A poly-cap is a type of plastic cap often used in model-making kits, especially for assembling figurines or model...
Cart 0 Product Products (empty)
No products
Free shipping! Shipping
£ 0.00 Total
Product successfully added to your shopping cart
Quantity
Total
There are 0 items in your cart. There is 1 item in your cart.
Total products (tax incl.)
Total shipping (tax excl.) Free shipping!
Total (tax incl.)
Search Tips
Tips categories
Latest Tips
-
What is a poly-cap?Read more -
What is Graham Farish?Read moreGraham Farish is a name you’re likely to come across if you're interested in British model railways, especially in...
-
When did semaphore signals stop being used in the UK?Read moreSemaphore signals, those distinctive mechanical arms that once graced railway lines across the UK, were largely...
-
What is Kato track?Read moreKato track is a popular choice in the world of model railways, known for its quality, ease of use and versatility. If...
-
What is poly fibre?Read morePoly fibre is a synthetic material commonly used in scale modelling and model railway landscapes to create realistic...
Why can't I get solder to stick to my rails?
Most modellers will not dispute that soldering dropper wires to your tracks makes for the best electrical continuity around a layout, but, soldering wires to rails can often be more difficult than imagined and getting the solder to adhere to the rail can be a bit of a pain.
Too often when soldering dropper wires to rails, what started as a simple job ends with blobs of solder lying on (but not actually attached to) the metal rails, while infuriatingly, sleepers many centimetres away are reduced to a smoking mess of molten plastic.
The likely cause of this all too common occurrence is a lack of power in your soldering iron. If your iron is not powerful enough to heat the rail quickly, heat generated will escape along the rail before it warms enough to melt the solder into a free-flowing liquid hence the blobs. The escaped heat will, however, be more than enough to ruin any plastic parts or worse fine electronic components nearby.
Another common cause of solder not adhering to rails is a dirty surface. Although a rail may look and feel clean, there's a high chance there will be the presence of oil, grease or dust that you can't detect with the naked eye. A light sanding of the surface to be soldered (including wires) should be enough to remove any annoying pollutants that would otherwise cause your join to fail.
Soldering well requires not only the right tools for the job but also experience. If you are new to soldering a top tip would be to practice on an offcut of track and a spare bit of wire. Try a few techniques to perfect transferring heat quickly from iron to track and compare the difference between soldering to dirty metal and a well prepared surface, before you know it you'll be dropping in dropper wires quicker than you can say 'electrical continuity'.
Click here to receive the tips weekly in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Related products
Economy 30 watt Soldering Iron with flat...
Price: £ 7.95Economy 30 watt Soldering Iron with flat screwdriver type tip
Economy 30 watt Soldering Iron with fine...
Price: £ 7.95Economy 30 watt Soldering Iron with fine pointed tip
Related posts
-
How to clean model railways track?There is of course the old tried and tested method, the track rubber which does the job, no railway modeller should... - What scale is Hornby?Hornby model railways are OO Scale or 1/76th that is 4 millimetres to the foot (12 inches). It runs on a track with...
- Is Peco track and Hornby track compatible?Peco Setrack and Peco Streamline are compatible with Hornby track as they all share the same gauge width of 16.5mm....
- How to weight my model so it does not tip?For wargaming figures, a small coin or washer glued to the under side of the base will usually to do the job. This...
- How often should I clean my track?This a hard question to answer. There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should clean the track. Bear in...