Soldering issues

[Crawl for beer]

I've got a brushed integy 19T motor that I keep loosing the solder on posts.

Total noob but I ordered trakpower rosin core 3% silver solder from tower hobby. I get half way through a pack and I lose one of the motor wires.

Super annoying.

Am I using the correct solder or am I over heating the motor and that's the issue? 16T 32P pinion on the 19 turn brushed motor. I haven't checked motor temps due to the placement of the motor in the wraith.

So annoyed I'm considering a brushless set up due to being the bullet type connectors.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[snapon boy]

Are you putting Flux on the the connections? I guess it's possible to over heat your motor that much but if you are it will die soon. 160 is the max you want your motor to reach at the end of a run. I'd drop you pinion size 2 teeth and see if that helps.

 

[FloridaCrawler]

50/50 solder STARTS to melt at 360* F so I doubt you are getting that hot. If you are you have serious problems. Sounds like it could be a cold joint issue. Use a lot of flux on everything to be connected and your iron tip. Then pre-tin wires, posts and iron tip. Put a dab of solder on your tip just before you touch it all together, this helps w/ heat transfer, plus you need just a tiny bit more solder for a good joint after its pre tinned. I like to have a small ball on the end of the tip rather than hold an iron and solder in both hands and try to hold it all together. If it doesn't flow together in 2-3 seconds there is a problem. Once it cools everything should look nice and smooth and shiny. Not spikey or cloudy. Use a chisel tip not a pointy one. Tons of video on youtube.

 

[The Violator]

If you are in this hobby for the long haul, but a good soldering station, most hand held options are just not going to cut it. Once I bought my Hakko station it was night and day .

 

[Tommy23490]

Soldering can be tricky.. I have a Trakpower 950.. I run it at 750-850 degrees.. Make sure your sponge is wet once it's up to temp wipe the tip on the sponge and melt a little solder on the tip. Hold the tip with the melted solder on whatever you are soldering. Shouldn't take long before you can start tinning.. Make sure you tin both ends of whatever you are soldering. Then clean the tip on the sponge again, tin it and place your joints together and add solder as needed. My directions might be vague, but it's hard tell someone on a forum how to solder.. All I can say is practice, practice, practice.. BTW don't use flux...

 

[Crawl for beer]

Thanks, I'm going to start with a new soldering iron. Mine was a harbor freight pos.

I'll strip all the old stuff off and give it a go with fresh wires and posts.

Also good info on the 360 to melt the 50/50. It's just poor soldering on my end.

 

[Eric0424]

Good soldering starts with a decent soldering iron, if it's something you're going to be doing a lot I would suggest a good soldering station. My brother and I have been using a pair of TrakPower TK-950 solder stations for a few years now, makes soldering large and small wire and connectors a lot easier (includes large chisel & small pencil tips).

TrakPower also has a good 60w soldering iron (the TK60) if you don't want to drop the extra cash on solder station, but I recommend the station.

 

[danmac]

I've got a Hobby king hakko knock off paid like 25 bucks total with shipping and night and day I solder everything now. Even stuff Probably shouldent also getting he correct solder helps a ton too I was using the wrong stuff from the get go.

 

[sdmf]

I agree with the general consensus here. You need a good soldering iron in this hobby. The solder is important too. I use rosin core solder. The more toxic - the better.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[snapon boy]

I use a hakko 960 it was free, however you can get them on flea Bay or Amazon for about 60. You will notice a difference. I have a 40w soldering Pencil I can't do jack with but with the hakko on about 700 and tinned I'm good to go. Also clean the iron tip regularly

 

[apsilon]

My money would be on a cold solder joint as suggested by FloridaCrawler. When done, your solder should be silver not grey and smooth rather than textured. Very common causes are moving the wire as the solder cools or blowing on it to cool it faster. Tin and clean the tip before each step. Tin tip, tin wire, tin tip, tin motor tab, tin tip, bring the two together and apply heat. Most beginners will find that the easiest way to be consistent. I'm certainly no expert and had a lot of trouble starting out but you'll get the hanf of it. Heaps of Youtube vids so check those out.

 

[mrG]

Read this How to solder correctly (a not so brief lesson) - R/C Tech Forums

 

[jeepnvinny]

FloridaCrawler is on point. I couldn't add any more to that. "thumbsup"