I'm currently attaching drop wires to the 14 gauge bus wires for 3 power districts on DCC layout. I am using 16 gauge stranded for drop wires and am having trouble soldering because eithe the 25 watt iron is not able to heat rail and wire enough to melt solder or WEN "Solder Gun" is too much heat and melts ties before I can finish the job. What suggestions do you have?
Not familiar with WEN. I use an Antex 50W temperature controlled iron for all my electrical soldering (have a couple of different size/shape tips for it) and it does everything quite easily.
You can try 18 ga or 20 ga drops/feeders as long as they are relatively short. Also try tinning the end of the feeder and the track where you want to put the feeder. That way, even though you have to heat the track twice, it will be for a shorter amount of time. Finally, a heat sink (big metal clamp, block of metal, or even a wet paper towel) will help protect the area surrounding where you are soldering. Andrew
