Marine - there have been a few things over the past years ha toulc have been a quick fix with a quick solder.. but moving around and not having a cheap solder gun etc was too frsutrating.. not having flux or good solder. having recently gotten back into RC I picked up a Hako FX-888D which seemed well rated.. have some battery connectors(bullets) that originally were cheap ones put on my B5 (only ones shop had left at time) and think they are giving me problems.. so glad you had the simplified instructional to remind me of my HVAC/Tech High School days some 25 years ago and a little refresher! Thank you for this..5 years later still helping people..

I am glad.

At least something I have done on the internet has been useful. :cool:

good info marine, helpful.

i don't do a lot of soldering, but when I do, I want to do it well. i purchased a small amount of Cardas solder, and will give that a try. see if it is worth the extra money over 63/37. The indium mixtures looked interesting but very expensive, and probably increases risk of de-soldering due to low temp melting.

i am converting over to Anderson PowerPole connectors, using their crimp tool and 45 Amp connectors. i like the modularity of the connectors. and since I am not good at soldering, a quality crimp is supposed to be as good a soldering.

I doing 1/8 truggy, so hopefully 10awg wire and these connectors will not create too much resistance. I still have to solder the ESC and engine leads, so I do need to do some quality soldering.

just ordered a "used-like new" TrakPower 950 soldering station off of Amazon for $60 shipped. the seller is actually Amazon, not an individual, so hopefully it is in great shape. Great deal. Look forward to using it. I was tempted to buy the HobbyKing.com unit which looks identical, and is only $18. I saw a video that compared it to a Hakko, and they noticed a few shortcuts on assembly, slightly lower quality components on inside, and it seemed the heating light stayed lit longer, indicating that its transformer may have been slightly smaller, causing slightly longer recovery times. The reviewer said they were satisfied. Just wanted to share.

John Hendry, solved the riddle above.

Lol i just have one of the big weller 2 temp solder irons that is kinda big and heavy but i paid $5 and it gets the job done well and its kinda heavy but i can deal with it

inside your tk-950. i thought i had better pictures of the inside

Handle
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps944f1db6.jpg

PSU
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...ps455ed2e9.jpg

I've ordered a ton of stuff where amazon was the seller, and the condition was "used-like new". Not one time has that been an accurate description. Cause everything i received was actually brand spankin new, it might have damaged packaging or not in original packaging but it was new. So hopefully you have the same luck as I have had with them and it's brand new.

Sorry, I have been not online much lately.

A quality crimp connection can work very well. Quality being the important part. Standard lugs and crimpers tend to not fall under that category, but serve well enough for their intended purpose.

My crimp connection experience is with the specialty tools we use in aviation. High dollar tools and connector pins. Not being directly involved in the hobby anymore, I am not familiar with the terminals and crimper you mentioned, but if they are designed as a system to work together, they should be good.


I would think 8ga wire would be better as well if possible.

Thanks for the great thread. You have convinced me to give up my old 25w 'stick' that got the tip filed every time i had to solder...

I have purchased a Hakko 936 clone.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251726595...84.m1439.l2649
I understand that its not going to be as good as a genuine one, but anything name brand is around $200 here in Australia.

I have looked everywhere to find some 63/37 solder, but no joy... The only Australian distributors for kester solders i can find only stock the 60/40 stuff.
Amazon wont ship it to Australia...

Only other option is e-bay, where a 1lb roll is $75 shipped... or Chinese stuff.

Do you think the Chinese 63/37 solder is going to be the real deal? or will it just be some random solder type stuff?

I have done plenty of soldering in my time, and i can defiantly appreciate the advantage of the 63/37 stuff not having a plastic phase, but i dont really want to spend more than my motor and esc combined for a roll of solder...lol

Edit, finally found a somewhat reasonable priced supplier in Australia
http://www.mektronics.com.au/

They dont have the Kester stuff, but it looks like a quality product:
http://www.mektronics.com.au/solder-...0-032-dia.html

I would suggest adding to the thread that when you are done soldering and the iron is still warm that you should take a brass or steel bristled brush and lightly wipe the tip because a sponge isn't going to get off flux and other things that have burned to the tip

That solder looks like it will work.


As far as a cleaning the tip, if you tin the tip well when you turn off the iron, the old residue will wipe off with the extra solder the next time you turn it on.

A brass brush or special brass sponge can be useful for neglected or abused tips though. They are there to fix problems from poor tip care.

Hakko fx-888d are being sold at frys electronics for $69 if u have one local.
frys.com/product/7550776?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Soldering Temp
 

I am a total newbie to soldering, and so I have read this thread to get some tips...

Long story short I "tinned" the ESC wires @ 750 before I realized I should be down around 650... I used 63/37 rosin core from Radio Shack as well as some of their paste flux. Do you think I caused any heat damage to the ESC? The wires got pretty warm, but they did not melt the solder at the ESC, so I assume it is fine?

It works too so that is probably a good sign huh? LOL!

Thanks!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Weller-10...0PKS/100085564 i have an older version of this. it works perfect and costed me $5 used. as for the wire heating you should be fine i melted the wire coating once on accided while heating the wire (first time soldering) and the esc still works fine but may depend on brand

You should be fine... A length of wire can take a while to transfer the heat, and 750* isn't horrible.

Soldering is a learning experience. It can be forgiving or brutal, just depends on the day.