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resistance soldering unit -

how to make a home brewed unit??

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ian weeks30/12/2011 17:33:52
33 forum posts
Santa's been and left the etchings for a Highland Railway train Duke[clyde bogie],composite first and brake van from Lochgorm kits. to restart my long sidelined P4 layout.Superb etchings and presentation light years away from Jidenco 30 years ago. Way back then I had never heard of resistance soldering And the move up to 5" guage made it superflous. Over the years have kept an eye on small scale developments and took note of this advance. Since Xmas have been tidying the workshop and came across among other things some file handles/long dead d cells and an old battery charger.The light bulb flickered over the head and searching the internet came across various home brewed RSU's.last night made the handle/ carbon rod and tried it out Blew the fuse in the charger as expected. Put old cooker temp control in the input to the battery charger and hey ho worked to a degree-- well soldered brass but not very controlable . To cut a long story short decided to dispense with charger and obtain suitable transformer? size [ 12v 6a ??] and ? use power control on input to transformer ?? triac.
Dont want to waste time reinventing the wheel as really want to get to grips with etchings . Has anyone done this and if so can they advise, it would be most appreciated . Regards Ian
P.s sorry if I,m a bit slow in replying -off to be baddie in village panto for next few nights. Happy and Healthy New Year to all
ian weeks30/12/2011 17:42:53
33 forum posts
sorry put triac ment variac-ian
Chris Trice30/12/2011 18:02:34
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1376 forum posts
10 photos
I use a combination of electric soldering irons and a small butane torch depending on the mass of metal that needs to be heated. What scale is this P4? I've not found the heat source to be the important thing (as long as it delivers enough). The biggest factor to success is the use of a flux such as common plumbers Powerflux or the more liquid Baker's Fluid.
David Littlewood30/12/2011 18:56:26
533 forum posts
Ian,
 
You can buy ready made RSUs from Swanage Models or London Road Models. They disappeared from the market a few years ago when the blasted CE rules came in, but have reappeared, presumably after the makers spent a fortune getting certified. I have one and it is fantastically useful for O gauge work, and I'm sure it would be for P4. I use it with Carr's solder cream.
 
A battery charger does not have enough current capacity for this job (well I supppose an industrial one for truck batteries might have, I don't know) and given the ones above only cost £120-150 it's doubtful whether it's worth the effort of making your own.
 
For ordinary soldering I use a temperature controlled soldering unit. I have 2, a 50W one and a 100W one, the latter I acquired as 50W is a bit feeble for larger O gauge items but should be fine for P4. I use Carr's 145 degree solder almost exclusively with these.
 
I disagree with Chris on one thing: avoid Powerflux and Baker's fluid, they are too corrosive unless you are extremely careful about removing them afterwards. I use Carr's Yellow flux for brass, but there are some totally acid-free fluxes around which are suppopsed to be very effective.

Edited By David Littlewood on 30/12/2011 18:57:21

Michael Gilligan30/12/2011 21:52:45
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23121 forum posts
1360 photos
Ian,

Not quite an answer to your question, but:
"American Beauty" is worth a look, for info


http://resistancesoldering.com/site/

http://www.americanbeautytools.com/site/

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/12/2011 22:01:36

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 30/12/2011 22:02:29

Chris Trice30/12/2011 23:56:37
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1376 forum posts
10 photos
Further to David's comment, I still recommend Powerflux but he is correct in that you need to wash all traces of it off afterwards with either cigarette lighter fluid or cellulose thinners. If you're laminating etch brass pieces together, you could do worse than buy solder paint which is powdered solder premixed in flux that you paint on first and then heat.

Edited By Chris Trice on 30/12/2011 23:58:10

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