Joined: 21/11/2002(UTC)
Posts: 42
Location: ,
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Hello crew!
I have to do some electrical repairs on some of my locomotives. I have broken solder joints and wires disconnected. What kind of soldering gun do you use? Also I need to know which type of solder is the best to use on such delicate connections. These are analog locomotives, no modules, yet, but in the future I may digitize them. Any recomendations?
Thanks! Nick in Idaho[^]
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 Joined: 12/01/2002(UTC) Posts: 2,578 Location: Sweden
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You should have a soldering iron which is temperature regulated or at least with selectable temperature. (I have one with 3 selectable temperature alternatives, and that is OK). It should be rather small, aimed for electronics. It should have replacable tips, one very small tip and one tip which is somewhat bigger. Straight tips are easier to work with (there are hook tips available as well). A good brand is Weller.
The solder should be standard 60%Sn/40%Pb or 63%Sn/37%Pb solder with embedded resin cores, and not too thick (0.5-0.7 mm is OK).
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Joined: 15/01/2003(UTC)
Posts: 707
Location: Texas, USA
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Hi Nicky,
Lucky for us, they sell the Weller brand here in the USA as well. For the "simple" joints you have to fix right now, any small soldering iron will do. But if you do not have one, and plan to digital conversions in the future, I would buy the one with adjustable temperature, that Perz is talking about. You will find it in better tool stores or electronics suppliers.
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Joined: 25/07/2001(UTC)
Posts: 11,165
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Weller is certainly German quality all through, we have them at work. It might kind of overkill if you get the more expensive models. But those are real professional tools. Otherwise, almost any cheaper temperature regulated soldering station is ok as long as you can change the tips and vary the temperature. I myself use a Velleman VT-SS30 Digital soldering station and am very happy with it. Much cheaper than Weller too...  It is worth the extra money to buy a soldering station instead of that cheap low-power soldering iron in the hardware section of the nearest department store...  Do a search for "Weller soldering station", and you get tons of US electronics shops selling them... Even Micro-Mark has one of their cheap models as their only offering in soldering stations... |
Juhan - "Webmaster", at your service...
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