Dan Padova posted:Speaking of soldering to Menards track, I had difficulty doing so. The galvanized like finish just would not accept the hot solder.
A little green scotchbrite rubbing on the bottom of the rail, not through the plating, but to give it a nice surface. I followed by a cleaning with alcohol. I used rosin core 60/40 solder with lead (sorry about that, state of California) then covered it all with Star brite brand liquid electrical tape.
I had read that the Weller 100 watt iron is the gold standard, but couldn’t justify the $1.25 per watt price tag. I bought a Weller 80 watt iron for $24, and it worked nicely. Plenty for quick heating of the rails of the rather long O36 curves. The iron, liquid tape & solder was a total of around $35, all from Home Depot. When I add up how many drops for track power I’ve made, plus all the outer rail drops to activate accessories, I believe that it has to be cheaper than two dozen Lockons. It’s a strong joint that doesn’t come off when you’re pulling it through from below the table, with the added benefit of being able to hang yourself when your wife finds out how much the new locomotive was.
