I am having trouble soldering connector links for control rod I can not seem to get them to take solder it won't suck it into fittings. I'm not sure if I am using the right solder also flux. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Make sure you clean everything with alchohol, and then DON'T TOUCH THE PART THAT WILL BE SOLDERED.
Use rosin core silver solder, and a torch, or high wattage iron. Should work.

Jetts

You need an acid flux to solder steel. Sand the rod with 220 and clean with alcohol. Make sure you apply the heat to the clevis, not the rod, and it will pull the solder in.

Here's a pic of what Stick Jammer is referring to

Use a propane torch and heat the rod and the clevis. Careful not to get it too hot.

It's a little old fashion, but I use rosin on almost everything I solder. I bought a little tube about 10 years ago at radio shack and still have it.

Clean both surfaces, wipe some rosin on them, heat the rosin briefly to affix it, then solder like normal. I do this even with rosin-core solder as it lets me put the rosin where I want it. Good luck.

jon

P.S. Great pic minnflyer

Ditto on the rosin.

And thanks Jon

I've found if you drill a tiny (#60 - #70) hole at the top of the barrel that the rod slides into, this will aid solder wicking as it flows to the heat, and acts as a window that will fill with solder when the barrel is full. (ref Minn's graph, the hole will be about where his "heat here" arrow is pointing)

minnflyer has it right. using a big tip(clean) and a higher power soldering iron help(40watt).

hit the rod with a bit of sandpaper to rough it up and remove any oils or coatings, wipe clean.

Heat rod and touch solder to other side till it wicks on to the end of the rod(tinning the rod) only barely get any solder on it so the control will still slide on. Then do the rest like in minnflyers pic. I use fine solder wire 60/40 rosin core. Less solder is better usually.

Although almost all of you disagree i would use acid solder instead of rosin core. The acid has more strength and will grip better. Rosin is made for more of eletronic stuff. Roughen it up put some paste if you like and use 60% tin and 40% lead better yet get some with some silver in it. (Hard to find). I was having the same problem with my Kadet.

Papa

P.S. Make sure you solder of your plane on put some protection infront of your plane dont want a hot piece of metal falling through your wing or something.

Oh luckily i havnt had to learn this one the hard way...

Use Eye protection when you solder... EVERY TIME.

Solder may spatter or pop and from what i hear a piece in the eye is nasty.

(i just wear my light colored flying sunglasses, u.v. light and looking into the bright blue sky is hard on the eyes)

So much information such a small job. Great to see the system working well.

iride is right eye protection can never hurt.

I don't doubt that some of you get rosin flux to work on steel, but acid flux is made for steel and gives much better results. Save the rosin for copper and electronics, that's what it's for.

Thanks guys your all great. By the way I use a mini torch to do the heating. Thanks again!!

ok everyone has told him how to solder but nobody told him how to SOLDER.

note this is with an iron as I dont do torch soldering (d***it jim, im an electronics geek not a plumber)

first thing to do is if you are using a iron get it hot. then clean the tip, the best way to do this is with a wet sponge. with the sponge sitting in a tray of water (to keep it wet while you work) just wipe off the tip whne its hot, the water will keep the sponge from burning and the tip should be a nice and shiney ,

now "tin" the tip, take a small bit of solder and basically "paint" a bit of solder on the tip to coat it, this gives the most heat transfer and helps keep the tip clean.

clean both surfaces using brillo, snadpaper, scratch with a knife etc, you want bare shiney metal here.

when soldering something like a clevis I like to heat the rod up first becuase this is the item that will be the hardest to heat (takes longer to heat up because it tranfers alot of heat down the rod) so I apply heat to the rod right were the clevis and rod meet.

I then touch a bit of solder right at the tip of the iron and the "work" to aid in getting the heat to flow to the metal.

after about a second (if the iron is hot enough) the rod should be hot enough to melt the solder, I apply solder on the opposite side from the iron to make sure the rod is hot enough.

I apply a touch of solder, let it wick, then apply some more, if you do it all at once you will just have a blob of solder on top of your work, do this till you see solder from both ends of the clevis (or till its full if its a enclosed type of clevis.

now *keep the heat on* for a couple of seconds to let the solder "bond" to the metal, when you remove the heat be careful not to move the clevis as this could break the joint, let it cool and it should "glaze over" as the solder solidifies. it should stay fairly bright if its strong joint if it looks grey to silver then it should be fine, if it looks "white" its probably a "cold joint", just apply heat again and it should bond correctly.

when it cools down give a good strong tug to test the joint, better to have it fail now and redo it then to have it fail in flight. oh and make sure its COLD before you touch it... its amazing how long something can stay hot, not to mention how long you can hold something before you realize its hot. I have the burn scars to prove it

this is how I have soldered for the 10+ years I have been doing electronics and it hasn't failed me yet.
just remember, heat the work, not the solder.

Use silver-tin solder for better strength and fatigue resistance. I use one of those dual wattage soldering iron 20/130W. Just press on the 130W switch for 15-20 secs and that's all the heat I need.

If you use acid rather than rosin, be sure to clean the part very well when you're finished. Otherwise it will corrode and eventually fail. Rosin is hard to use on music wire, but it can be done. As has been mentioned, you have to clean the part first and maybe use some fine sandpaper to give the music wire a little tooth.

I went through all of this when I built my LT-40. Got it to the field for the first time, and found one of them cracked, so the instructor wouldn't fly it. My opinion. DON'T SOLDER. Use the Great Planes Nylon Faslink Connectors (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXK086&P=0 ) , measure the rod, cut it, bend it 90 degrees, and secure it with the nylon link. It won;t go anywhere with this on there, and no messy solder, flux or possible disengagement.

Hi, the fastlinks are great but they are only available for 2-56. Wonder why the 4-40 version is not on sale ?

rajul,
where did you get a dual wattage iron? Never seen them.

Hi Steve, mine is a Hakko given to me by a friend. They have a website I believe but again, there are many brands available. Do a search and probably Fry's carries them. And oh yes, you're not supposed to press that button more than 30 secs at a time. The tip gets glowing red literally if longer than that. I've tried it of curiosity. Let me know if you have problems sourcing it.......

Thanks rajul.
Found a bunch of Hakko sites. Look like good quality irons.

Yes they are Steve. I looked at my iron and it says Hakko Presto. Dunno if its still available. Get the flat tip as an option. It's good for soldering push rods/clevises as they are more efficient in heat transfer. For electronics, I use the sharp tip and 20W.