Soldering Iron Wattage for Track laying

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What power is needed?

I decided to make up some track for a tramway using old track and copper cladding as sleepers. Track is off old Triang grey stuff. Plastic shrinks and they are out of gauge so basically are useless other than ornamental. However it  quite a decent cross section and of course the curves are already prepared.
I cut the sleeper and stuck them down onto double sided tape. Laid the track on using a couple of gauges spacers to set the gauge correctly. I then placed a few nails along side to hold track in place.

I then place soldering iron onto the track and solder at the joint and waited, and waited…. the iron was not heating the track up enough. Now i suspect that my soldering irons are not of a higher enough wattage. One decent Antex and a cheap and cheerful Aldi. Antex is only 20W and I think the other is not much more.

Now I know it is a heat problem as I lit up my mini blow torch (also from Aldi I think) and that worked, too well. Managed it but is a bodgy awful looking job. No problem as it will be under a roadway eventually.

Basically what wattage of iron do I need to go for?

I also would like to try a bit of DIY point making an I really need something better than the mess the blow torch makes.

To be honest I suspect Araldite would do just as well, if taking longer to cure. However gluing down track dose mean continuity has to be watched.

I had a search here and while it is obvious plenty have made their own track no detailed info on the tools, especially iron wattage used.

thanks in anticipation. David.

Some photos of my poor efforts and tools employed. Blue iron is 30W Antex yellow is 18W and green Parkside, Lidl? is 60W although I suspect it is nothing like that. It was a real cheap you get what you pay for buy. Bit of old grey track from which rail is taken. Blow torch is little black thingy. Fill it from a gas lighter tin. Works well.




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freelance model railways and tramways
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wahiba wrote:
Basically what wattage of iron do I need to go for?
I don't yet build my own track.  

I own three soldering irons.  Two are 60W and the third is a beefy 100W.  I did have a 30W model once but binned it after finding it to be next to useless for any process requiring heat :roll:

I would say a 60W would be sufficient for all but the most demanding of tasks in general modelling.  

Rick
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I have found an adjustable 100W on Amazon so I think I might try that. It is thick rail I am using. Confirms my suspicions though that 30W is not enough. Thanks.

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Sol is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’
I think that was steel rail approx Code 125 & needs to be perfectly clean.  I have found a 30w is normally OK for soldering track to PCB as long as you use a good flux as well.

Ron
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Yes, I too was going to say it looks pretty hefty rail and, being old Triang is likely to be steel.

You could try using heat sinks either side of your soldering area to see if that concentrates the heat.  My guess is that currently, you're trying to heat up a yard of steel rail to solder a single point on it.  The steel rail will take far more heating up than your copper cladding so you need to be careful you don't ruin that before the steel is hot enough.

Frankly, the best place for steel rail is the recycling bin.

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Well I bought a 100W soldering iron off amazon for just under a tenner. Silverline brand, common enough but nver seen this one in shops. Anyhow it certainly does the business, but all the comments about cleanliness are certainly true. Not having any obvious solutions to hand I have been applying elbow grease. 
Track is off old grey Triang that warps out of gauge. Certainly steel and probably nearer 125 than 100. I am using it as much as an exercise to improve my soldering. Certainly getting better, most of the sleepers soldered on stay on at the first attempt. I am soon going to have enough for a test oval. Not sure how well my gauging works. Seemed a pity to throw out the steel track with the warped base.

100W might be a bit OTT, but I was not getting far with my 30W iron. Even though I am using fluxed solder I have painted some Carrs flux I had hanging around and it seems to help. The technique of heat the metal and apply the solder is the theory, but it is tricky in practise. the 100W does heat the track and copper clad sleeper up pretty quickly though. 

Idea is a tram track so my soldering efforts will not be on view.

David


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Don't forget to clean the soldered joint thoroughly AFTER soldering it David.

Normal flux is highly acidic and if you don't clean the joint, it will very soon go green and manky !  Rosin flux in the solder wire doesn't usually need any cleaning but Carr's, I'm pretty sure does ……

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