Solder Flux Brass Track

T

Tizaker

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Hi all, which is the best solder & flux for soldering wire to brass track (LGB, Aristocraft etc) and can you provide any tips on how to succeed without melting the sleepers? It will be my first time and I'd hate to end up with strips of brass only.

Rob
 
The secret is a big soldering iron, at least 100w. The quicker you melt the solder the less chance of melting the sleepers.
Clean the brass, I use a glass fibre brush. Some flux, I use fluxite only because I have a big tin of it. Apply the solder to the track & wire using normal electronics solder to tin them. Then quickly melt them together.
 
Hi Rob
I use greens flux on my track, clean it with a needle file, paint on a little flux then apply the flame. I have not found an iron that will work but have just purchased a Dremel gas soldering torch which has a wonderful tight flame that can be used without melting the track after a little practice, I have quite a few misshapen sleepers on the CGR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A09...ave fun and don't inhale the smoke. Ken
 
The stuff I use at the moment is Fry Powerflux in a yellow pot. Works really nicely. I forget where I got it from - I thought from Maplin but cannot find it on their site at the moment. Mike mentions Fluxite: I used to use that stuff for everything years ago (and also still have a big tin!) but to be honest tbe Fluxite I have is not an electrical flux, it's more of a plumber's flux.

It's not fun soldering to the large brass rail we use in G scale, unless you have a powerful soldering iron (I've used my 50 watt ok, preferably more like 100 watt as others have said). The ambient temperature outdoors doesn't help, so do it indoors if you can. Clip some heat sinks either side of where you're soldering to try and minimise heat transfer to the sleepers.

To be honest though, I'd recommend using power connector clamps rather than soldering direct to the rail. They're like half of a rail clamp (eg. Massoth, Hillman etc.) It's a lot easier, you can prepare the end of the wire with a suitable eyelet tag (much easier to solder) then simply attach to the rail. Also easy to remove when necessary.

For example:
http://www.gardenrailwaycentres.info/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=530
 
The last time I bought 145 degree solder and flux for brass, I got it from Tower models along with some low melt solder and flux for white metal.

I still have the flux, and bought some more solder from somewhere else :thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking:

they're a bit cheaper on the solder, not sure about the flux.............................

I'll let you know when I've remembered ............:nerd::nerd::nerd:
 
I've successfully used a 75watt iron for some time and use multi-cored solder. As others have said, it's important to clean the rail beforehand (I use the end of a triangular needle file), then tin the rail. I find that it takes only a few seconds to bring the rail up to heat and then apply the solder between the rail and the tip of the iron.Never had a problem with melted sleepers except when I tried soldering too close to the frog of a point.

I've bonded the joints between every section of rail on my railway in this way - probably several hundred soldered joints.
DSCF0009.0.jpg


And all the blades and lead rails on my points
IMG_3375.JPG


Rik
 
Ha solder flux, well, I have in the past shown you what I use, lost the pic now, also lost the tin but it will be somewhere about. This large tin of I think it is Fryolux Soldapaste belonged to my uncle who was an engineer and joiner of considerable skill. He bought this tin about 1936, and barely the top layer has been skimmed off. It will last another 1,234 years at least. He could solder anything with this and the correct sized soldering iron. How many watts or amps or volts? Oh no no no, his soldering irons didn't have any wires attached. You just stuck the thing into the living room coal fire and waited until it got red hot. Then you'd take it out, spit on your fingers, and then put then on the red hot bit to make sure it was OK. Then you'd do the soldering. The man was an artist, long gone now I'm afraid. But I'm still using his flux.
 
Ah, found my uncle's soldering flux. I was wrong about the Fryolux Soldapaste, that's much more modern stuff. No the stuff he used was "Fluxite" as shown here. During the war he built ships, and if he used this stuff and his red hot iron, those ships will still be afloat.
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Yep, as I wrote earlier I've still got a similar tin of Fluxite that belonged to my step-dad. Slightly newer than yours but same sort of stuff. It certainly works, just that I prefer to use a modern formulation specifically designed for electrical/electronic soldering rather than one that could be used for plumbing etc.

The stuff I use now is also supposedly good for lead-free solder, although I must say I can't stand that stuff and keep a hoard of "proper" solder.
 
Glengrant said:
Ah, found my uncle's soldering flux. I was wrong about the Fryolux Soldapaste, that's much more modern stuff. No the stuff he used was "Fluxite" as shown here. During the war he built ships, and if he used this stuff and his red hot iron, those ships will still be afloat.
images

images
Click to expand...
My dad used that stuff back in the 1940s the tin was bought in the 1930s like yours. He built several radios and lots of electrical gadgetry using the same iron you describe, an 'ingot' of copper on a steel rod, 2 mins in a gas jet and it solderd anything . I could never get it to work!!
Mostly, I use a small butane powered iron, it looks like a fountain pen on steroids but it will solder to LGB track no trouble at all.
 
There's something about using the stuff that my Uncle Albert bought more than 70 years ago, carrying on a tradition as it were. Mind you he'd cringe if he saw my attempts at soldering. As I remarked once away back in my double-oh days, when I had a few attempts at scratch building, soldering brass etc, it would have been easier for me to start with a lump of lead and file it down to the correct shape. Ah, great fun though
 
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