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[Hagar]

Any one know a good place to buy low temperature soldering irons from. I am looking for an iron that gives 70*
Also low melting point solders, 70, 90, 110, 150, 180.
cant find any in Denmark, so time to widen the search!

[Philipsparker]

I do a lot of whitemetal soldering in my railway modelling and use one of these:



http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35016

Get the spare bits as the one supplied is a pointy one that isn't much good. UK modellers note that this thing is often discounted to £9.99 so look in the shop occasionally. Mind you, even at full price it is very good value for money.

Phil

[stallspeed]

How about a 24 volt element iron with a laptop psu....one that steps from 12 to 24 volts.I use that.
I can't help you on solder that melts below 180^o

[Hagar]

I do a lot of whitemetal soldering in my railway modelling and use one of these:

Phil

Now I'm more confused. The Soldering iron I have can be set between 100deg and 450dec Set on the lowest it eats white metal! What solder do you use Phil? All I can get hold of is electical solder, which melts at around 200 - 250 deg,

I am getting to the point where I need to solder a lot of white metal to brass, and I dont really whant to melt to many of the castings whilst in the process of doing so.
Thanks for the link though.

[FullLeatherJacket]

Ian
Model Slipway have advised using a light dimmer switch in series with a normal iron. Quite whether this works and/or how well I don't know, but Lawrie isn't given to handing out bullstuff. There may be something about it on the Slipway website (in Hints and Tips); if not, I can probably copy and paste the appropriate bit from a set of instructions for you.
Squires used to supply Carr's solders which melt at very low temperatures. Maybe they still do.
Hope this helps.
FLJ

[Philipsparker]

Ian

To solder whitemetal you need whitemetal solder. I get mine from Langley Models (http://www.langley-models.co.uk/ - resin boat kits too !) and use PowerFlow flux from DIY stores. The iron mentioned goes down low enough to melt this but not the castings, which melt at a slighly higher temperature.

To solder brass to whitemetal you either tin the brass with normal solder and then used low melt solder to attach the casting OR (and this is what I do now) use C&L 100 dgree solder to do the job in one hit. If you really want sodlering stuff, go to the C&L website: http://www.finescale.org.uk/ and you'll find all you could ever want.

Hope this helps.

Phil

[Hagar]

Thanks Phill I'll check them out.
Knew about the tinning bit, but thanks.

[victorian]

I use a Weller iron (Ancient model TCP-1, possibly find one on ebay?) withy a 500 deg F tip marked '5' on the end. The advantage is that this is a mechanical curie point system so there is no electronics to go wrong. (OK, the magnetic switch can weld up!).  I've never damaged a white metal casting using this (yet).