Soldering Iron Recommendation

[davidwilkins]

Hi all,

All my efforts at soldering have failed so far, I believe this is because the soldering iron that I am trying to use is not putting enough heat in to run the solder. I have been looking at videos on the net and this seems to back up the reasons why I cannot get the solder to run.

I was hoping that someone would be able to point me in the right direction as to which soldering iron to purchase. I'm looking around the £100 mark.

Any suggestions, gratefully received

David.

[Stephen White]

David

Without any hesitation, I'd recommend this:

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product ... GwodenANhQ

If you're at all serious about doing a lot of soldering, I might also recommend you look at resistance soldering. I've put a couple of posts about it on the Forum

All the best

Stephen

[Dennis Jones]

Hi David,

What wattage iron are you using ?

Dennis.

[Derek Attree]

Hi David
That are you trying to solder ?
What flux are you using ?

And as Denis asked what power is your iorn...

Derek

[Christian Steinhauer]

Hello David,

I don't know the sizes of your steel parts. I used for a half tracked frame in
1:8 made from 1mm steelsheets a gas-oxygen version like this. The sticks are
ready with flux from Baumarket.

http://www.amazon.de/Rothenberger-Indus ... B000VD1C76

and this was the frame

[davidwilkins]

Thanks for the quick response gentleman,

Stephen I will look into your recommendation, all I want to do for now is to be able to solder the covers for the periscope for the loader and gunner if I can get grips with this I might take further and take a more detailed look at resistance soldering.

Denis & Derek, the soldering iron was just a cheap parkside iron from lidl with a 30w rating the solder was soft solder with the flux in the core. Brass was metal that I want solder to try and make some of the thin skin parts on the tank.

Christian, thanks for your input I will look into this.

Your advise is much appreciated

David

[Christian Steinhauer]

Oh, for "thin" brass I take a burner like Stephen.

[Francis Samish]

Not sure I can add much to the discussion here, but for what it is worth, if it is an electric soldering iron you want to use, the bigger the better. Though it might seem that a small iron will allow you to get in tight to where you need to get, the bigger iron gets the heat into the job quicker -and so lets you pull the tip away with less risk of 'unsoldering' stuff you have already soldered.

Clean off all the parts you want to solder together with a piece of emery so that they are both bright before you start. I use a Weller 75W for putting together 1/43 and 1/87 brass kits, and use either Carrs fluxes - or Bakers fluid. The Carrs is less corrosive, but the Bakers gets the tougher jobs done. You don't want to use flux anywhere near your other tools - let alone machine tools - as it is surprising just how far the fumes and splashes will travel. When you are done, always rinse the parts under the tap to get rid of any traces of flux.

Hope this helps

[Derek Attree]

Hi David
You need to get some Bakers fluid flux this is an acid liquid flux and
really makes a difference also make sure all parts are scrubbed clean first.
Soft solder should run fine at a fairly low temprature if the join is well
cleaned.

Derek

[Chris glover]

Definitely another vote for resistance soldering!.
I had never done it before ,but seeing Stephen use one prompted me to make the purchase.Soldering is (almost) child's play
I have done all my gun depression rails first time of trying with no problems.Using magnets to hold parts and to act as heat sinks also makes life easier.
Expensive purchase but you won't regret it
Chris

[davidwilkins]

Gentlemen,

Many thanks for all your advice it is very much appreciated, I am at the moment leaning towards resistance soldering and will make my mind up over the weekend.

Regards

David

[Stephen White]

David

I'm just about to embark on the track bins and turret bins for the Cent and I'd probably not comtemplate doing it in brass from scratch without the security of resistance soldering. I made the Rommelkiste on my Pz III with a conventional soldering iron and it was not easy to keep assemblies together while applying sufficient heat to solder an addition, despite using a succession of ever lower temperature solders.

If you're serious about resistance soldering, I can recommend a UK sourced kit here:

http://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoad ... and-tools/

It's given me good service. The supplied probe is good for seams but for other components, particularly where work holding may be difficult, I've got a pair of tweezers:

http://www.international-tooling.co.uk/ ... ieces.html

American Beauty products are top of the range but prohibitively expensive, particularly with duty but their accessories are good.

Hope that helps.

Stephen

[Adrian Harris]

Which type of tweezers do you have, as there seems to be quite a range of tip sizes

Adrian.

[Dennis Jones]

David,

I would advise at least 60 watts, quite cheap at Argos, that what I have used on thin brass.

Dennis.

[Stephen White]

Adrian and David, the tweezers are the second one down here:

http://www.international-tooling.co.uk/ ... ieces.html

Part number 10541.

All the best.

Stephen