Hi,

I am having probs with my new Silverline soldering station, had had a look round here and cant see a specific answer and the answers elsewhere on line seem to vary.

I am using thin solder with a flux core and trying to solder drop wires., bought from a DCC specialist recently so pretty sure non lead.

A,  I am unable to tin the tip of the iron,   even when turned up fully the solder just balls and runs down to the point, am I using to much heat maybe.  Have fluxed the tip.

B,  I clean the track with fine wire wool, give it a paint with flux, balls of solder reluctant to stick, melted sleepers though.

C, Am cleaning the tip using the wire wool,  I read this morning elsewhere that using wire wool is a bad idea as it contains oil which may ignite, maybe thats the issue.

D, Using damp sponge to clean tip.

First couple of sessions were no to bad, did about 20 droppers.    Tried to do another 15 or so last night, disaster, unable to tin tip or wire, tip held in contact with dropper wire and rail would not melt solder.    melting solder at top of bit and allowing balls to run down the tip was partly sucessfull but hardly ideal.    This was with a new pointed tip.     

Got an unused chisel tip and a tapered chisel left.   First bit now cleaned up with worn sandpaper, nice and shiny now.

What am I doing wrong here and whats the solution?.

Thanks

A

i find if i heat my iron then dip the end in flux for a split second ( in a well ventilated area as flux is toxic ) it cleans rite up

i would of thought any oil on the iron would burn off but i could be wrong

if you cant tin the tip try cleaning with fine wet when cold (at your own risk lol) and dry then a dip in flux then solder

sorry i cant be more help

I have not used lead free solder but have read of others having issues with it. Might be worth trying the lead stuff?

A soldering iron tip cleaner may help. Maplins are one supplier This product cleans and tins. I've used it and it definitely needs to be used in a well ventilated area.

As Pengi says, get the tip cleaner.

And personally - I'd replace the solder & flux for DCC Concepts Sapphire No-Clean Flux & the Sapphire solder (either temp - I have both).  http://www.dccconcepts.com/index_files/DCCsolderfluxes.htm

Since swapping to this combination, I rarely have problems.

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=18083.msg181503#msg181503

Lead free solder - NO. l can solder but find leadfree is like blutak.

PM me your postal and I'll pop some 60/40 solder in the post.

Russ

If you are using a temperature controlled iron, you shouldn't really clean the bit with anything very abrasive, it doesn't need it. A copper bit, on the other hand should be filed flat every so often. As many have said, lead free solder is a pain.

Quote from: RussellH on June 09, 2014, 07:56:59 PM
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=18083.msg181503#msg181503

Lead free solder - NO. l can solder but find leadfree is like blutak.

PM me your postal and I'll pop some 60/40 solder in the post.

Russ

Thats a very kind offer,   thank you for that.  Will pm postal shortly.

Thanks again.

A

Quote from: Malc on June 09, 2014, 08:51:30 PM
If you are using a temperature controlled iron, you shouldn't really clean the bit with anything very abrasive, it doesn't need it. A copper bit, on the other hand should be filed flat every so often. As many have said, lead free solder is a pain.

Agreed, most have just a thin coating of a metal which doesn't tarnish quickly.  In general don't use anything abrasive on a tip - if you remove the outer metal plating the inside will corrode quickly and it will then prevent solder flowing on the tip.  As the only material that should ever touch the tip is solder and the metal that you are soldering it shouldn't get things stuck to it. 
I solder every day for my job and hardly ever need anything other than a damp sponge to clean the tip on.

Strange, I seem to get on OK with lead free!

Preparation is key. Lead free solder exacerbates problems with the initial prep, I find it also needs a higher temp than the equivalent lead content solder which brings its own issues. Starting with the tip, I find a dip in a good flux before its first use to clean any manufacturing/packaging residues helps. Abbrasives can greatly reduce the tips life, once the protective coating of the iron tip is worn away it can quite rapidly cavitate, I've killed tips in a matter of months at work when I've used the tread grips on exchange ladders to wipe dirt off a tip, try to avoid sanding at all costs. A wipe over a damp sponge whilst hot is sufficient for most cleaning, a flux dip and a wipe to remove the flux will normally get rid of the worst dirt on a well looked after tip. Cleaning the subject of surface oils is quite well catered for by the use of a separate flux (I tend this way rather than to use flux cored solders), otherwise a mild dry abbrasive like a fibreglass pen is ideal. A lot of people who prefer to use separate flux will advise not to use acid free flux, but Modellers Mecca supply a flux that I find works better than any acid flux that I have encountered, but even so don't overdo it!

When soldering droppers, I strip 1/2" of sheath and twist the end of the wire, then dip this in the flux (flick off any excess while still in the pot) and tin it, this often causes the sheath to retreat a further 1/8" or so but capillary action draws solder well inside the sheath end. When cool I bend the tinned wire tip over by 90 degrees a few mm from the sheath and trim off most of the excess tinned wire. Depending on how many I need I'll batch produce the droppers like this before even touching the track. If the droppers need feeding through the baseboard from below I don't bend and cut them until they're in place, a soldered tip feeds through holes nicely and afterwards that bend is great for stopping it from falling back through. Prepping the rail is a doddle too, I just cut the sleeper webbing and clip a heat sink (small bulldog clip or sprung closed tweezers) to the rail head and wipe the underside of the rail with a fibreglass pen and a brush with some flux. Next I re-tin the iron tip with a tiny dab of solder and offer up the tinned wire tip to the underside of the rail and push the iron on to the wire. The wet solder on the iron and flux on the rail really help get the solder in the wire to melt quickly and spread to the rail before the sleepers begin to distort, I often don't need to use a heat sink as the job is done so fast. If you use flux core solders instead of a separate solder and flux, you don't have the advantage of the rail being wet with a solution that draws solder where you want it. Additional heat/time is needed to overcome the surface tension of the wet solder, think of it as how washing up liquid causes water and PVA to behave when ballasting, so the use of a heat sink will really help protect the sleepers in this case.

I had never really soldered before starting this modeling and bought myself a Radio Shack soldering station with their own flux and lead free solder. I've been at it just over a year now and have had no real problems with using this lead free solder. In fact I surprised myself at how well I was doing because initially I was very apprehensive about taking on this task.

I did find it took a little while to bed in the new tip when I changed it after the first one wore out. Can't really offer you any advice sorry.

Jamie

Well thanks to the advice and one member here I have now got it sorted.

RusselH kindly sent me two rolls of lead solder to try, one big, one smaller.

Tried to tin the tip I was using on Sunday with it and it just balled at all power settings.     Put a new flat bladed tip in, half power and bingo , tip tinned nicely, quarter power the same but a shade slower.    Had a practise then onto the layout with it,  unsoldered the joints I bodged up on Sunday, cut the wires back,  tinned the wires and track and all now soldered up except one dry joint I found in testing.

After 4 years of building very late last night I managed to get my Minitrix  D5359 all the way round pulling 8 coaches, a real stepping stone at last.   Got another 3 sections of bus to put in now.

So thank you everyone for your help, it is very much appreciated.

A

Glad to hear you have found success.