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Soldering Brass

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ovalracer63	Soldering Brass	Lead	[-]
Posts: 126 (05/22/08 03:57 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I am having a little trouble with soldering onto brass chassis. It seems that I can't always get the solder to adhere to the brass chassis itself. I have tried low temp solder (with better results), acid core solder, electrical solder to no avail. I even use flux and a 40 watt soldering gun. Is there something I am missing? What is the best solder, flux and temp of gun should I be using. It really gets frustrating after awhile. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Tom
RichD		#1	[-]
Posts: 1364 (05/22/08 06:59 AM) Home Racing Guru! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Soldering guns are only good for making electrical connections in my opinion, the tips do not have enough mass. For chassis work I use a 40 wattt Ungar iron with a chisel tip. The irons that have the heating element and tip as one piece work best, the ones where the tip screws into the heater are not as good. The secret to good soldering is heat transfer. The tip must be clean and shiny. It is important to turn diown the power to the iron when you are not actually soldering. I use a light dimmer to reduce the power, you can also get a soldering station that has that feature built in. For chassis work where you would want extra strong joints silver solder is best, I use acid core silver solder from Slik7. If the soldering iron tip has a lot of oxidation you may have to remove it with 200 grit sand paper. Apply acid flux to the tip, then melt on some solder. Wipe off the excess solder on a damp sponge and you will be ready to start. Put a little flux on the parts to be joined. Add just a little solder to the tip and hold that against the parts until the solder from the iron starts to transfer to the parts, then add extra solder as needed. The solder should stay shiny when it cools, if it looks dull you have a cold joint, which has little strength. Be sure to rinse off the flux or you will get corrosion later. Do not use acid flux for electrical connections!
jas2060		#2	[-]
Posts: 987 (05/22/08 03:18 PM) HRW Janitor Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Edit: Someone sent me a message about "tilt" in chassis photo. Sent as private so as not to embarrass me. Appreciate the advance thinking, gentlemanly thing to do. Anyhow, the tilt of the chassis, is one, it is a flexi-chassis, and two, is sitting on its side, hence the "tilt" caused in this instance by gravity . . . Sure, most know, flexi chassis, sometimes referred to as rattlers, and other similar names, is supposed to give driver better command of the car. Flag, then chassis, then body take note of attitude change. Versus, flag, then whole car taking note of attitude change. Flexi and ISO chassis, in essence give chassis a chance to take a "set" first, when encountering a turn. Then the body follows, by allowing chassis to set first, attitude change comes much faster. This is a very brief explanation, much more to it, but . . . Anyway, they work, else guys would not take time doing them . . . - - - - Hi Tom, Good reply RichD. So won't go into devices too much. Would only add that sometimes helps to lightly sand the two pieces to be soldered. Can also use a Dremel with silver colored brush wheel, not brass colored. To spiff up pieces to be soldered. Often good idea to prep each piece first, wiping off excess solder with plain old rag. Then, when joining both pieces, you'll have almost instant solder transfer, exactly where you want it to go besides. Since your solder doesn't adhere, surface prep is one, and guns are, well for other stuff. Preference is 60/40 acid over rosin. Sometimes use silver, for added strength. Get good at 60/40 before messing with silver. When turning off your iron, be sure and prep it with solder, use a rag to remove excess, making sure it is shinny. Be careful sanding your tip. If you go through to the "silver" on the tip, game's done for that tip. If you need to clean it up, use a wire brush, and "scrub" it that way. Then use rag or sponge with clean water to finish up. Good idea to use wire brush to clean entire metal portion of the iron every so often. Leaving an iron on for hours is bad news for the tip. Either unplug it, or do as Rich said, use rheostat, like for house lighting. In fact, I use a dimmer for my Dremel, that way can use cheaper Dremel without all the toys/add ons. Motor is the same. Another BTW, if buying a Dremel, always good, or if buying another version. Go with PMDC motor, not the wire magnet version. Much better low end torque with the PMDC, and much better over all speed control, no "sputters" and like issues. Some of the newer Dremels are not PMDC ... sorry digressing. Boy there's so much to soldering . . . tend to get chatty. For what it is worth, do 80 percent of my work using a butane torch. When doing so, too much flux causes area to become sooty. So be sure and wipe off extra flux before applying torch. This is not to show off, so please don't misconstrue. There are far better builders this forum than I. Anyway ... here are a couple of pics on chassis done using 60/40, a little iron, and mostly torch . . . Emphasis is ... less is better. You'll note, that the soldered areas are not overly "soldered," hope this makes sense. See wire in both pics, showing just a little solder. These are way blown up macro pics, so forgive pimples you might see. Cheers, Jas "May the wind be at your back ... sails unfurled." Last Edited By: jas2060 05/24/08 03:50 PM. Edited 2 times.
gt40smitty		#3	[-]
Posts: 283 (05/22/08 04:04 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	the two biggest things are sand and clean the surface with 90% alcahol and use silver solder from radio shack (on brass rod only)and from ace (for plate and steel)with liquid flux past flux is not as good.i use a 40w iron for 90% of the work i do and a 80 w for the real thick stuff and steel.i rarly have anythin come apart and i sell a lot of sprint chassis on ebay with no complaints. Last Edited By: gt40smitty 05/23/08 02:43 PM. Edited 1 times.
tat2ed71		#4	[-]
Posts: 485 (05/22/08 04:34 PM) Home Racing Guru! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I like to use a torch for most everything. Clean both surfaces well, add a little liquid flux, cut a piece of silver solder about 1/4 of the length of the joint and fire up the torch. After a little experimentation, I found I can get the solder to flow where I want it to by moving the torch back and forth. The best part is that there are never any cold solder joints with a torch. Mike Tattooed Slotfreak It is better to be at the Devil's right hand than in his path.
Robert Livingston		#5	[-]
Posts: 236 (05/24/08 08:32 AM) Home Racing Guru! Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	This was soldered together with a 150 watt gun. The pieces are small enough to be heated by the gun, even the rear end brackets: This was soldered with a torch. The more massive pieces require a torch, which supplies much more heat.: The only thing I use an iron for is armature windings on motors, for which I have a 15 watt iron. As you go, you develop your own style. I do not use any solvents in prepping the pieces, just sand until shiny.
old new slot guy		#6	[-]
Posts: 52 (06/13/08 03:29 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Good thread, helps those of us who need it.

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