Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

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Andrew
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Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:46 am

Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby Andrew » Fri May 22, 2009 5:13 am

I'm attempting to solder some finely etched brass overlays to a coach body. (Ironwork strapping to a Caledonian 4-wheel horse box for those playing at home.)

So far using a 40 watt iron, 145 degree solder, plenty of flux and tinning the back of the overlay using as little solder as possible, I find that

1) Placing the iron on the inside of the coach body I have not enough heat
2) Placing the iron on top of the etched overlay I end up with too much solder running around clogging up detail

Any suggestions on improving my approach would be gratefully accepted.

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Dave K
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Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:11 pm

Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby Dave K » Fri May 22, 2009 7:09 am

I did suffer with your problems plus thinking you have soldered the overlay only to find when cleaning it up with a fiberglass brush it came off.

I now use a Resistance Soldering Unit (RSU) and tinned and un-tinned with solder paste. I know RSU's were recently not available but I think London Road Models have a unit available, or did :!:

David Knight
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Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby David Knight » Fri May 22, 2009 2:20 pm

I'm not sure if this is practical in your case but one of our group did some interesting work with low melt solder and an electric frying pan. He was attaching etched bits to a large container flat or something of that nature and had threatened to write it up for the Snooze. Keith may remember seeing the work in question at the Christmas train show in Toronto a couple of years back.

HTH

David

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JackBlack
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Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby JackBlack » Fri May 22, 2009 2:43 pm

I've been doing a lot of this lately (old TMD wagon kits, love them!), I find that my 25watt Amtex with a big fat bit on it produces enough heat (the thin pointy bit I use for most stuff is hopeless for this), and using plenty of flux I can sort of spread any excess solder off to a convenient place to either file it off or rub it away with a glass fibre pen. Takes a bit of practice but I'm happy with the results I'm getting now.

Cheers, Nick


Nick Allport
CLAG


hughesp87
Posts: 137
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:25 pm

Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby hughesp87 » Fri May 22, 2009 7:07 pm

Andrew,

I've done quite a lot of this recently, soldering .33mm brass wire bolections to some etched railcar sides I've had produced in .3mm (12 thou) brass.

I use solder paint from Eileen's (a large tin purchased many moons ago) and an Antex 25W iron with a small 3mm chisel shaped bit. Both body and wire are tinned with the solder paint and then the parts located and held down while a further drop of solder paint is added. The trick is then to load the bit with a small amount of 145 solder before applying the iron. This appears to ensure a much faster and more efficient transfer of heat to the solder paint. A couple of wipes along the wire are enough to creat a good bond.

I then spend quite a bit of time chivvying away the spare solder, including anything remaining on the side itself, using a sharp scalpel blade or glas fibre brush. Finally a good working over with Shiny Sinks at the end of the session and a thorough rinse in clean water produces a really nice finish.

If I can get round to it this weekend, I'll take some pictures of the beast and post them.

Give it a try, and good luck!

Geraint Hughes
Ely
Cambs
Geraint Hughes
Cromford & High Peak in P4
Danish Railways in P87

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Will L
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Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby Will L » Fri May 22, 2009 9:59 pm

Biggest mistake is to tin the strapping, it wont then lie flat. After that use a big bit which holds a lot of heat, and a reasonably powerful iron. Use lots of flux on the work, carry the solder to the work on the iron (helps transmission of heat to the work). As Nick said, spread any excess solder around if you over do it, then expect to have to clean up when you've finished. I've always found that trying to refine your technique to the point when you don't need to clean up always leads to things not being stuck down properly!

Will

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John Bateson
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Re: Soldering etched ironwork to wagon/coach bodies

Postby John Bateson » Fri May 22, 2009 10:11 pm

One other way to clean up extraneous solder is to use solder wick and a hot iron
John
Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...


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