# Soldering Iron?



## N-gauged

I am planning on building an n-scale layout and I want to solder the track together
but I don't know anything about soldering or soldering equipment.

I looked on eBay for soldering irons and there are several different kinds on there.
Can anyone tell me what they would recommend for soldering n-scale nickel-silver track together with?

I notice that they come in different watts.
20, 30, 40 and 60 are some of the pen style solderers.
What is too much watts and too little watts?

Here is one I'm looking at right now.

Soldering Iron On eBay​


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## NIMT

3 things to consider.
For heat I use 15 to 20 watt for decoder / fine electronics installs, 20 to 30 watt for track work, and 30-60 for custom builds! 
You will want a stand, the spring type ones are my choice.
You want one with a cool grip, the one your looking at doesn't have that! It's important for the simple fact that you want to take your time doing the work and not burning your fingers to a crisp! Radio shack has some really nice units that fit the bill for me.


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## gunrunnerjohn

I have a 35 year old Weller soldering station. It's the ancient one that has magnetic tips that are temperature controlled. You change the tips to get different temperatures. Crude, but it's worked well for 35 years! I've soldered a ton of boards and other things with this iron, I'm continually amazed that it keeps working. It is a 60W iron, but with the temperature regulation, it's good for delicate circuits.


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## raleets

P&P,
That's PATIENCE and PRACTICE.......with a little of both, you'll be soldering like an old pro.
The tips from NIMT and grjohn were right on the money, so just try the P&P and see how happy you get. 
Bob


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## concretepumper

Hey Dude I suggest going on youtube and search soldering track. A bunch of how toos there that I watched before soldering my layout. I did all my track with a $10 dollar walmart soldering iron. I think 20w worked fine.  Also run feeders while your at it! :thumbsup:


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## Xnats

I picked up a the electronic pen model (64-093)from Radio Shack, I'm very happy with it. Very fine tip and 20 watts, it works way better then my cheap 15 watt Wess from HomeDepot. I can de-solder leds off lightboards and solder the kato unitrack without melting the roadbed. I have not tried soldering onto a n scale decoder alt light pads yet, soldering is not my specialty either  One of these days, maybe I'll add my ditch lights :laugh:


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## raleets

No matter the "weapon", it's still all about patience and practice 
The tool will only perform as well as the mind and the hand controlling it.
Bob


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## Xnats

that is what she said :laugh: So Bob speaks the truth


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## shaygetz

I use a 40 watt pencil iron...everyone else has got you covered.

I'll have to pull out a pic of my old timey "brandin' iron" like they used in the olden daze...she's a hoss...:thumbsup:


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## raleets

xnats,
I was wondering who would be first to jump all over my words of wisdom 
Bob


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## gunrunnerjohn

raleets said:


> xnats,
> I was wondering who would be first to jump all over my words of wisdom
> Bob


Actually, your _words of wisdom_ were spot on, the skill of the user will be the major factor in determining the results. I've seen some pretty abysmal soldering jobs from techs that have the best tools!


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## Massey

I have also found that using rosin paste and a little rosin core solder will help you out more than anything else. Acid core solder and acid paste can cause future corrosion if you dont clean the residue off when you are done, rosin does not have this problem.

For example, to tin a wire I take and strip the desired amount of insulation off, twist the strands, then dip that into the paste. Next I tin the iron tip with some fresh solder and touch that to the wire to be tinned. If the wire is small I do not need to add more solder but thicker wires (like the ones used on R/C car motors) I feed some solder onto the wire till it has the desired amount of solder on it. This method cleans the wire as you add solder. For smaller wires who's insulation is really thin and will melt easy this method keeps the temps down and the melting to a minimum. This same method works for tinning brass contacts, PC board solder pads, and even the nickle silver track. Rule of thumb when soldering is never use more heat than you need.

Massey

P.S. I use a range of pen type irons from 20W (decoders) to 60W (Track and fabrication of brass things) with a 40W being the best all around for most things. I found that soldering guns are too hard to regulate the temp and I stay away from them.


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## gunrunnerjohn

I use a temperature controlled soldering station for all my finer work, it has 60 watts but only supplies the heat you ask for. I also have a real find needlepoint tip for it for PCB work.

For track (remember I do O-scale), I break out the Weller 100/140 gun.


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## shaygetz

gunrunnerjohn said:


> For track (remember I do O-scale), I break out the Weller 100/140 gun.


Now you know why O scalers in our club are called "blacksmiths"....


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## gunrunnerjohn

That's me, *Mr. Blacksmith* to you.


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