b acid free flux!  And of course use resin cored solder.

Another user of old fashioned solder. 
Fortunate that I have 2 250g reels of 22swg(0.7mm) and 2  250g reels of1.2mm both original Multicore brand and 1 250g reel of 16swg  rs branded 60/40

Should not run out for a while.

Keeping the tip clean is imperative as is also making sure the iron is fully up to temperature..

Soldering skills here are average for someone who has worked in the electronics industry and can solder 34swg copper wire to a 0805 smd LED using a 15w Antex iron.

Quote from: ngauger on January 13, 2014, 10:24:33 PM
Dave, wondered what iron you are using?

An Antex 18W for most wiring jobs and for larger jobs I have a variable temperature controlled Antex.

Quote from: ngauger on January 13, 2014, 10:24:33 PM
maybe you should invest in a solder station?  You also need a couple of extras to make it easy, one is a damp sponge to clean the tip with, also some fine emery cloth & a small tin of flux to tin the iron with. 

Yep I have one of those helping hand/iron stand/lamp/magnifier jobies. It takes reels of solder on the back and has holes to feed the solder through. I prefer  a metal scourer to a damp sponge. 100% agree on resin cored solder and the need to keep the tip bright and shiny.

Cheers
Dave

Thanks for all the replies and the help/advice.
I'm now using leaded solder and that makes things so much easier.  I just couldn't get the unleaded stuff to stick.
I now have three wires soldered to my first toggle switch. Maybe not the neatest job in the world but the wires are fixed.
Now on to soldering to the first seep. A job for this evening.

Quote from: port perran on January 14, 2014, 09:20:28 AM
I now have three wires soldered to my first toggle switch. Maybe not the neatest job in the world but the wires are fixed.

Excellent Don't worry too much about neatness, that will come with practise


Paul

Quote from: DCCDave on January 13, 2014, 11:24:43 PM

Quote from: ngauger on January 13, 2014, 10:24:33 PM
Dave, wondered what iron you are using?

An Antex 18W for most wiring jobs and for larger jobs I have a variable temperature controlled Antex.

Hi portperan.

Glad to hear that you are making some progress now but that 18watt iron is not going to be of much use. Your Antex soldering station with, presumably, a 50 watt iron is what you should be using. I have an Antex 690 SD which I set at 360° C for most uses. The more powerful your iron is, the less time you need to have the tip in contact with the parts to be joined. I too have ditched lead-free solder in favour of the good, old-fashioned stuff and it really is a joy to use.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to soldering so I use a Tamiya tip cleaner and conditioner regularly to keep the tip of the iron in top condition and wipe the tip on a damp sponge before and after every use.  I clean all surfaces to be joined with either a small file or a bit of emery paper and then apply some no-clean liquid flux to the surfaces with a small brush which greatly helps the tinning process. Remember to tin BOTH parts so that you just bring them together and apply the tip of the iron for no more than 3 seconds to make the joint. Hold it steady for a few seconds to allow it to cool and Bob's your uncle.

interesting set of hints and tips here,  this is main soldering one.
http://www.elexp.com/t_solder.htm

Quote from: DCCDave on January 13, 2014, 11:24:43 PM

Quote from: ngauger on January 13, 2014, 10:24:33 PM
Dave, wondered what iron you are using?

Yep I have one of those helping hand/iron stand/lamp/magnifier jobies. It takes reels of solder on the back and has holes to feed the solder through. I prefer  a metal scourer to a damp sponge. 100% agree on resin cored solder and the need to keep the tip bright and shiny.

Cheers
Dave

That sounds good Dave.  When I said 'solder station', I meant a variable temperature one like this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/60w-lcd-display-solder-station-n89cz
I've had it a few years now, and it does everything I need it to do (it has interchangeable tips for different sizes of job).
N.B.  I bought this station after buying two other irons, one too small, the other was just rubbish, so there's your false economy!

Don't want to teach anybody to suck eggs here but;
For anybody struggling to get good joints, the basic prerequisite is for the two (or more) work-pieces to be held together firmly in their final position (and tinned of course!), then apply the right amount of heat (the less the better) to the area in question whilst feeding solder to the joint with your free hand.  In this way, the solder is 'drawn' through the wires, and ends up a nice shiny joint, without too much solder present.

That's the theory anyhow!   

All good advice guys, but it's only half the story; where is the advice for 'shaky hands/dodgy eyes' syndrome???   

Quote from: FeelixTC on January 14, 2014, 11:55:03 AM
All good advice guys, but it's only half the story; where is the advice for 'shaky hands/dodgy eyes' syndrome???   

I suppose years ago, one would've got ones man-servant to do it!

I have an image in my head here, of Robinson Crusoe teaching 'Friday' to solder in that charming TV series that used to be repeated in the school holidays back in the late 60's/70's!!

Quote from: ngauger on January 14, 2014, 12:38:52 PM

Quote from: FeelixTC on January 14, 2014, 11:55:03 AM
All good advice guys, but it's only half the story; where is the advice for 'shaky hands/dodgy eyes' syndrome???   

I suppose years ago, one would've got ones man-servant to do it!

I have an image in my head here, of Robinson Crusoe teaching 'Friday' to solder in that charming TV series that used to be repeated in the school holidays back in the late 60's/70's!!

He'd do it himself, Crusoe was a real grafter; I remember reading somewhere that he worked hard all week and was always b**gered by Friday