can a soldering iron or gun be used to solder thick copper wire?

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:48 am

Hi. I'd like to make a marble run using 3.25mm diameter copper wire, provided it is not too thick for me to use a soldering iron or gun. On You Tube I see that it can be done if the wire is 1.6mm, which is 14 gauge. My question is how thick can hard copper wire be if soldered with iron or gun as opposed to a torch. The solder will, for instance, butt join the wires or join them in some other way. I'll try to attach the YouTube clip. Thanks. Cheers. https://youtu.be/kPguktA674w

Chippo1 · Post by **Chippo1** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:07 am

Depends on size of the iron!, but yes is the answer

You could also use a torch with a small jet

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:24 am

i have a weller soldering iron off 100/125w on a few occasions i would use it to melt and pour say 6oz off lead from old water pipe to make a thinner section to make weights for a model railway to make the locos grip better
so what you want will definitely work but may need somthing more than say a 15w iron

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:31 am

I would suggest that an iron would be more accurate than a soldering gun. 15W way too small, I use one of them for electronics, so it doesn't fry what I am soldering
If you do make a marble run, post a video, I find them interesting to watch.

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:38 am

As said, either a big soldering iron like BA has, or a small torch would be best I'd have thought.

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:31 pm

Chippo1 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:07 am Depends on size of the iron!, but yes is the answer

You could also use a torch with a small jet

Hu Chippo 1. Thanks for your reply. Yes, I guessed that my 40 watt soldering iron would be too small, so I'll find a more powerful one. I have a mapp gas torch but I doubt whether I could get it into the kind of marble run you'll see on the video clip. Thanks again.

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:36 pm

big-all wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:24 am i have a weller soldering iron off 100/125w on a few occasions i would use it to melt and pour say 6oz off lead from old water pipe to make a thinner section to make weights for a model railway to make the locos grip better
so what you want will definitely work but may need somthing more than say a 15w iron

Hi big-all. Thanks for your reply. Yes, I'll get the most powerful iron I can find. Thanks again.

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:40 pm

Dave54 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:38 am As said, either a big soldering iron like BA has, or a small torch would be best I'd have thought.

Hi Dave54. Thanks for your reply. Yes, a weller iron 100-125w certainly sounds big enough. Not sure what a small torch is, but anyway I'll try the iron first. Thanks again.

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:46 pm

That's what I'd do, try the 40W one on a bit of wire before getting anything new.
Can't hurt anything.

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:47 pm

someone-else wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 9:31 am I would suggest that an iron would be more accurate than a soldering gun. 15W way too small, I use one of them for electronics, so it doesn't fry what I am soldering
If you do make a marble run, post a video, I find them interesting to watch.

Hi someone-else. OK, an iron rather than a gun. I've almost finished the main marble run using aluminium track and 35mm marbles and a 7 feet tall spiral lift that works from a wind spinner. This morning a marble jumped off about 12 feet from the ground and hit me on the head, so I'm going to have to tweak it. The marble run track, I mean, not my head. I look forward to uploading the video. Thanks again.

laurencewithau · Post by **laurencewithau** » Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:49 pm

Dave54 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:46 pm That's what I'd do, try the 40W one on a bit of wire before getting anything new.
Can't hurt anything.

Thanks Dave54. Can't hurt anything except me when I burn my hand. I'll have to be more careful with a bigger iron. Cheers.