Fast Tracks

Hello Gents,

I have a question, I'm having a devil of a time trying to remove solder from my needle files. any ideas? I thought of heating them, but that would take the temper out of em and render them useless.

Rob :

Rob,

Chalk before using helps a lot. Using the File Card or the soft brass brush is important. DON'T heat and try to remove the solder clogs! You can also use a thin brass shim or bit of a strip and have the edge point drag the file teeth along their inside land or grove, this will help pick out solder.

One important thing is to not file big globs of solder away. Use less solder at the joints - it's amazing how little is actually required, and also develop the technique of using a braided wick to pull out the excess solder you may have deposited on the joints. Files that actually don't drag through blobs of solder don't get clogged.

-ed-

_________________
-ed mccamey-
COSLAR RR - http://www.coslar.us/
NMRA Standards and Conformance Department
PROTO & FINE Scale Coordinator
I estimate I have about 5 pounds of coupler springs somewhere in the vicinity of my workbench.

Hi Ed,

Yep know what you mean on the excess solder, but in my quest for max strength and to insure I have a good solder joint I wait until the solder "kind of Jumps" from the pc tie to the rail. So occassionally I have too much solder on the pc tie, which requires a bit of filing to remove and dress up the tie. I don't do it often, but when it happens well you know how that goes. As far as the solder wick, I've used it, but to tell you the truth I don't like reapplying heat to what I believe is a good solder joint. Then theres always the possibility of the joint moving and getting out of gauge.

Thats why I like to file it. simpler, less chance of errors.

Rob

The posts about pre-tinning ties have been moved to the Questions & Answers About Using Fast Tracks Tools forum.

Rob
Some thing that might solve a lot of your big globs of solder on you ties. First eliminate "all" space between your rail and tie, second heat BOTH the rail and the tie at the same time.

Curt