# Soldering Help



## scotty088 (Jul 4, 2008)

Greetings
I'm in need of some soldering schooling.I have a new Tekin RX8 ESC. I want to make professional permanant efficient solder joints for motor and battery wires.Any suggestions as for solder,flux and soldering gun vs irons,wattage etc.Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,Scotty


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

Use a good iron with lots of heat capacity. *Use Flux.* I can't say that enough: *Use Flux!!*

There is a video by Tekin (probably available on YouTube) showing how to solder wire to the RX-8 posts. My technique is slightly different. I first tin the ends of each of the wires, then I squeeze the tinned end in a vise until it will just slip into the slot. I put some flux in the slot and on the wire and a little solder on the iron. Then I touch the iron to the wire in the slot, the flux lets the plating on the slot tin instantly and the little bit of solder on the iron flows into the space in the slot.

I know the rule of soldering is apply heat to the item and solder to the item so the solder flows from heat it gets from the item, but I have been soldering for 48 years and this works for me. The trick, gained mainly from experience, is knowing exactly how much solder to have on the iron for the joint you are about to make. I use a weller 4033S soldering tip that has a flat chisel type tip and a 1000F tip temperature. With this iron and my technique it takes less than 2 seconds with the iron touching the joint to solder each joint. I use 63-37 Tin/Lead solder (rather than the more common 60-40) because it gives better joints. I use Rubyfluid brand paste flux.

Here's a picture of my most recent RX-8 solder job done as I described. You can see that the slots are full of wire and solder but that there is no excess solder anywhere.


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## scotty088 (Jul 4, 2008)

*Soldering 101*

What kind of solder and flux do you use?I know you cant use copper pipe solder and flux on wiring.Do you use a silver solder?Can you get the proper supplies at Radio Shack?
Thanks for your feedback,
Scotty


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

scotty088 said:


> What kind of solder and flux do you use?*I know you cant use copper pipe solder and flux on wiring.*Do you use a silver solder?Can you get the proper supplies at Radio Shack?
> Thanks for your feedback,
> Scotty


RC People say all the time that you can't use copper pipe flux on wiring but that is *exactly* what I use. I use the paste flux, not the liquid flux, which is basically acid and is indeed not good for electronics.

For solder, as I said, get the 63/37 tin/lead solder. I use Kester with rosin core. There really isn't enough flux in the cores for most of RC soldering. If you want perfect joints you need to use additional flux.

If you don't feel comfortable about using the Rubyfluid paste flux, try Kester, or Nokorrode. But having used those two brands for a long time (decades!), I now use Rubyfluid exclusively because I think it is better.


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